Social media has incurred changes that can be seen in developing new customer centric strategies, objectives, and goals, to realigning operations to meet the constantly changing and highly sensitive demands of customers, among others. The increase in value of social media channels is more than just a luxury gateway; rather those channels have become quintessential venues of communication between the customer and the organization. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of social media on the business environment with particular emphasis on how it impacts both the customer and the organization. This will be accomplished through focusing on several facets such as social media and globalization, social media vs. traditional media, bridging the gap between the customer and the organization, and how social media empowers the customer. The paper presents some recommendations and precautions pertinent to the utilization of social nets into the core business processes.