The leaders of forward-thinking companies continue to set the bar for leveraging social media in new ways, even as the space becomes increasingly crowded with late adopters.
These companies seem to understand that a top-down culture of protectionism and control actually inhibits a company's ability to leverage the valuable and game-changing catalysts offered by open-source programming and social networking.
Often at odds with the antiquated corporate system of exclusion, open-source coding makes technology cheap and widely-accessible.
Companies who empower their communities to further develop, expand and improve on their ideas are more likely to find primed and receptive markets for those ideas.
Coupling that effort with available Social Media tools makes it increasingly cost-effective to create an honest, open and engaging dialogue around those company-fostered ideas.
The rate and volume of information that can be published and shared in social networks, provides an unprecedented conduit for reaching new audiences and engaging them in deeper interactions.
Organizations that embrace this cultural sea-change and leverage the opportunity to work collectively with their customers will continue to advance, separating themselves from the legions of companies mired in outdated modus operandi.
Here's are the top ten ways that social media creates opportunities for change:

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  1 As a Channel: using social networks to facilitate conversations with your online community to improve customer prospecting, support, etc.
  
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  2 As a Collaboration Tool: using social networks internally and collectively to improve collaboration across multiple business units
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  3 As a New Metric for Measurement and ROI: social networks when tracked and measured, can represent a way to validate traditional customer conversion metrics for a more accurate understanding of customer sentiment
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  4 As a Movement Towards Customer Centricity: social media requires that a company's message be consistent and authentic which forces multiple business units to collaborate on a ongoing basis
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  5 As a Richer Set of Market Data: social media provides a incredibly rich set of data including sentiment, demographic, competitive, reach, influence, etc.
  When it is aligned with traditional metrics, the data set becomes that much more accurate
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  6 As a Way to Track Channel Performance: tracking the inbound and outbound flow of information through your online channels through the social web is the best indication of how well your channels are getting your message out to the right people and how they influence one another
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  7 As a Way to Measure Customer Value: mining information from the social web is the best way to accurately measure the value of your expenditures (such as retention, loyalty, and reach) in customer support, marketing, PR, etc.
  because you can identify and track customers, key influencers, and prospects and understand their motivations
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  8 As a Source for Competitive Intelligence: mining competitive intelligence from the social web relevant to a brand, product, and industry perspective can yield validation of topics that you're aware and unaware of; more importantly, these conversation can provide context and understanding of customer motivations and why they choose you over your competitors
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  9 As a Brand Protector: when a company invests in their online community, this community in turn protects the brand that they so closely relate to which is the best protection from viral attacks
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  10 As a Predictor for Success: social media adopted and embraced, is the best indicator for a company's success in the long run because the any investment made in which a company becomes more aligned with its customers is one that will have a cumulative effect

To read comments that appeared with this blog, from industry-thought leaders visit the SOCIALtality Blog.