Some of these new virtual machines will help sort out the most urgent questions so that companies can respond quickly and accurately, while other programs will try to forecast the best time to post a social media update about a new product or service.

However, certain programs allow businesses to manufacture responses to customers. Some even create robotic accounts that invent posts and gain followers without human help. This has led some in the industry to wonder if such programs will eat away at the human interaction that social media is built on, essentially becoming the automated telemarketing of the social media landscape (Ryan Holmes, "Here Come the Tweeting Robots," Tech.Fortune.CNN.com, July 23, 2012).

It's important to remember that God said to love your neighbor—not your social media program—as yourself!