I think that the concepts behind social media (forums, message boards, etc) have been in existance for a very long time. It's just recently (with Facebook and Twitter) that the concepts of website personalization and social interaction are so much more mainstream.

I think that as with all terms that enter the realm of 'business buzz words', everyone is using the term social media now because it is the thing to say to sound like you are plugged into the bleeding edge of business. As a buzz word, it will pass into normalcy when the next 'big thing' comes along. But, as an activity and a function of business I think it is still in the early stages and will continue to grow.

If you think about it, social media has been in existing since pre-historic age. It was the communication of groups of people - just there has been a shift in the form of communication - thus, now it is social media 2.0. I wonder how it will be in a few years...Social Media 3.0?