Fascinating things are happening in the world of social networking. While the MySpaces and Facebooks have attracted legions of younger-demographic users, they have been viewed with a certain sense of detachment by mainstream business.

Until now, apparently.

Canada’s TD Bank and Royal Bank have initiated their own initiatives on Facebook. I spoke with Toronto Star business reporter Rita Trichur about what motivates them and what it means for the banking industry. The article, TD reaches out with Facebook group, was published in yesterday’s paper.

The use of social networking resources as marketing tools will only grow as businesses in all sectors begin to realize the value of reaching out to clients and potential clients through these non-traditional avenues.

Is there a Facebook plan in your future business plans?

I’ve been spending a lot of quality time with my BlackBerry this week. Although I’ve owned mobile devices powered by virtually every kind of pocketable operating system you can imagine, the stripped down simplicity of BlackBerry’s design philosophy is starting to win me over. A few observations:

So by replacing my older wireless device that was practically bursting with features but couldn’t really manage anything all that well with one that chooses instead to focus on doing a few things exceptionally well, I’ve become much more adept at using the thing as a real business tool.

I can’t help but wonder if the simplicity of my newfound wireless buddy doesn’t also hold lessons for the other aspects of my business life. Simplicity…I think I need to mull that concept around a bit more.

What do you carry with you when you leave the office?

From time to time, journalists call us looking for our expert opinion on issues that matter to today’s businesses. We do this because we feel it’s important to be acknowledged experts in the topic areas that matter to our clients.

Today, I spoke with Pat Bolland from Canada’s Business News Network (BNN, formerly known as Report on Business Television, or ROBTv). I shared my perspectives on what drove Nortel’s just-announced quarterly results, and where I think the company is headed in the near future.

To see the interview, please click here.

We’ll continue to work with major media to touch on the business-related issues that matter to you. As always, we invite your feedback - one way or the other.

When I was scheduled to attend a conference in Shanghai a couple of months back, I took a plane. Soon after I returned home and recovered from the jet lag, I got on my bike and rode to the nearby grocery store to pick up some milk. Later, I used the car to pick the kids up from camp.

For these three different journeys, I used three very different vehicles. In some cases, I could have chosen differently - take the car for milk, for example. For the China trip, though, I doubt anything but an Airbus A340 or Boeing 777 would have done the trick.

I tend to view communication in a similar light. Every time I have a message to deliver, I start by thinking about my audience - the destination - and the method I should use - the vehicle - to reach them. Just as it is with my somewhat hackneyed travel analogy, sometimes I have a choice of communication vehicles, while other times the choice may be somewhat narrower.

Regardless, I always start by thinking about the vehicle. It influences how we travel, and it influences how we communicate with each other. The proliferation of new media types makes vehicle choice more critical today than it’s ever been. Make the wrong call and you could find yourself in the messaging equivalent of cycling a high-end mountain bike across the ocean.

We’ll explore vehicles in greater depth in future entries. For now, I hope you’ll take a quick moment to think about the vehicles you use in your day-to-day communication.