Her: “The company made us take our facebook page down, because it wasn’t official”
Me: “Really? I figured that’d be an awesome way to market your company… Create a group, invite all of your customers to join you, and advertise via facebook”
Her: …

While the actual conversation did last a lot longer, she later made a valid point. Being well versed in the web hosting industry (as she has to deal with my barrage of nerdery on a daily basis), she mentioned that it made complete sense that a company such as SoftLayer should use the Internet, and social networking to connect the employees, customers, and fans together, pushing that envelope just a little bit further. Our whole operation, after all, is in fact powered by the internet.

We have all avenues open for social networking to help us power our business. You can look at what’s going on in SoftLayer at any given moment via Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, The InnerLayer… the list goes on, and surely continues to grow. It’s only a matter of time until the next best thing comes around (does anyone remember MySpace, or Friendster?), I’ll bet a paycheck* that we’ll be quick** to jump on board.

After all, when all is said and done, there’s no wrong way to market yourself. People do it all the time in their social networking profiles. They may present themselves as a party animal, a scholar, or a hard worker, but regardless, they’re putting their image out for the world to see… and while it seems like a large paradigm shift for businesses, when one stops to think about it, it makes perfect sense; it’s a free outlet to market yourself!

So while some companies are stuck in low gear, SoftLayer has hit the throttle, and speeding ahead, continuously braving ahead into new and interesting ideas. We’ll continue to push the limits of what’s acceptable to most, and use every tool to get our name on the streets.

* Comment made in jest. I will NOT bet an entire paycheck.
** I make no guarantees as to exactly how “quick” quick will be