In the interest of full disclosure, I am completely ripping off this blog post from association social media thought leader Maddie Grant. She posted this on her blog recently and I just had to share it with you.

It’s the latest edition of one of my favorite videos, the fourth in the popular “Did You Know?” series that examines the emergence and evolution of social trends and tools.

Two points in the video struck home with me. The first is this:

“10 million: The number of unique visitors ABC, NBC and CBS get every month, collectively. These businesses have been around for a combined 200 years.

“250 million: The number of unique visitors MySpace, YouTube and Facebook get every month, collectively. None of these sites existed 6 years ago.”

The second is this:

“The mobile device will be the world’s primary connection tool to the Internet in 2020.”

Combining those two concepts — social connectivity and mobility — is going to have a powerful impact on our networks going forward. It’ll be fun to watch what happens next.

Tom Hood offered up an excellent point during one of our recent conversations: Social networking has always been an indispensable skill for successful leaders. They have always thrived on expanding their networks and collaborating with like-minded colleagues. The only difference today is the way in which they do it.

Ignore social resources at your own peril. They are not fads. They will, in fact, be important weapons in our business and communication arsenals going forward. And they will continue to evolve quickly. If we don’t take the time to master them now, we will soon be lost.

Get familiar with them here. Then, if you’re ready to take the next step, get committed with a social media quick start.