Is social media really so game-changing? Has it fundamentally changed how people interact? It might at times feel so foreign and overwhelming that you’re not sure what it all means.

Let’s break it down. What do you do when you get together with friends? You swap stories. You share tidbits of information, insights, opinions. Maybe you share a photo of your last vacation or your new baby.

This behavior is as old as humankind. It’s storytelling. And it’s exactly what people are doing on social sites like Facebook and Twitter. That’s it. Nothing mystical or earth-shattering here. It’s just that now people can do it online, not just over coffee or cocktails.

From a business perspective, telling stories on the web is new way to build your brand. Why? People love stories. They share stories. They don’t love ads.

Back in the day it was hard to get your story out. You had to call up reporters and convince them to write your story. Ads you could buy. So companies relied heavily on ads.

The web turned this paradigm on its head. You don’t need to get a reporter to publish your story for you. Companies can publish and distribute their stories far and wide with social media.

Now don’t get us wrong. Are you meant to start sharing stories about your kids or your home renos on your company’s Facebook page? Certainly not. Please don’t do that.

As a business you share your expertise. You share the information and insight you have that is uniquely available to you, being the business you’re in. That’s the art of web storytelling.

Writer Isak Dinesen said, “To be a person is to have a story to tell.” Now the same is true for companies.