While a dwindling number of business executives still dismiss Twitter as a waste of time, recent research suggests it is one of the most valuable social networks for business. Awareness of Twitter has exploded; 87% of Americans said they were “familiar with” Twitter in a poll taken earlier this year, versus just 5% in 2008 and 26% in 2009. Although fewer Americans use Twitter than Facebook, Twitter users “are far more likely to follow Brands/ Companies than social networkers in general. So what are the best ways to use Twitter for business? MORE >>

the sources below provide a vast wealth of data, statistics and research results, as well as a bit of interesting social media trivia. 10 Interesting Social Media Statistics by Jeff Bullas. 20+ mind-blowing social media statistics revisited by Econsultancy. At its current rate, Twitter will process almost 10 billion tweets in 2010. Facebook, Twitter Growing As Video Referral Sources by MediaPost Online Media Daily. However, Facebook and Twitter send the most-engaged traffic as measured by average viewing spent time per visitor. last year (2009). MORE >>

PeoplePond is a secure social profile site that can be connected to your Facebook, Twitter and other social media accounts. For anyone who wants a cool, custom Twitter background but is design-challenged, My Tweet Space provides a wide selection of free and low-cost professionally designed backgrounds to enhance one’s Twitter presence. This is a cool alternative search engine that lets you search Google, Yahoo, Bing and Twitter simultaneously. Check whether the Twitter conversations about you are positive or negative with twendz by Advocable. MORE >>

Another key feature is that Spredfast supports multiple “voices” of actual or constructed individuals, each having accounts in multiple channels ( Facebook , Twitter , blogs, etc.). Top-level reports summarize these by campaign and let users drill down to see detailed statistics by channel and voice and, ultimately, the actual content such as comments or reviews. In addition to cumulative statistics, Spredfast displays daily statistics for the past seven days, giving a sense of trends. Silly me. should have known that marketers talk first and listen later. MORE >>

Social media marketing activity exploded in 2009, and so did coverage of these practices. So in case you missed any of these, here are almost 100 of the best blog posts and articles covering social media strategy and tactics, measurement, monitoring, research, pitfalls to avoid, policies, tools and more from 2009. Social Media Statistics and Research. 2009 in Review: The Rise of Social Media by The Milwaukee SEO. Facebook: Who you know; Twitter: What you know by Social Media Today. SEO tips for Facebook and Twitter by iMedia Connection. and ROI. Urs E. MORE >>