Twenty five years in electronics business journalism has given me an eagle’s-eye-view of businesses adapting through the Internet age, from early electronic bulletin boards to pioneering Web sites to social community news publishing. Repeatedly, one thing has been clear: just on the verge of leaping into the digital age where they can engage customers through more dynamic, immediate, and social connections, most businesses freeze. Why?

1. The short half-life of social media technology triggers the conventional ROI reflex: Businesses hesitate to devote precious time and resources to one trend when they know tomorrow will likely offer up new hip way of creating community with customers.

2. Too many portals, platforms, and communications possibilities: Who has the expertise to count the dots, understand them, and then connect them in a way that offers competitive value?

As editor-in-chief of the largest B2B technology publication in the world, introducing the first podcasts, video interviews and blogs in the electronics industry, I was an early adopter of every new whiz-bang social media gizmo that showed up on the horizon. I picked apart the theories, tested the technology, and over time, became one of the earliest social media geeks. I’m still at it, like most geeks, and can make sense of what appears nonsensical, chaotic, and downright disconnected.

I help business connect the dots. To articulate their message. To write a good story. To build the social media infrastructure that draws customers into engaging and loyal communities.