On Friday, January 23, the Vatican launched its own YouTube channel showing that even an institution more than 2,000 years old has seen the value of new media.

Looking to broaden his audience and tap into the estimated 1.4 billion people online, the Pope clearly understands - or at least someone at the Vatican understands - the power of the Internet.

Pope Benedict XVI has not been know for forwarding thinking, but when it comes to the Internet and specifically social networking, the numbers don't lie. Instead, they tell a story of a world where borders are literally breaking down - between countries, ethnicities and cultures. The Catholic Church is known as the "universal" church and this foray into social media is a momentous step for remaining so.

While the Pope extolled the virtues of social networking calling it a "gift to humanity" for the benefits it gives - namely forging relationships between those who may never have befriended each other in the real world, he also cautioned the pitfalls of becoming obsessed with online relationships to the detriment of the people physically around us.

Aside from the deeper meaning of this move, the Vatican is simple being smart business-wise. After all, if the mountain wouldn't go to Mohammed, then Mohammed would go to the mountain. That is New Marketing 101 - go where your audience is and show them something relevant. The Church needs to be embraced by the younger generation or its future is in peril. The number of priest and the number of parishioners has gone down significantly in the last 50 years and continues to slide. So if young Catholics won't go to church, The Church will go to them.

How do you market your business? Do you go to the mountain or are you waiting for the mountain to come to you?

YouTube channels, and most social networking sites, are free. Use them!

Take a look at the Vatican's YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/vatican