Guest contributor: Shelby Jones, ISPA Public Relations Manager

Social media is the wave of the future. Actually it’s no longer the future, it’s the present. If you aren’t Facebooking and Tweeting then you’re really behind (like monumentally). Your mom once asked you, “If everyone jumped off a bridge would you?” Well now you can throw it back in her face, because EVERYONE has a Facebook page – moms, dads and grandparents are all updating their statuses and checking out your Spring Break ‘04 pics. Carpal Tunnel is on the rise thanks to Twitter updates painstakingly made via your iPhone or BlackBerry (it’s totally important that everyone knows your opinion on last night’s True Blood episode). You might be waging an inner battle deciding whether or not to “friend” your mom or boss, but a business’ social media outlets should welcome everyone with open arms (even the haters). If you’re late to the game then it’s time to catch up, and these tips are essential for jumping into the world of social media.

• The Facebook (that’s what grandma calls it) isn’t just for young whippersnappers. AARP says that 37 percent of people age 50 and up use social sites. It just goes to show that you’re never too old to be social.

• Find out who’s talking smack about you, get free advertising and test out your new ideas and promotions by talking about yourself. It only takes 140 characters or less.

• Prove that your social media efforts are worth it by knowing your ROI.

• To page or profile, that is the question. What’s best for business – Facebook pages vs. profiles?

Like what you’re clicking? If you’re in the spa industry, we encourage you to become a member of our partner ISPA; weekly e-mails with pointers like these are just one small part of the package to help you succeed!

As we mentioned earlier today…our office went outside of our comfort zone yesterday to run in the 3.5 mile, slightly-more-than-5k JP Morgan Corporate Challenge, along with 15,000 of our closest friends in New York City’s Central Park. A portion of proceeds from the race went to rebuild areas in the park that were damaged by high winds last winter.

The Spa Week team before the race!

It was a gorgeous evening – not too hot, which you’d better believe we were thankful for – and we were pumped up as we made our way around the top of the park on the race route.

It's important to stretch.

The male winner of the Challenge finished in just 17 minutes, and the female winner was just a few paces behind him, finishing in 20. We’re not ashamed to say most of our office took a little bit longer…but the important thing is we all finished!

Tired & happy!

With Internet Week drawing to a close, we hope you enjoyed signing on (and off!) with us! Before we go, though, we want to leave you with one last treat – we polled our office and our Facebook friends for their favorite guilty pleasure Internet sites in order to bring you these 10 Guilty Pleasures of the Internet.

1. Outfit (or pretend to outfit) your dream wardrobe at Rent The Runway.
2. Get your dose of celebrities and celebrisleaze at Perez Hilton.
3. Gorge yourself on an endless array of addictive flash games at Kongregate.
4. Poke through user-submitted and rated stuff that’s newsworthy, weird, funny, or just plan cool at Digg and Reddit.
5. Create your own film festival with Netflix.
6. Ask any random question you want at Just Curious…just make sure you pay it forward and answer some, too!
7. Track where the dollar bill you used to buy your coffee this morning ended up at Where’s George?
8. Find out if the love of your life is trying to find you at Craigslist Missed Connections.
9. Play like you’re a Real Housewife and Google search “Real Estate in New Jersey.”

That’s all for Internet Week – happy weekend!

At yesterday’s #SIGNOFF Retreat + Cocktail Party, VIPs hit the pause button on their Internet Week craziness to massage and meditate away the worries of the digital world, compliments of exhale and us over here at Spa Week.

Four snack companies provided health-conscious and tasty munchies for the event. The harried Internet warriors ate the place clean… they definitely enjoyed these favorites of ours! (Energy Kitchen also served wraps–more on them in another post)

@popchips – never fried and never greasy, popchips will satisfy your craving for crunch – and they’ll do it in a downright virtuous way.

@vitamuffin – The perfect bakery treat, VitaMuffins pack tons of taste into just 100 calories. And they’re fiberlicious to boot!

@sweetriot – Antioxidant rich nubs of cacao dunked in dark chocolate, these treats are sinfully sweet for something so saintly.

@bubblechoc – Carefree, effervescent, bubbly – this fizzy, air-whipped chocolate is everything you want in a good friend.

A guest and his Bubble Chocolate Bars

Many of us would probably crawl into a corner and have a conniption if we were told to shut off our Blackberries, iPhones, iPads, Androids, laptops…the list goes on. We’re definitely a society prone to checking emails before we go to bed at night and updating our Twitter statuses even before we brush our teeth in the morning. That’s why we used this week to have our Facebook Fans, Twitter followers and anyone who supported the #SIGNOFF movement to revert back to the basics in life. We’ll even help – check out the below suggestions from our friends and fans letting us know how they #SIGNOFF.

Read:

- Reading a good fictional book. It’s a great distraction for my mind and a book, unlike TV, doesn’t requires either electricity or batteries to enjoy it. (Leon Tulton on Facebook)
- Reading a good book – paper not Kindle ;-) (@transcenddayspa on Twitter)
- Reading (Tameka Johnson on Facebook)
- Reading……an actual book. i love the feel of turning actual pages ( @guestlistblog on Twitter)
- Reading and running (Kim Miller Malone on Facebook)
- Reading a good book (Amy Traiger on Facebook)
- Reading a good book (DonEisha Goodson on Facebook)
- @MeghanButler Reading books! (cause I’m old school like that)
- Reading a real book, not kindle stuff (@doctorClaudia on Twitter)

Life’s a Beach:

- Being a beach bum!!! :) (Yvonne Gyapong on Facebook)
- Reading on the beach =) (Jenny McCray on Facebook)
- Beachside reading and writing (Tanya Johnson-Coleman on Facebook)

Kickback Poolside:
- Lounging by the pool with a good drink and a great book (Maggie Gottlieb on Facebook)
- Swimming…just you and the water (Armelinda Stojku on Facebook
- I love when I escape on my Barbie beach bike & my iPhone battery is low/dead #signoff :} (@Ponderful on Twitter)

Indulge if You’re Over 21

- Wine (Ashley Brady on Facebook)
- @Ashley: yes, WINE!! (Yvette Lola Brownridge)

Be Outdoors-y:

- Hiking (Bart van Hunskerken on Facebook)
- Gardening, hiking, being outdoors! (Sarina Silvers on Facebook)
- Horseback riding and swimming (Tracey Y. Washington-Boucaud on Facebook)
- Playing with my lil doggie (Eboniña Evans on Facebook)
- Walking (@anthonyderico on Twitter)

Me Time:
- Being alone……..TOTALLY ALONE….doing what ever I want ….whenever i want………. (Diane Watson on Facebook)
- Watching the rain, seriously! (@anetah on Twitter)
- Meditation! Swimming in the ocean! (Laurel Levey-Giacomino on Facebook)
- Cleaning my apartment! All that scrubbing is a nice little work out and I love when everything is dust free. (@PBRandPBJ on Twitter)- Star gazing… (Lisa-Ann Galati on Facebook)
- Nap, walk, read, swim, sing (Jessica Russell on Facebook)
- Singing, writing. . .sleeping. .lol (Liberty Renae on Facebook)
- Sewing and decorative painting, cooking, baking. (Cathy Sweeney on Facebook)

QT with your mate:
- Painting my nails out on my porch! Evening walks with my hunny ♥ (Stephanie M Corti on Facebook)
- S*x (Keep it PG, Suzy Modrich Rebsamen on Facebook)

Spa It!:
- Corefusion followed by a deep flow massage! (@ExhaleNYC on Twitter)
- Massage & Reading! (Mika Nicole Collins on Facebook)
- Having 2 hour massage! (Frances Pierce from Facebook)
- A nice wash and set at the hair salon. They give the most amazing scalp massage. Aaaah! Total relaxation. (@musiqal1 on Twitter)
- A good mani/pedi and sleep! (@lostplum on Twitter)
- An in-room massage! (@TheChanlerHotel on Twitter)
- No tech activity for me is reading a book while getting a pedicure; or swimming in the sea. :) (@maurawhite on Twitter ) 

Shop Til You Drop:
- Shoe shopping! (Nikki Daniel on Facebook)
- Shopping (Angela Segreti Romanski on Facebook)

Recharge:

- Sleeping!! (Latasha Avery on Facebook)
- Sleep (@LaurenRaeLevy on Twitter)
- Sleeping while getting a massage (Lori Morris on Facebook)

Family Time:
- Playing with the kids (Sharonda Layton Carter on Facebook)
- People watching sitting outside some coffee shop. (Andrea Zappone on Facebook)

It’s a Work Out:
- Tennis (pref on the west side highway) is my favorite #SIGNOFF activity (@joehodges on Twitter)
- Running (Jenny Smith on Facebook)
- Dance class! (@RealKimPhoenix)

Image Courtesy of Telegraph UK, Brazil Trails, I Go You If Go , Ning, Tuvie, Warwick, Anjungan Resort, My Newsletter Builder, Heart Strong