ShortStack, which helps clients with Facebook contests, forms, and other page enhancements, has conducted a study of its users to get a sense of why they host contests and what works best. ShortStack users, according to a company spokesperson, are a mixture of PR and advertising pros, social media managers, graphic designers, and small business owners.

According to the survey, 57.7 percent of the respondents had run a Facebook contest and 82.4 percent of those respondents said the contest met their goals. ShortStack received 788 responses to the survey.

So what were the goals? As you can see from the portion of the infographic that we’ve attached above, most people just wanted to increase “likes.”

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Facebook IPO talk is heating up again with sources saying the company’s valuation could reach $100 billion by the time it goes public. Sources also suspect the IPO could happen Q1 2012. If this IPO doesn’t happen by then, the company could be valued at 100 billion kajillion dollars! These suspicions come amid a report from Inside Facebook that traffic on the site is dropping is certain geographic locations.

Cision has created Cision Global Analysts, a new business unit that will create custom research based on news and social media data. K. C. Brown has been appointed GM of Cision Global Analysts. He was most recently SVP of analysis services. The company has also launched Cision Index, which provides ongoing information about how earned media for 30 brands is tracking. Those brands include Walmart, Bank of America, Google, and Paypal.

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