In today’s Guardian.co.uk, there is an article on “BBC to Relaunch Websites with Focus on Social Media.” The new site, which will be launched this March 2010, will focus on social media and conversation among the readers. Readers will have an opportunity to comment on stories and video and be able to interact with each other.

There may also be some third party platforms that integrate Facebook, Myspace and other social networking sites. This will enable the reader to link and share the story. They are also talking about having a “follow my interest” on the site which will enable readers to have personalized feeds.

The BBC provides more than 500 stories a day to 10 million users a week. This new site will help make the information more accessible and easy to find.

I applaud the BBC for engaging social media. They are following the footsteps of another innovative company, Skittles who took their web site and discarded it. Skittles linked all of their social networking sites under one roof and created a social media website.

Their home page, which rotates from their Youtube videos to their Twitter page, enables the viewer to comment and chat with others on the Skittles’ Facebook page. It also allows for consumers to post messages on their Twitter page and post photos on their flickr page, as it relates of course to Skittles. Interesting stuff huh?

Changing websites to social media sites makes sense. This is a growing trend that will probably be mainstream within the coming years because companies will have an opportunity to talk in real time to their customers and provide better customer service.

Don’t you think it’s time that you find out what your customers need and want?