It wasn't until John Harris learned that he was going to become a dad again that he discovered the real power of social media.

Last month I found out I’m going to be a dad again.

While the news came as a surprise, I didn’t blame the surgeon who gave me the chop several years ago.

This unexpected progeny was not the result of a surgical slip-up, but news that the adoption application my wife and I had given up hope on had turned up a little boy in Taiwan.

Once we decided to go public with the news, my wonderful wife and I, who are as alike as chalk and cheese, coped with this news in different ways.

My sweet spouse immediately hit the phone to ring friends and family near and far, and then she went out for dinner to tell some more friends.

I read a James Lee Burke novel until about 10pm and then put a note about our family extension on my Facebook page.

Within half an hour, I’d received several congratulatory posts, and finished another couple of chapters in the book, and by the next morning, we’d been well-wished by friends and family as far afield as Queensland, New Zealand and Russia.

In fact, the only fellows I had to phone were those who think that texting is the cutting edge of communication technology.

Social media - which is the catch-all phrase for online communication forums like LinkedIn, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and MySpace - is a fecund field for folk who want to plant and nurture relationships.

Almost as interesting are attempts by commercial and other concerns to exploit these platforms for their own benefit.

One of the best-known locally is Premier Mike Rann who is a renowned tweeter on the popular 140-character Twitter forum.

You know that such innovations have hit the mainstream when books start appearing telling you how to make the most of them.

An example is The Grumpy Old Managers Guide to Social Media Marketing by father-and-daughter authors Rick and Nikki Carter of e-nova communications.

Rick, who I’ve known for 20 years after loitering too long in the computer industry, has produced a 24-page, A4-size, how-to guide for working out who’s who in the social media zoo.

The book says many managers, CEOs and owners from a wide range of businesses are unaware of the benefits of Web 2.0 technology - the social media phenomenon that has delivered tools that allow people to build social and business connections.

Social media, it says, is about developing conversations with customers, prospects and other stakeholders in order to build the best form of advertising for your business - word-of-mouth.

The basic principles for businesses wanting to benefit from social media are to use rather than ban these tools in the office, to let others tell your story; to converse with your customers rather than just preach to them; and to develop a social media plan for your business.

The Grumpy Old Managers Guide to Social Media Marketing can be downloaded for free from http://www.e-nova.net.au.

John Harris is managing director of Impress Media Australia. Email jharris@impress.com.au

Twitter