Let's face it: Social media has become one of the hot buzzwords in tech circles. It used to be Web 2.0 and social networking, but now we have moved on to a broader term that encompasses not only social networking, but blogs, podcasts, user-generated content, social bookmarking, microblogging, and lifestreams. The rise of all these forms of new media has also created demand for people who can help companies position and market themselves within this new realm.

Jeremiah Owyang of Forrester Research has been compiling a list of people who hold social media jobs. The list is nowhere near comprehensive, but the company hiring social media marketers, community managers, strategists, specialists, and consultants is impressive. Microsoft, IBM, Intel, GM, Cisco, AMD, Nationwide, MTV, and Google are only the beginning of this list. Companies big and small are hiring people at a rapid pace for social media roles.

But a year or three from now, will companies still be hiring for these positions? Should you be adding to your credentials so you can market yourself as a social media expert? Are social media jobs a fad or are they here to stay?

To answer that question, you really to have ask a different question: What's the point of a social media job? Read the job description for any social media job listing and you'll come across evangelist, community, marketing, engagement, and viral quite often. The jargon, though, can be summed up in two words: retention and growth.

Companies generally have one overarching goal: to increase profits. And anyone can tell you that keeping current customers (or users) and adding new ones is directly related to that single goal. These two things, keeping current users happy and adding new users, are the purposes of social media jobs.

And that's why these jobs are here to stay.

Social media allows people to spread their message to hundreds, if not thousands, of friends, followers, and strangers. Some companies can only dream of that kind of reach, while others pay millions in advertising for the same effect. Digg allows a website to emerge from obscurity to prominence and Twitter allows a company to respond to customer complaints quickly (I've had personal experience with Comcast's Twitter account).

As more social media tools pop up and current ones expand, the need to respond and promote to a growing online community will only grow. Companies that simply ignore the blogs and social media risk huge public debacles and lost revenue (just ask Sony how bad it can get).

Even if the title changes, the role of the social media marketer or manager is not going anywhere. Building community, reaching out to potential customers, building stronger relationships, creating buzz - they are fundamental goals to every company. So long as people use social media to share their thoughts and their complaints, the need for people to fill social media jobs will continue to grow.

And the companies that fill those roles now will be ahead of the game.