Below is this week's update:

When most people think of social media they think of sites like Facebook, YouTube, MySpace and a few others. These sites have millions of active members, so it makes total sense to have a presence on one or more of them. The Obama campaign has active presences on each of these sites. On Facebook, for example, he has over one million fans. And he's the most followed person on Twitter.

As Important as it is to get involved with the big-name social sites, there are many other lesser-known sites that can be just as important in helping you connect with the kind of people you're looking to build business relationships with.

Below are a few sites the Obama used in addition to the big guys that may be able to help you as well.

Ustream.tv

Ustream is a free service that allows anyone with a webcam and Internet connection to broadcast live over the Web. And while you’re broadcasting, those viewing your broadcast can communicate with you via instant message — making it a truly collaborative experience. Your live streams are also archived for on-demand viewing. Obama’s campaign has close to 150 archived videos on their Ustream channel, which has been viewed more than 250,000 times — adding up to almost 90,000 hours. Now this is a far cry from the millions of views for his videos on YouTube, but it’s a quick, easy way to connect with people in real-time that is growing rapidly in popularity.

FriendFeed

With a growing number of people “tweeting” on Twitter, bookmarking sites using Delicious, commenting on blogs via Disqus, and performing other random social acts, it makes it hard to keep up with all the activities and conversations we’re having. FriendFeed makes it much easier for people to see what we’re doing online by allowing us to easily create a feed from the activities we perform on many of the social sites we belong to. So instead of having to go to several different sites on the Web to see what a colleague is up to, you can see it all in one location via his or her FriendFeed page. And they can follow you’re Web “adventures” as well. The Obama campaign has been using FriendFeed to make it easier to follow his tweets, FlickR pictures, YouTube videos, and blog posts.

Meetup

Meetup is used by organizations, groups, and clubs to organize their in-person meetings. It’s a great way to get the word out about your events to people who may have common interests and would like to participate in group activities. People get event information, view member profiles, and RSVP to attend meetings. Meetup definitely makes it easier to share information, communicate with the membership, and manage group activities. Obama has used Meetup to encourage those interested in his campaign to get together, share ideas, and work with his team.