Great follow-up to John Battelle's (@johnbattelle) post by my pal Alex (@ahawkinson). Alex's point that "social discovery and word of mouth are equally important" is right on the money. Search results that show me what Google 
thinks aren't nearly as powerful as results that show me what my friends and colleagues think. Small, community-based businesses have been leveraging the power of word-of-mouth marketing for years. Now tools like Facebook, Twitter, and CloudProfile make it easy (and cost-effective) for them to take these strategies online. That's great news for local community-based businesses and the people who support them.
Time to go to the Clinton Cider Mill for coffee and a donut. I need to find out what the locals are saying about my business!
