It seems a lot of folks are talking about the role social media played in yesterday's US Airways Flight 1549 landing in the Hudson River. I first learned about the events through a Twitter breaking news feed, and like most of the world, I was riveted as I watched the heroic actions of the pilot, crew, passengers and the rescue workers and bystanders who plunged into the icy water to help.

This 21-slide presentation discusses social networking trends, describes how to use social networking as a tool, and gives numerous examples of social networking.

One of the upcoming trends that’s definitely worth looking into is video. Video is (or has been, depending on who you talk to) taking the internet by storm. Many of the mainstream sites now have a lot of video. The big 3 TV networks are putting full episodes online of some of their shows. And I’m sure you’ve heard of YouTube, one of the top 5 visited sites in the whole world.

Yet is it worth it to use video regularly on your business blog? I think the answer is yes. Here are 5 reasons why.

The positive merits of social networking have been leveraged in a multitude of ways by consumers, businesses, and other organizations for some time. Now, in light of tightening budgets, a VP analyst at Gartner says it's time for government departments to move past previous failed endeavors and wake up and smell the social.

Considering the explosive social networking growth revealed by a survey Nielsen just published, now may be a great time to begin transitioning some government operations to social media tools.

Earlier this year, I became tired of my usual morning ritual of spending hours catching up on e-mail. So I did something drastic to take back control of my productivity.

I stopped using e-mail most of the time. I quickly realized that the more messages you answer, the more messages you generate in return. It becomes a vicious cycle. By trying hard to stop the cycle, I cut the number of e-mails that I receive by 80 percent in a single week.

Photo: Luis Suarez of I.B.M., near his home in the Canary Islands. With the help of social networking tools, he has cut down sharply on his daily e-mail.

This post is a 20-minute guide to Twitter for non-techies. (If you don’t know what Twitter is, you can start with my first post on the topic, Twitter-dee, Twitter-dum. If you still aren’t convinced, then read 12 Reasons to Start Twittering.)

Attempts to control employees' use of such software could damage firms in the long run by limiting the way staff communicate, the think tank said.

Social networking can encourage employees to build relationships with colleagues across a firm, it added.

However, businesses are warned to be strict with those who abuse access.

Office e-mail takes time. Stop making these 5 e-mail mistakes and you could save up to 15 work days a year!

Easy and effective ways to use Skype in business.

ABC News: Online business site LinkedIn is all about networking on the net.