An interesting hurdle for corporations and organizations when it comes to social media are the previous boundaries and attitudes of different generations and customizing ad messaging in a way that appeals to many. Different than on television or the radio or even generally online advertising, when developing a social media advertising initiative a new factor comes into play which is social comfort levels.

Some generations believe the issues of politics and religion are off limits when it comes to communicating with friends and family. Others were brought up under the guidelines that you don't mix business and pleasure. With Generation Xers and younger those boundaries were broken down, lines between professional and personal became increasingly fuzzy as did previously off limits topics.

On Facebook many generations are now represented, it's a social community where friends, family and neighbors meet. Due to the continual cross-generational growth, more and more it is a place for companies, political organizations, issue groups and cause oriented organizations to reach large audiences. Previous boundaries are still held by a good number of those communicating however, creating an additional challenge for those using social media for building tribes. Not an insurmountable challenge, but one that is important to recognize and develop a strategy to overcome.

This is an issue for a social network like Facebook since most come there to connect with friends, family and neighbors. For brand social networks - those built specifically for a cause, company, product or political group - this hurdle does not exist because people come to those sites specifically to communicate about that brand. That doesn't mean brand social networks are without challenges. With Facebook, the people are already there. In building a brand social network, you have to get people there.

So which is the best use of social media resources? Perhaps a plan to utilize both external networks and an internal social network.