As I was saying …

Those of us of a certain generation (hint: We knew Roy Rogers before his name became a restaurant chain.) often don't know the difference between a tweet and a twit except, apparently, those who don't know how to tweet are twits.

That said, the whole social media movement simply cannot be ignored.

Not long ago, I had the opportunity to hear a presentation given by the information technology editor of The New York Times about how businesses can use social media. He told the story of his college-age daughter's friend who was visiting his home and asked to borrow a laptop to check out the latest news.

The editor obliged, of course, but decided to use his daughter's friend as a focus group of one. He asked her where, online, she went to look for news stories. The daughter's friend was dumbfounded by the ignorance of the question and said, condescendingly: "Ummm … Facebook."

Leave aside the sense of horror the editor must have felt. The larger point is there are a lot of people who use social media sites—and networks—for purposes that many of us have never even considered.

There now are "apps" (applications) that enable like-minded attendees at trade shows to connect with one another. Other apps measure users' buying preferences so businesses can selectively market to them. There are websites offering prizes to amateur videographers and songwriters to promote the sponsoring company's products. And even the casual user of websites such as LinkedIn® gets bombarded with daily requests for new connections. Does all this matter to a roofing contractor's business? Of course it does.

If Facebook is the news source for our Generation X and Y friends, you can be sure it also is the source of other information, such as where to buy things and which service providers are trustworthy. One LinkedIn connection can lead to dozens of contacts, which can create leads. One well-placed app can put even the smallest company on the map.

It's no accident most major corporations now have social media departments, which are at least as important, organizationally, as communications and marketing departments. Chances are, they also are getting larger budget allocations.

NRCA now has Facebook and YouTube pages and tweets regularly to let people know about the latest NRCA and industry developments.

Smart companies understand social media's enormous potential. It's not too late to get started.

Bill Good is NRCA's executive vice president.