Apple’s much hyped tablet computer is set to be unveiled tomorrow and everyone’s speculating on how it will change the world. The NY Times on the other hand wonders aloud how it will change the world of media.

The media industry is still struggling to find the secret sauce for driving revenue in the digital age. Apple’s new offering could either be the straw the breaks the camel’s back or a much needed boost the industry needs to regain its financial strength. If you look at Apple’s history I wouldn’t count on the latter.

The iPod revolutionized the way people consume music, but at the same time it changed the pricing structure and drained the profits of the music industry at a time when that business could ill afford it. The only difference here is that the media industry has already undergone a shift and for many organizations there is no where to go but up. 

According to some experts, the tablet will be something between Amazon’s Kindle, a laptop, and an iPhone. Does that translate into new revenue for traditional publishers? Maybe. The bigger question might be will the tablet be as successful as the iPhone?  If it’s not widely adopted then the impact on the media world will likely be moot.

If I were the world’s largest media companies I wouldn’t bet against Steve Jobs though. I would be ready to capitalize on this new device or be ready to write my organization’s obituary. Either way, tomorrow will be a life changing moment.

Twitter has been the It Thing for much of the last year and while marketers, athletes, and celebrities in particular have embraced it, Twitter still hasn’t really achieved mainstream acceptance. That acceptance, however, is fast approaching as evidenced by the entry of two heavyweights into the Twitter arena earlier this week:

First, President Obama sent his first tweet on Monday. (There’s an @BarackObama account with 3+ million followers, but the President has a ghost tweeter for it.)

And then, on Tuesday another heavyweight joined the party – Bill Gates. The Philanthropist and King of Microsoft is following 40 Twitter accounts – mostly some philanthropic foundations and some leftish political folks. Oh, and uh…Ashley Tisdale. His first tweet – “Hello World.”

This gives me reason to believe we’ve reached the Tipping (Tweeting?) Point in terms of mainstream social media use. Maybe now businesses – not just consumer brands but B2B firms and professional services firms, etc. – will realize that the Big Boys are playing this game too.

A new report from Forrester Research shows social media is growing up, as is its audience: one third of adults report posting to social media sites at least once a week and more than half of them maintain a profile on a social media site. Still, many businesses continue to struggle with the business value of social media and how they can tap into it. They still view it as “something the kids do.” Of course, many of them haven’t tried it for themselves. With the President and Gates jumping in, perhaps they’ll be convinced that it’s here to stay and that, increasingly, that’s where their customers are.

The cocktail party that is social media is well underway. Don’t be late.

Recently emarketer.com explored the burgeoning expansion of Social Media, and concluded that marketers have become more accustomed to using Social Media then ever before, moving from the trial phase of their marketing efforts toward strategic use of the channel.   While the majority of marketers are still somewhere in between infancy and adulthood in regards to their social media prowess, about one-quarter of social media marketers have made it to the strategic phase of their efforts. Increasingly, these strategic efforts are incorporating the use of social media to push socially responsible causes.

Look no further than Seventh Generation, a brand of household and personal-care products marketed to be healthy and safe for your home.  For the first time in their 21 year history, the eco-friendly champion of house products is looking to engage consumers by launching their first national advertising campaign with a goal to educate consumers about protecting the planet. Central to the campaign is – you guessed it – the use of social media. Not only will you see their ads on television, print and online, but you’ll find the company spreading their green messages via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn. They’re also trying to engage the online community through user-generated discussion forums on relevant topics.

And as further proof that marketing is increasingly going mobile, Seventh Generation has developed a downloadable Label Reading Guide application for the iPhone and mobile devices.  Who knows, this just might be the first company to prompt us to say: Social Responsibility? Yep, there’s an app for that.

ZDNet’s “2010 Predictions: Will Social Media Reach Ubiquity?” is an interesting read despite the rhetorical question in the title.  One of the most interesting insights comes from Paula Drum (@pauladrum) from Gettington.com.  She writes, “The good news is that consumers will continue to wield their power and word-of-mouth worthy brand will benefit exponentially.  Social media has created a world of word-of-mouth on steroids.”

While she’s correct, this is not a simple equation for marketers.  Compelling people to be interested in and an advocate for a brand is not simple.  They have to love it.  More than that, it has to be top of mind.  And there needs to be a time and place for it to come up in conversation.  For us, 2010 will be about one thing: participation.

If you could never hit a baseball to begin with, steroids aren’t going to help you.  In the same vein, if you don’t have a product or service that customers can interact with, social media isn’t going to help you.  But what does participation mean?

An article from TechCrunch showed that 80 percent of Twitter accounts have less than 10 followers.  While companies like Dell and Ford have engaged customers there, they remain the exceptions.  Domino’s Pizza has used a more old school approach of in-person focus groups supported by online media and put a lot of dollars behind it in order to encourage participation. (It did manage to get Stephen Colbert’s attention…)

The truth is that people like to give their opinions.  They like to talk about themselves.  This is not news.  The breakthrough that should start to occur this year is a move from “Marketer as Message Pusher” to “Marketer as Question Asker.”  Finding your customers, asking them relevant and timely questions, and showing them that their responses count – online or off – is the best road to participation.  Sure, the approach is as old as Socrates himself, but when paired with social media – “word-of-mouth on steroids” – it could be the next frontier of marketing.  It’s worth asking.

Guest blog from agency “wintern” Pippa:

The best ads cast familiar objects and scenes in a new light, causing the viewer to stop in their tracks and give them a second glance. If you’ve been to the Philadelphia airport lately, you very well might have done a double take upon seeing AT&T’s painted hand advertisements gracing the terminal walls. They had that effect on me. Appearing in airport concourses and magazines and on in-flight tray tables, the ads feature human hands painted and positioned to look like exotic animals and famous landmarks from around the world – Big Ben in England, a coral reef in the Bahamas, the Great Wall in China, etc. Considering that the average consumer sees hundreds – if not thousands – of ads each day, the mark of a successful ad campaign is as simple as whether it inspires a second glance. In this case, mission accomplished.