Announced last month, the Oxford University Press’s 2009 Word of the Year is UNFRIEND (as in, “She hit on my boyfriend at the company Christmas party, so I had to UNFRIEND her on Facebook).

Lots of news and blog postings about this choice — pro and con. Over the years, the WOTY has been used as a sort of social or technical barometer to inject forecasts into what our nation is doing, where it is going, and what our language says about this cultural journey. What the 2009 WOTY says is that social media is here to stay. Like it or hate it, you cannot ignore it.

I remember a decade or so ago hearing rap music first infiltrating popular radio and t.v. advertising and thinking, “Oh no, this sh*t isn’t going away anytime soon.” Well, the WOTY says the same thing about Facebook, Twitter, and the plethora of other social media applications we are all bombarded with on a daily basis. Like them or not, they are not going away.

Companies must realize this and harness the marketing potential now, before they are sorely behind the curve. Like those businesses we have all encountered that don’t have website, or workable ones. In this century, that’s like not having a phone number or a mailing address. If we can’t find you on the Web, do you even have relevancy? And if you’re not using Facebook or Twitter to showcase your business strengths, how can I friend you? Or even unfriend you? At least give me the option!

Doing a lot of research lately regarding the most effective business usage of social media, specifically Twitter, for our clients. A surprising recent report by HarvardBusiness.org suggests that, “Twitter resembles more of a one-way, one-to-many publishing service than a two-way, peer-to-peer communication network.”

Though one-way marketing is tried-and-true, we believe that the future of social media applications really lie in their two-way potential for business users. Developing a dialogue with your target audience is an opportunity not possible with other communication formats. Otherwise, you might as well be doing direct mail.

According to a post on Mashable.com, “So, does anyone really want to talk to @DunkinDonuts? or would they rather talk to Bill Rosenberg, the founder of Dunkin Donuts of Canton, MA, or perhaps the local franchise owner on Capitol Hill, or a disgruntled but funny summer employee punching in at 4am? People connect with people, and so I think the lattter.”

The related comments show that just as many people appreciate the presence of brands on Twitter, so the jury is still out on HOW to most effectively use Twitter for two-way communication, but not whether to: “The thing is, people don’t just connect with people, they connect with brands too, and it’s about striking a balance between those two relationships that is the real challenge. Not just picking one or the other.” Harvard Business may have gotten the present right, but not the future.