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More than one billion people worldwide interlinked to the Internet contribute to the birth of Web 2.0 Era, in which data communications with their applications known as social media play a crucial role in shaping the future of e-commerce.

THE term Web 2.0 basically refers to the second generation of Internet where collaborating, interacting and sharing information are allowed in a Web 2.0 site popularly known as social media. One of the mushrooming phenomena is the growing number of netizens (a portmanteau of internet and citizen) getting on the social media such as Facebook and Twitter.

While Facebook has turned to be the third largest country in the world with more than 500 million netizens, Twitter has become “home” to worldwide netizens with more than 100 million accounts sharing their millions of aspirations and opinions.

Facebook and Twitter are not the only choices. LinkedIn, Foursquare, Youtube, and even two Indonesian online communities Kaskus and Koprol – all contribute to ongoing revolution of social media. More interestingly, accessing to these sites can be easily done within a quick click of a button; not only from desktop equipment, but also from mobile devices such as BlackBerry, iPhone and iPad. 

The Power of Social Media

Do you know that the secret recipe behind the success story of the US President-elect Barack Obama’s campaign was his wit in utilizing the power of social media?

Obama was bolting together social networking applications to raise funds and increase supporters. The campaign was more than just a political movement, but creating millions supporters to help Obama topple the Republican John McCain.

And now Obama uses social media networks to govern. His e-mail message to supporters on the night he was inaugurated included the following line,” We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next.”  His administration uses Change.gov, an Internet gateway that facilitates his transition mission toward fixing the US economy.

Meanwhile, celebrities and public figures from across the world have drawn myriad followers using Twitter. Unlike Facebook that limits up to 5,000 friends, Twitter with unlimited number of followers has become a great promotion destination.

Lady Gaga is dubbed Queen of Twitter with 11.3 million followers, followed by Justin Bieber (10 millions), Britney Spears (8.3 millions), Oprah Winfrey (6.4 millions); and in Indonesia, singer Sherina Munaf has more than one million followers. 

Adrie Subono, renowned promoter and owner of Java Musikindo, has brought in an array of International musicians using social media as a means of communications for inputs or even a medium for selling the tickets.