A groundbreaking study by Eric Mattson and Nora Barnes from the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, shows that contrary to popular opinion, “The social media revolution is coming to the business world.”

“Initial signs of corporate investment in social media can be seen in Google’s $1.65 billion acquisition of YouTube and News Corp’s $580 million purchase of Intermix Media (parent company of MySpace.com).” But these acquisitions were expected. What this study intends to find is if “the hype is real,” by looking at the Inc. 500, “an elite group of the fastest-growing companies within the United States.”

I had an opportunity to talk to Eric Mattson to discuss the study and ask him some questions about social media.

Muhammad Saleem: You mention that according to previous research, only 8 percent of the Fortune 500 currently have a public blog. Do you generally find business to be slow adopters (or afraid) when it comes to technology?

Eric Mattson: Blogs have traditionally been a very personal and transparent media. The F500 companies are struggling with the restrictions that come with being publicly-traded, the difficulty in having one or two people try and speak for an entire company with thousands of employees and their fear of change/transparency. It’s not easy.

Lumping all businesses together when discussing technology adoption is hard. Some are on the cutting edge. Others do it the way they’ve always done it. Social media is still a young technological space. But our research shows that some of the most innovative and fast-growing companies in the US (the Inc. 500) see the value of social media and are investing their time and energy in it.

Saleem: I found your classification of social media to be very interesting. You take into account blogging, podcasting, online video, social networking, and wikis. Noticeably missing is the use of social bookmarking services such as del.icio.us and socially driven news and content sites. Why were these two mediums excluded and how do you feel about their power from a social media marketing perspective?

Mattson: We struggled with making the business case for those technologies. While certainly Digg is a very popular site and tagging is an idea that is useful and becoming more and more popular, it’s difficult to see how most businesses could use either of these ideas (right now).

Saleem: Since the medium is about being social, do these businesses have a plan to get feedback and intake from the public? We know that they are becoming more social, but in what way? Will Ford let me advise them on the next SUV?

Mattson: Our research into the Inc. 500 did cover their monitoring activities. The results of that research will probably be published in the new issue of the Journal of New Communications Research. From a purely theoretical standpoint, I would say that listening to one’s customers is a good thing. Social media makes that easier.

Saleem: Why did it take them this long to understand the power that social media has?

Mattson: Social media is still a very young technology area. And much of its “power” comes as more and more people participate and start to use it. Our research shows that a substantial percent of the Inc. 500 companies are starting to use many of the different forms of social media. I think social media is doing just fine on the adoption curve.

Saleem: From what you have gauged, what is the reaction of the average social citizen to the Inc 500 participating in social media?

Mattson: Certainly, the Inc. 500 is far more familiar with social media than one might expect. Familiarity breeds trust.

Saleem: You remarked that over one quarter of the Inc. 500 studied report social media is very important to their business/marketing strategy. Could you provide insight into businesses taking advantage of social media and to achieve what ends?

Mattson: We did ask a few questions in this area and may be releasing the analysis in our future writings. (Your readers can join our email announcement list by emailing me at eric@ericmattson.com). In the meantime, I think there any number of blogs (and wikis and podcasts) covering the use of social media in business/marketing strategy (as well as a number of books already out or soon to be released).

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Muhammad Saleem is a Netscape Navigator and writes on his own blog The Mu Life where he studies the social bookmarking phenomenon.