It’s old news for most – last week, President Obama sat down to talk with the leaders in the tech industry. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the photo, shown here (and used as a link to the source, which is Bloomberg http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-18/obama-dines-with-technology-industry-execs-photos.html)

I’ve seen people discussing the significance of this meeting for a week now, and I don’t intend to add to that particular discussion, because it’s getting old.

However, no one (that I’ve read anyway) has discussed the significance of the seating arrangement!

To the left of President Obama is Mr. Steve Jobs (and as an Apple fan, I say “hail!”) and on the right, is the young whipper snapper Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook fame.

Does no one else think that this particular seating arrangement speaks loads about where the social media and tech space is going? Or at least, where the President thinks it’s going?

This just underlies what I tell some of my clients – you’ve got to play nice with the big boys. Why would you have a social media integration strategy that doesn’t work with Facebook? They are the 200-lb gorilla in the room (for now.) Or, if you’re going to design an app, why would you only design in Android? Yes, Apple can make things a big pain in the butt (as can Facebook), but if you’re going to play in the sandbox, don’t you want to play with the cool kids?

I put a caveat here as well. When you’re the big wigs, you’re a target. Don’t integrate so deep into Facebook that you can’t dig out. What would you do if the U.S. became Egypt (and the way things are going in Wisconsin, it’s not that far-fetched of an idea) and Facebook was shut down. Does your business have a back-up plan? You’d better.