There is no doubt that social media has come a long way in recent years. Even the presidential election in the U.S. incorporated social media sites. The birth of the U.K.’s latest prince found its way onto social media and this would have been unheard of even a decade ago.

If you check the social media influencer site Klout you can see that there are many big names listed on it. President Barack Obama is listed along with companies like Wal-Mart and Coca Cola and all the major celebrities have high Klout scores.

The use of social media has now become an acceptable method for doing business not just for politicians and celebrities but for small business owners as well.

So how does social media affect society today? Well one of the best reasons for using social media is for researching both products and people. How many employers run Facebook checks on people before deciding if they are worth interviewing or not?

Social media is also used for people to leave comments and feedback on products, movies, music and more. If you just enjoyed a great meal at a local restaurant you are more inclined to login to Facebook or Twitter and tell all your friends about it. The same applies to a new product you may have just purchased. If it was good you let other people know and if it was bad you are definitely going to tell your network to beware.

One huge site that has an enormous amount of social influence isn’t really a social media site at all. Amazon is the largest online retailer with millions of visitors to their website each day.

Their influence comes from allowing customers to post reviews and comments on products they have purchased. Some of these comments range into the hundreds and no doubt this is going to influence anyone’s buying decision.

You have to agree that you would certainly make a purchase if the item in question has a ton of positive reviews. On the other side of the coin if it has nothing but negative comments you are going to steer clear of it.

Social media definitely has a large influence on society today so it only makes sense, as a business owner, that you would want to tap into this area as well. Take a queue from Amazon and get your customers to write reviews about your products or services and see if you don’t experience a business growth.