<p>We've all heard the stats about the explosion of social media users. One-billion-plus on Facebook. One hundred seventy-five million Tweets a day. An expected 5 billion professional searches on LinkedIn in 2012.</p><p>But that's all mostly for Justin Bieber fans, politics junkies, people who like to exchange snark or professionals looking for new jobs or business contacts, right?</p><p>Wrong. Increasingly, businesses rather than individual fans or job-hunters are finding value in social media-like applications. Done right, these so-called "enterprise social networks" can help organizations operate more efficiently, come up with better ideas faster, improve communication with customers and stakeholders and make their efforts in corporate social responsibility and sustainability more transparent. They can provide an especially powerful edge for small- and medium-sized companies that don't have the global enterprise advantages of large, complex IT infrastructures.</p><p>"Social media success is no longer a defined by how well your company communicates its message to the external world," states the Taiga Company in its "Guide to Green Business: Social Media Success." "It is rapidly becoming a critical business sustainability skill and a business sustainability catalyst that is affecting the bottom line."</p><p><a href="http://www.greenbang.com/how-is-a-social-business-a-better-business_24518.html">Keep reading...</a></p><p>Read also:</p><p><a href="http://www.business2community.com/social-media/social-media-marketing-strategies-for-engaging-customers-0438881">Social Media Marketing Strategies for Engaging Customers</a> (Business 2 Community)</p><p><a href="http://socialnewsdaily.com/11308/30-minutes-of-social-a-day-is-all-your-company-needs-infographic/">30 Minutes Of Social A Day: Work Smarter, Not Harder [Infographic]</a> (Social News Daily)</p><p>Explore: <a href="http://news.google.com/news/more?ncl=dikY7eqKnDUseUMX4zBy9LOxPKI-M&ned=us">77 additional articles.</a></p>