The NY Times has an interesting piece today related to social media. The top business schools in the world are quickly adding social media to their MBA programs.

Students entering university studies today have grown up with access to computers and the Internet and have years of experience in using online social networks to make connections and share information. Now that businesses are realizing the commercial potential of these social media networks, the universities need to teach their students how to turn their knowledge of these new media channels to profitable use, Mr. Salcito said.

“Just as we saw with digital — with things like creating Web sites or Web-based business — there is a need for immediate transformation in the educational environment,” to keep pace with these fast-emerging developments in the business world, he said.

This is a great thing. Students who leave school well versed in social media are going to have a huge advantage when they enter the business world as compared to those who don’t.

The brave new world of social media marketing has old school marketing firms struggling to adapt. Conventional wisdom has been turned on its head and the old rules and best practices for “what works” is now a constantly moving goal post. You can write out a detailed social media marketing plan for a company that sounds great on paper, but once it’s put into practice it may not be worth the paper it’s printed on. That kind of uncertainty scares the heck out of the old guard who likes a sure thing and whose clients demand nothing less.

Social Media is not something that lends itself to a one size fits all approach. What works great with one company may have no effect whatsoever with a different brand or company. Every brand or product has an audience that’s waiting to be engaged and the trick is to find out how and where they prefer the engagement to take place. Some brands work better on Facebook than on Twitter. Some find great success with both — or neither.

What business owners and marketing firms need to realize is that social media is dynamic and constantly changing. A good social media marketing campaign must be monitored continuously and tweaked when necessary. When you try something and it doesn’t work out you need to immediately pivot and try a different approach.

Be wary of any firm that guarantees outcomes using a particular method. Unless they have an uncanny ability to see into the future, they couldn’t possibly guarantee that. We can guarantee you results, but we cannot guarantee what will ultimately get those results.

JESS3 / The State of The Internet from Jesse Thomas on Vimeo.

Here are some video search engine optimization tips from Dr. Pete Kocks, President of Truveo and VP at AOL Video:

(hat tip ReelSEO)

ReelSEO caught up with Ari Paparo, Group Product Manager for Advertiser Products at Google, to ask him about his predictions for 2010 concerning video advertising. The audio isn’t great on the clip, but here’s what he had to say:

I think Ari is absolutely right. The proliferation of video content of all kinds makes the use of in-stream advertising inevitable. I think this will become the primary method of advertising for many companies both large and small. Forget about expensive TV and radio ads, that stuff is expensive and outdated. Internet video is the way to reach your audience. Create new opportunities for your business in 2010 by calling Digital Street and setting up a free consultation. We can create a killer video marketing campaign that will rival anything you see on TV.