In 2004, soon after delivering my daughter at Cedarville University in central Ohio, she told me about this interesting computer application called Facebook. It was a new way of interacting with other students on campus and other universities.

Other than the occasional stalker concern, Facebook seemed to be a cool way to communicate – for college kids.

Just five years later, Facebook is taking over the world, impacting nearly every segment of society. According to the Facebook stats page, the one-time student social tool now connects 250 million users worldwide, from grandmas to grandkids and everyone in between. Users spend 5 billion minutes every day on Facebook. Two-thirds of them are outside of college.

Before long, I suspect newborns will be issued a Facebook page along with their birth certificates.

For nearly everyone who consumes media, your diet has likely already shifted from print-only to print plus electronic sources. Print media retain advantages e-media cannot match. These include not needing a power source, offering a tactile three-dimensional reading experience, easy portability, not requiring an Internet connection, and sometimes, superior graphic reproduction.

E-media has its advantages. It can be more timely, even stream information live. E-media can be stored and revisited in ridiculously large volumes. E-media can be shared and become “viral” in hours. E-media also can provide a great environment for developing community, whether it connects you and your friends or you and your customers.

If you are a business owner or manager, you need to care about e-media. You may never be among the millions who use Twitter, Facebook, Linked In, Plaxo, MySpace, etc. to communicate with your customers, but your competitors probably will.

Staying on the e-media sidelines could be very bad for your business.

I used to think construction pros, on the whole, would be among the last to adopt e-media. After all, they work in the field, not an office, and tend to be more old school. Right?

Wrong.

A recent survey showed 28% of Walls & Ceilings magazine’s contractor readers were using social media sites like Facebook. I knew construction pros were searching the Web for products, news and trends, but now I know they are rapidly engaging in social media.

My guess is many of these readers use social media sites primarily for personal reasons. But it’s just a matter of time before they use these sites for business purposes. By the millions, they already visit B-to-B Web sites like the one on which you are reading this blog.

You may be thinking, “OK, I should be more e-media savvy with my marketing. But where would I start?”

If you are a business owner, manager, or marketer, I invite you to attend BNP Media’s Webinar titled, “Strategies for Integrating Digital and Print Marketing to Increase ROI” at 2 p.m. E.T. on Sept. 15. Registration is free and painless. Click Here to sign up.

This Webinar was created to inform national marketers about trends and strategies in multimedia. And yet, the information applies to those marketing their services on a local or regional level.

I’ll be among the presenters, but don’t let that discourage you from attending. We’ll be sharing a ton of helpful, business-building information in just 30 minutes. Hope to see you there.