Facebook, MySpace and Twitter are not just for teens anymore.

Businesses may use these sites to set up webpages to get word out about their business.

That was the message Scottie Jones, a business entrepreneur, took to the Lebanon Area Chamber of Commerce forum luncheon on June 26.

Jones teaches business courses at Linn-Benton Community College. She also runs three agricultural microbusinesses in Alsea, and one beach house rental in Newport. All have websites online.

"Thirty-one million sites were added in 2008. The Internet is not going away," she said.

Businesses may use social networking sites to create fan pages or advertise specials, without even selling things online.

"E-commerce is about buying, selling, trading and marketing," Jones explained. "When I talk about e-commerce I'm not always talking about selling things online."

The free sites can be used to market and brand your business, Jones explained.

Taking it a step further, businesses also may sign up for a domain name and use templates or hire a web designer to create a page for their business where items can be sold.

"Sometimes it's just less expensive to buy things online when I add up my time, gas, and mountain passes," the Alsea resident joked.

For Jones, e-commerce allows her to expand her business outside of the mid-valley and Oregon.

"I sell regularly to North Carolina and South Carolina," she said.

Find the web confusing? Got children?

"I encourage you to sit down with your kid and have them show you if you have to," she joked.

Jones moved from Arizona six years ago. She runs a farm stay in Alsea and sells livestock gate latches online.

"Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be doing what I am now," she said.