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Welcome to the (20)10 Days of Techness. This is the third installment of a 10-part series of postings that will discuss prevalent trends during past year. Happy Holidays!

(Part 1)

(Part 2)

 Collaboration and social networking took stronger hold within U.S. businesses, and between these businesses and their customers and partners.

“Even though voice is the No. 1 app, being able to do IM, chat, etc. so people can message back and forth to get a problem solved is critical,” says Bill Soto, sales manager for the U.S. and Canada at Xorcom. “Collaboration is big.”

Huw Rees, vice president of business and channel development at 8x8 (News - Alert), agrees, adding that in 2010 he saw increased adoption of UC and hosted PBX services in the enterprise and federal government markets.

Joe Staples, chief marketing officer at Interactive Intelligence (News - Alert) Inc., adds that social networking is becoming a key component of our interactions, both in terms of our personal lives and, increasingly, in the business world.

He notes that 77 percent of 18 to 24 year olds have profiles on social networks. For those in the 25 to 34 age bracket, that percentage is 65 percent. And just more than half of the population between 35 and 44 are into social networking. All told, 139 million people have Facebook (News - Alert) profiles – that’s a whopping 44.7 percent of the population.

That probably explains why so many top brands are on Facebook too. Staples said that list includes Xbox (with nearly 3 million Facebook fans), Best Buy, JCPenney, Playfish, Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, Verizon Wireless (News - Alert) and Walmart.

Even more shocking is the fact that there are 160 million Twitter accounts worldwide, says Staples. There are about 90 million tweets a day, which is a huge jump from the million tweets a day about two years ago, when only 5 percent of U.S. consumers had any knowledge of Twitter.

Staples (News - Alert) says that he, like many of us, thought Twitter might just be a flash in the pan.

“I was so wrong,” he said. “It’s amazing to see how it’s become part of our vocabulary” and way of life.

“It is really here to stay,” he continues. “So how do we as businesses harness it, use it to our advantage, and not turn into a disadvantage for us?”