Utilizing social media is a vital skill in today's business world. My father is an optometrist, and the owner of both of his practices. In today’s economy, everyone is cutting back on every little penny they spend. This is really hurting small, local businesses, including my father’s. People are holding off on things such as making doctors appointments and getting fit with proper glasses. They are managing with the eyewear they have and are not coming in until it is an emergency.  Until the economy improves, businesses need to start thinking out of the box and advertise deals to get current and new customers into their businesses, and the social network is a perfect place to achieve this goal. Just about everyone has a Facebook and/or in today’s society. People are checking these pages 3, 4, 5 plus times a day, so this is the perfect opportunity for businesses to advertise, as many people will see it.  Many people refrain from going into certain stores or offices because things are just too expensive and they wait for a promotion so they can get a good deal. In terms of my dads business, just a ten-minute eye exam, alone, has an average price of about $50, depending on the insurance the patient has and requires follow up exams after being fit with glasses and/or contacts. This all adds up, especially if it is an entire family going into the office.  Recently, I got my dad to set up a Facebook page for his business, providing office hours, directions, phone/fax numbers, and advertising deals and new products. This has allowed his patients to easily connect with him and has increased business already. Once a person comes across his business’ page and likes it, they then have basically subscribed to all of the posts my dad puts on the page. Once people like this page, it will come up on their Facebook friends’ newfeed and those friends may be interested in the location and deals and click on his page to check it out, which leads to more new customers.  I also want to help him create a Twitter page doing something similar. In my opinion, I think Facebook has been fading out and Twitter and other social media websites have become more popular. On Twitter he can advertise and do all of the same things as he did on Facebook, but also Twitter has the aspect of “hashtagging”. Hashtagging is a great feature for businesses and organizations to utilize in marketing to build a temporary community, create a buzz, or start a discussion around a particular topic. While you talk about that issue, other people will start to talk about it, too. I think this will also greatly increase business and profit for my dad!