An excerpt from an essay I've written:

Web 2.0 is not “new”. Social Media Marketing started about 10-15 years ago. Interactive marketing is about engaging the consumer, using the far reach of the internet.

I remember starting a Yahoo Chat room, called “Phoenix Real Estate”, in the late 90’s. It was a destination spot I hosted for consumers and professionals to share information, each night, from 9PM-10PM; I often sat alone in that “chat room”. Some nights, a real estate agent or consumer would show up to ask questions; those were the best nights. I found that Sunday nights became the best time for consumers to interact with me and limited the chat room to a scheduled weekly event.

Hosted forums were another great way to engage consumers before LinkedIn broke onto the scene. When LinkedIn hit the net, it gave us a chance to engage the consumer on our terms. Rather than wait for an anonymous person to hit a forum or chat room, we were able to use demographic data to target certain “prospective customers”. If you’re a long-term player in this industry, LinkedIn represents a great chance to engage people in an interactive community.

Myspace offered a completely new paradigm to SMM. Here, users post personal profiles, robust with demographic data, to be “searched”. Through groups and “friend lists” a site-specific address book can be created and engaging discourse takes place. While critics write off the “feel” or “culture” of Myspace, marketers understand that the robust data and stickiness of the community provide an excellent chance for pull marketers to demonstrate expertise, to a targeted group of people, and make valuable contacts from within that group.

Blogging succeeds because it tore down the walls of contained communities, like forums, chat rooms, and social networks, and advanced the conversation to Google search. No longer did a marketer...

You may view the entire essay here.