According to the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, the relationship between social media and small businesses  have doubled in the past year from 12% to 24% in the United States.

The study which was released earlier this week found that roughly one in five small businesses have embraced social media and are integrating those sites into their business strategy.  Among the favored sites in the survey, Facebook and LinkedIn made the list.  45% of those surveyed businesses have said they believe that within a year or less, they saw initiatives.  (more…)

You are probably saying to yourself, “what is crowdsourcing?”  According to Wikipedia, “Crowdsourcing is a neologistic compound of Crowd and Outsourcing for the act of taking tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor, and outsourcing them to a group of people or community, through an “open call” to a large group of people (a crowd) asking for contributions.”

It’s also a concept that many businesses are taking on.  While many are using social media sites like a modern suggestion box, others are actually taking those suggestions and putting them into action.  WLS-TV, Chicago’s ABC affiliate took a look at a Chicagoland company which helps people and businesses connect by crowdsourcing. (more…)