British police say that over 100,000 crimes have been linked to Facebook since 2005

"Crimes linked to Facebook reached more than 100,000 across the country in the last five years, it emerged yesterday.
Police chiefs in 16 forces revealed that 7,545 calls from the public since January were concerned with the social networking site.
Callers have alerted officers to alleged acts of terrorism, sudden deaths, missing pets and even firearms offences.
Facebook users have used to site to detect crimes ranging from terrorism to missing pets
Frauds, sexual offences and hate crimes were also reported to police, as well as a large number of malicious messages on the site.
The figures have been obtained by the Daily Mail via Freedom of Information Act requests to forces.
They compare to just 1,411 calls related to Facebook to police in the whole of 2005, when the network began to gain popularity."

Source:  Daily Mail, 14th December 2010

Spotify's top tracks & top albums in the UK in 2010

Top tracks
1. Lady Gaga – Telephone
2. Bob – Airplanes [feat. Hayley Williams of Paramore] - Explicit Album Version
3. Lady Gaga – Bad Romance
4. Mumford & Sons – The Cave
5. Rihanna – Rude Boy
6. Mumford & Sons – Little Lion Man
7. Florence + The Machine – You’ve Got The Love
8. Jason Derulo – Ridin’ Solo
9. Usher featuring will.i.am – OMG
10. Iyaz – Replay
11. Florence + The Machine – Dog Days Are Over
12. Jay-Z – Empire State Of Mind [Jay-Z + Alicia Keys] - Explicit Album Version
13. Ellie Goulding – Starry Eyed
14. Journey – Don’t Stop Believin’
15. Katy Perry – California Gurls (feat. Snoop Dogg)
16. 3OH!3 – STARSTRUKK - FEAT.KATYPERRY
17. Ke$ha – TiK ToK
18. Train – Hey, Soul Sister
19. Lady Gaga – Alejandro
20. Tinie Tempah – Pass Out
Source:  Spotify, December 2010 - follow the link to see the top 100.


Top albums
1. The Fame Monster by Lady Gaga
2. Lungs by Florence + The Machine
3. Sigh No More by Mumford & Sons
4. xx by The xx
5. Rated R by Rihanna
6. Jason Derulo by Jason Derulo
7. Animal by Ke$ha
8. THE E.N.D. (THE ENERGY NEVER DIES) by Black Eyed Peas
9. The Element Of Freedom by Alicia Keys
10. The Blueprint 3 by Jay-Z
11. Lights by Ellie Goulding
12. Only Revolutions by Biffy Clyro
13. Sunny Side Up by Paolo Nutini
14. brand new eyes by Paramore
15. The Sound Of The Smiths by The Smiths
16. My Worlds by Justin Bieber
17. I AM…SASHA FIERCE by Beyoncé
18. Turn it Up by Pixie Lott
19. The Family Jewels by Marina and The Diamonds
20. Shock Value II by Timbaland
Source:  Spotify, December 2010 - follow the link to see the top 100.

79% of American mothers are active on social media

"The US-based study found that 79% of all moms with children under the age of 18 were active on social media. The study broadly defines active as someone who currently belongs to a social network, or who reads, writes or comments on blogs.
Marketers will want to perk up for these next results: 23% of these social media moms have purchased a children’s product as a result of a review or recommendation they read on social media. And the most active moms are even more influenced by their online social networks, with 43% of those who log on at least once a day report purchasing based on a review they read online.
Of those who report purchasing a children’s product because of something they read on their social networks, 55% said that this recommendation came directly from a personal review blog – not a corporate-sponsored Twitter account or online advertisement on the side of Google search.
And Facebook is, of course, a huge influencer as well. 40% of the moms who report purchasing something because of what they read online said that the recommendation that drove them to make the purchase came from Facebook."
Source:  Data from NPG Groiup, reported by Social Times, 13th December 2010

72% of Britons access social networks while in bed

"Web-obsessed Britons spend an average of 16 minutes surfing their social networks while laying in bed, a study shows.
A survey reveals that 72 per cent of people update their social networking profiles from bed
The survey, conducted by Travelodge, found that 72 per cent of adults update their social networking profiles from under the duvet, spending an average of 16 minutes per night checking Facebook, Twitter and other social sites.
The peak time for bed-based social networking was found to be 9.45am, with 18 per cent of those questioned admitting to accessing Twitter at that time."
Source:  The Telegraph, 14th December 2010

More than 50% of internet users in Africa use mobile as their main internet connection

"Data from mobile survey company, On Device Research, has put some meat on the bones of some industry received wisdom – that people in emerging markets overwhelmingly used mobile devices and not the PC to connect to the internet.
Here are the main stats.
The percentage of mobile internet browsers who never or infrequently use the desktop Internet
US - 25%
UK - 22%
Egypt - 70%
India  - 59%
South Africa - 57%
Ghana  - 55%
Kenya  - 54%
Nigeria  - 50%
Indonesia  - 44%
Thailand  - 32%
China  - 30%
Russia  - 19%
Asia (India, China, Indonesia, Thailand) - 43%
Africa (South Africa, Egypt, Ghana, Nigeria, Kenya) - 56%
* Infrequent mobile internet browsers use it once a month or less"
Source:  Data from On Device Research, reported by Mobile Entertainment, 14th December 2010

The most popular terms mentioned in Facebook status updates 2010

Click to enlarge

Source:  Facebook blog, 14th December 2010
Note - HMU stands for 'Hit Me Up' which basically means 'Talk To Me' or 'Invite Me To Something'
You can see examples of this being used here.

Americans spend as much time online as they do watching TV (Updated & disputed)

"Americans are now spending as many hours online as they do in front of their TV screens, according to a survey released by Forrester on Monday.
The average American now spends roughly 13 hours per week using the Internet and watching TV offline, Forrester finds, based on its survey of more than 30,000 customers. The Internet has long captivated the attention of younger Americans to a greater extent than TV and is now proving more popular to Gen X (ages 31 to 44) for the first time ever. Younger Baby Boomers (ages 45 to 54) are spending the same amount of time per week using both media.
While the amount of time Americans spend watching TV has remained roughly the same in the past five years, Internet use has increased by 121% in the same time frame."

Source:  Data from Forrester Research, Inc, reported by Mashable, 13th December 2010
Update - some beg to differ:
"The problem is Forrester’s findings don’t remotely square with existing measurement on TV and internet usage. While the study found that in January and February of 2010 consumers reported spending 13 hours per week on both TV and internet, data from Nielsen and comScore (NSDQ:SCOR - News), arguably the most reliable sources for measurement of TV and internet usage, offer a markedly different picture.
ESPN plans to meet Wednesday with Forrester, which counts the sports juggernaut as a client, to share its concerns. “Our fundamental concern is that, in a very confusing media landscape, we’re trying to answer very important questions about the behaviors of consumers,” said Dave Coletti, vice president of digital media research and analytics at ESPN (NYSE:DIS - News). “It’s imperative that we answer questions with the right methods.”
In the first quarter of 2010, Nielsen clocked weekly usage at 38 hours and 44 minutes, nearly three times what Forrester found. Over the same time frame, comScore’s account of internet usage was 7 hours and 24 minutes, about half of what Forrester found.
Why these numbers are so divergent cuts to the heart of the difficulties ESPN has with this Forrester study. The Forrester numbers are entirely based on self-reporting, or what the 30,000 respondents to the survey say is their consumption habits. But that’s a subjective metric different from the kind of metered measurement Nielsen and comScore do. They may have their own well-documented faults, but are at least they’re objective.
But what’s more troubling to Glenn Enoch, vice president of integrated research at ESPN, is that in media-research circles, self-reporting is known to be notoriously slippery. “It’s something we’re generally careful about,” he said.
To wit: In a Video Consumer Mapping study conducted last year by Ball State University Center for Media Design that is widely regarded as a landmark piece of research, one of the key findings noted, “Serious caution needs to be applied in interpreting self-report data for media use. TV was substantially under-reported while online video and mobile video usage were over-reported.”"
Source:  Yahoo Finance/PaidContent, 15th December 2010