"Big Data" and "Analytics" have been the buzzwords of at least the last 8 years. The first time I heard about big data, I was a sophomore in college and I recall attending a panel discussion at school where many VPs from IBM and Macy's were discussing the mystery of analytics. Nothing was really clear to me about this topic back then, and to be completely honest, I don't think they knew what they were talking about either. It was only a few years later that I understood what these terms meant; I was so fascinated by this topic that for my graduate degree I decided to focus in Marketing Analytics.

Now let's start from the basics for those who are not familiar with the terms; to make it simple, big data emerged because in the last couple of years there is more data to store, more data to analyze, and information can be harder to find. It used to be that as consumers we would be extremely careful at giving out our information and online shopping; giving my credit card number on a website? Are you people crazy? As time went by and the world of digital was quickly adopted, I found myself more comfortable with e-commerce and giving away personal information such as my demographics, email, credit card, etc. The Internet just made it convenient to get things done, anything. As we all started living attached to our computers, smartphones, and tablets, marketers were overloaded with customer information. Their 90's database softwares could no longer support the huge amount of data that was coming and that's how big data, analytics, and the cloud came to be. All of these terms are linked with each other, they all work together to help marketers analyze consumers needs and behaviors, predict future trends, and customize products and services based on this analysis. So what's not to like about big data? It has now become easier to search for the specific products that you want thanks to all the shortcuts companies like Google, Amazon, and Facebook have provided us with.

There has been an infinite amount of debate in the past few years on the topic of privacy and big data and how some people feel violated or manipulated by marketers thanks to the easy access of personal information. Let's remember that we created this cloud together, consumers and marketers. There was no manipulation, but more attention to us as customers and personally I love the idea of finding exactly what I am looking for without getting lost in the clutter of things out there.

As of today I am an active user on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter and Instagram, Linkedin, Skype; I also have accounts with YouTube, Google+ (only because it's "mandatory"), MySpace (I recently found out, my information is still all there), Snapchat, Yelp, and many more social media & blogging sites along with all those websites that required me to put in my info just to access their content. Every device I own has these accounts all connected to it, so I can access each site from anywhere, 24/7/365. Taking a day off or going on vacation, no longer means that you are unreachable; if you take that sick day from work, you better not update your Facebook status to "ready for the Bergdorf Goodman sample sale today" .

Who would have ever thought that a kid from Harvard would completely revolutionize the way we interact with each other? Certainly Facebook is not the only social media out there on the web, but it is still the most powerful networking site with the highest number of active users on a daily basis. Pretty much everyone we know is on Facebook; truth is that we all have that odd friend who does not want to subscribe, or who joined and now deleted his account. It seems to be the "hip thing" to deactivate your Facebook account for a while and then coming back. The social networking site reported that eight out of ten users return to Facebook within a month of deactivation of the account. It's like running away from home; you are just doing it to get attention, but we all know you will come back soon because you miss it.

Today if you are not on Facebook or any other social media site, it's almost as if you do not exist. I know this may sound harsh and a superficial way to think about your existence but let's see it from the L.A. perspective. Hollywood is overpopulated with all kinds of celebrities, the struggle is to stay relevant and making people want to have more of you. What websites like the one Zuckerberg created are a scaled down version of Hollywood but for the average person. Do we really care if our friend from pre-k just went to see a Rihanna concert? No, but we care if he received 100 likes on that post compared to the 25 on the picture of you and your puppy.

My goal in these few lines is not to analyze the psychology behind social media and how it works, but mostly to convey to businesses the concept that if they do not have a presence on the web and on social media, they may as well not exist. The Internet is our encyclopedia now, for everything. If you cannot find information online on a company, what's the first thing that goes on through your mind? "What do they have to hide? Sketchy!!"; at least that's what I think.

So put yourself out there and present the best version of yourself to the world, because what you share online is the window to your business, product, service, and personality. This is the new idea of first impression, so make it count and remarkable.