Your mom was wrong. You should care what your friends think. And you do.

Social Media and networks like Facebook and Twitter don't seem, to most people, like a threat to Google.

Apparently, there are some researchers inside Google who think differently.  One of these  - perhaps soon to be a former Googler - put together a presentation that is dire in its assessment of Search vs. Social.

Strangely enough, your mom is more like Google than Google would like itself to be.  Google wants you to come and ask its opinion of what to buy, how to drive there, etc.

Facebook (The Facebook Effect: The Inside Story of the Company That Is Connecting the World
) and Twitter are like your friends.  They're constantly interrupting you and making you follow links that might be fun.  Who would you rather be right now?

What this researcher sees is not a mirage.  Increasingly, via comments, tweets, newsfeeds, and product reviews, consumers are sharing their thoughts about products in compelling ways.  In droves, consumers are joining sites and services that provide them the unfettered ability to express their love - or hate - of products and services.  Brands are often defenseless against this, and as the researcher points out, 'Search' is powerless to influence people who don't seek it out.

Brands, in response, are working feverishly to capture the attention of consumers in the most effective way possible. How can they do that?

Get in front of the conversation by enlisting their fans via social groups

Develop Audiences within the ecosystems where the conversations are occurring, like Twitter and Facebook

Let the audiences make the product their own

It's not the static web anymore.

You can't control the dialogue

All you can do is become part of it.

If you don't make it easy for people to follow you, it's hard to be a leader.