It appears that Twitter may bring a smaller, but more active, audience to brands than Facebook does.

A new study from social advertising and analytics startup Optimal examined data from 4,330 brands to determine whether each brand’s Twitter or Facebook following outpaced the other. The results are definitely interesting.

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A new study in the American Journal of Infection Control reveals that Twitter is now a popular and reliable source for receiving and sharing new information about vaccines.

The implications of the finding are potentially huge.

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Leave it to science to determine what really matters in growing your Twitter following.

A new study from researchers at Georgia Tech reveals the definitive 14 factors that impact your Twitter follower count.

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If your hotel offered you a 25% discount on your stay, would you take it if it meant you had to stop logging onto any social networks while on the vacation?

If you’re like 57% of respondents to a SpringHill Suites by Marriott survey, the answer would be no.

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What was once an informal convention confined to geeks, developers, and early adopters (pretty much one and the same, eh?), has become a mainstream element of social media for the masses.

A new study by RadiumOne reveals that a full three quarters of social media users employ hashtags.

But it gets even more surprising.

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At the end of 2012, the University of Massachusetts presented their annual survey of the digital presence of the Fortune 500.

Among their findings were the following: 28% of the Fortune 500 companies had blogs, 62% had a YouTube account, and (here’s the shocker) an incredible 23% of Fortune 500 firms had neither a Twitter nor a Facebook account at the end of 2012.

Not only that. As we reported, according to the 2012 Fortune 500 Social CEO Index report from CEO.com, only 19 CEOs from the world’s top 500 companies use Twitter (or have someone use it on their behalf) – and only 9 of these are active.

Like… seriously?

In an attempt to give big companies the benefit of the doubt, the Huffington Post’s Vala Afshar, also the Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) and Chief Customer Officer of Enterasys Networks, took a look at the social media presence of big brands’ CMOs, considering that the word “marketing” is in those bigwigs’ titles. Maybe those guys could redeem their own companies’ fellow chief executives. Below, his findings.

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Ever feel completely overwhelmed online? Like there are just too many social networks to participate in, blog posts to read, tweets to retweet, Facebook posts to like, Instagram photos to scroll through?

You’re definitely not alone.

Even, surprisingly, when it comes to companies and their digital presences. In a survey conducted by Ragan and NASDAQ OMX Corporate Solutions, just 13% of communicators said their organization was “an advanced, well-run machine,” while nearly two-thirds said they have more to learn and accomplish.

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Mary has written before about how successful the #tweetwhatyoueat initiative can be for dieters.

And now a study at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health substantiates those findings.

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Forbes contributor Steve Faktor put together a deconstruction of the major behavioral groups on Twitter, examining what they do, and what they get out of it.

Below, check out his results: the 10 Types of Twitterers.

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In a scientific statement published last week in the journal Circulation, the American Heart Association suggested that Facebook and Twitter hold promise in the fight against childhood obesity.

The study examined eight Internet-based randomized trials that reported weight loss, BMI change, physical activity and dietary intake as outcomes.

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