Despite the massive number of followers that folks like Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber boast on Twitter, they’re not necessarily the social media leaders they appear to be.

A new study suggests that the demographic makeup of fans and followers means more than the sheer number of connections you have.
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Pinterest is the social network with all the buzz these days, and it sounds like all the attention is warranted: a new study from Experian suggests that Pinterest is the third most popular social network, just behind Twitter and Facebook.
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If you’re a social media marketer, you’ve got to love numbers. Statistics, growth charts, engagement rates, they’re all great for wow-ing clients.

Some of the best numbers are those that come from the top marketing campaigns online. This infographic made for Mashable tells the tale of some of the most successful social media marketing campaigns to date, and the number of Promoted Trend impressions, clicks and retweets these campaigns have garnered will impress the socks off of any client.
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Social recruiting – using social media to find potential employees – is more popular today than ever before.

According to a new infographic from Jobvite, a company which offers social recruitment software, 89 percent of US companies use social media in some way during their recruitment process. How does Twitter fit into the bigger social media picture? Check out the infographic below to find out.
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As all Twitter veterans know, the fail whale is not an uncommon sighting. Twitter has had its fair share of downtime over the years. But despite the fact that it is still below average when it comes to homepage availability, its engineering team has done a great job of responding to a rapidly expanding user-base and improving its up time.
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Rumors are flying today that the number-one Twitter app maker, UberMedia, might be starting up its own Twitter-like network in direct competition with Twitter itself. And, while all of the sources cited are anonymous, the move wouldn’t be a huge surprise – but it would be a massive shakeup.
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Whether you’re a long-time power user or you just signed up this month, there are some things you probably don’t understand about Twitter. Or maybe you do, but we’re willing to bet a huge portion of your followers don’t. Here’s our take on the three things most people don’t understand about Twitter.
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Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter, appeared on CNN’s Reliable Sources Sunday to discuss the impact that Twitter has on the journalism and news media industry. In light of his recent comments that Twitter could become a news network, this interview proved to shed some light on the direction that Stone wants to take the microblogging service.
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Social media is the virtual Big Brother. You get involved, you get comfortable, you get complacent, and suddenly you forget that you’re on camera 24/7, 365 days a year.

It’s very easy to make a mistake. We all do it. Everybody slips up from time to time.

Solution: be smart about who you invite into your online communities. If you’re mixing business (employer, associates, clients) with pleasure (friends, family, relationships) on the same network it’s disturbingly easy for something to go wrong. And even if you’re the very epitome of decorum, somebody else can very easily ruin things for you. This doesn’t have to be intentionally malicious – an innocent act like sharing a photograph where you perhaps don’t come off particularly well can do major damage to your status and reputation.

(This is particularly true on Facebook. Pay careful attention to your privacy settings.)

Twitter is an open network, and as such it doesn’t lend itself to being overly personal or bold. Be yourself, but be the best version of who that is. With more and more employers using social media to research job candidates, you cannot afford to be casual. Doing something stupid on the internet isn’t just for Christmas: it’s for life.

I’m not a fan of online anonymity, particularly in the comment sections of websites. But if you’re concerned about the implications of your personal life impacting on your professional it might be the right thing to do. You may also wish to consider protecting your updates on Twitter.

(It’s worth noting that both of these measures will likely have a negative impact on your potential to do business within social media.)

Let me be clear: it’s absolutely fine to friend your boss. Broadening your relationship beyond the limitations of the office can actually enhance your career. Enjoy the company of your colleagues? Want to impress your clients? Go ahead and friend them online.

But here’s the thing: you can never, ever forget that you’re being watched. All of the time.