This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week, including how much a Facebook fan is worth, insights on social ads from Buzzfeed, and touchscreen paper.   How Much is One Facebook Fan Worth?   Researchers have recently come up with an improved value of how much one Facebook fan is worth. So just how much is that little thumbs up worth per fan? About $174, which is a 28% increase since 2010, according to the social media marketing firm Syncapse. The firm did a study based on thousands of panelists in January and February comparing Facebook fans and non-fans in categories such as product spending, brand loyalty, propensity to recommend, media value, cost of acquisition, and brand affinity. Althought $174 is an average, it varies from brand to brand as seen in the graph below:   (more...)

This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week, featuring what "going viral" looks like, brands are missing tweets about them, and when to post on Facebook. (more...)

A new study by the Pew Internet project of the Pew Research Center has shed new light on social media users. The study breaks down the demographic information for each social network, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram.

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[typography font="Lobster" size="26"][dropcap]T[/dropcap][/typography]     his week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week, including Google criticizing Facebook, 10 mistakes businesses make on LinkedIn, Tumblr's success, 2012's top social media updates, and Starz's final season.   Google Slams Facebook's Interruptive Ads and 'Like-Gate' The major online conglomerates have not been playing nicely this week. On Wednesday Bing launched a “Don’t Get Scroogled” campaign against Google’s practice of selling their shopping results. Later that day Google VP, Bradley Horowitz, spoke out against Facebook’s advertising practices at a public talk at the Ignition Conference in New York.   During his talk, Horowitz argued that Facebook’s practice of filtering posts and reliance on algorithms, (what he called “like-gate”) disrupts user’s personal interactions. Instead, Horowitz argued that Google+’s structure, which is largely devoid of ads, is beneficial to users “by not having their most human moments interrupted by ‘the monetization agenda’ of profit-hungry social networks.” Horowitz hopes that this will further the critical discussion of Facebook’s advertising practices and bring new users to Google+.   10 Mistakes Your Business Might Be Making on LinkedIn This week Alyson Shontell from Business Insider spoke with LinkedIn’s senior manager of corporate communications, Krista Canfield, to discover how companies can better utilize the social media platform. Her suggestions include following competitors, encourage employees to fill out their profiles to completion, link the company LinkedIn profile to the business’ website, create customer groups, foster group discussions, and more.   Tumblr Breaks Into Top 10 U.S. Sites  This week, Quantcast reported that Tumblr is now one of the top 10 most trafficked websites in the US., with a worldwide audience of 170 million people. Worldwide, the blog site welcomes more than 168 million unique viewers each month. Over the last month alone, Tumblr’s US and global traffic has increased by 10%. In a statement released on the company blog, founder and CEO David Karp, congratulated employees on the fact that they have “earned an audience bigger than the biggest TV networks.”

Top 16 Most Important Social Media Updates of 2012 As the year starts to come to a close, HubSpot looks back on the most important social media updates that have occurred in 2012. Ranking at the top of their list is Global Brand Pages. These pages allow marketers to be more efficient as they “maintain just one Facebook page URL, but route fans to different versions of the page based on their location.” Other important developments include mobile-only Facebook ads, tailored trends, Twitter cover photos, LinkedIn Community Pages, and more.   Starz Uses Transmedia to Promote Final Season of 'Spartacus' As “Spartacus: War of the Damned” returns for its final season this January, the Starz networks has created a complementary, multi-screen experience for fans to compete with one another. The experience links to Facebook and Twitter and requires that users download a mobile app. Fans are rewarded for their participation with “three hours of bonus video content, an opportunity to unlock the first episode ahead of the premier, and a shot at an all-expense-paid trip to Italy.”  

Other social media articles from last week that you may enjoy:

• How LinkedIn Plans to Solve the World's Skills Gap
• Turkey Day was Instagram's Busiest Day Ever, With 10 Million+ Thanksgiving Photos Shared At Up to 226 Per Second
• How to Build a Brand on the Internet [Infographic]
• Yet Another Shift in Facebook Policies Raises Privacy Concerns
• Vimeo Rising as Online Video Platform
• LinkedIn's New Endorsement Feature: Great Tool or Cop-Out?
• Three Ways to Use Twitter for Q&A at a Live Event

This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week, including Pinterest opening their registration for everyone, Oregon's Quack Cave", Tumblr's original content hub, and the 10 Olympic advertisers that have won the biggest buzz from social TV. (more...)

This week's #SoMash is here with the top stories from last week including Pinterest's unique social media capabilities, Six ways to get fans to return to your Facebook page, The Minnesota Timberwolves' newest social media site, The first ever Stumble Games, and Why Olympic athletes have to watch their social media activity. (more...)

The most clicked stories from this week's #Sports e-newsletter include: The percentage of fans following sports on social media, an app designed specifically for sports fans on Twitter, the top must-follow Twitter accounts for the NBA finals, a study of NHL fan engagement and EURO 2012's most engaging football teams on social media.   For these stories and more, read below and subscribe to #Sports. 1. 1 in 4 American Fans Follow Sports via Social Media [STUDY] ...26% of sports fans use social media to follow leagues, teams and players in 2012, says the survey by the Perform sports media group. In a similar survey conducted last year, that number was just 15%...   2. Northstar Studies NHL Fan Engagement ...Findings include key takeaways regarding the effectiveness of advertising to various groups based on age and gender, as well as the levels of engagement and viewing habits across different segments of the Canadian population - including a surprising number of highly-engaged female hockey fans...   3. 11 Must-Follow Twitter Accounts for NBA Finals ...Of course, we won’t know who actually wins until June 19 at the earliest — and possibly not until June 26, when a decisive Game 7 showdown would take place in Oklahoma. For now, fans of both teams will keep up with news, find expert analysis and talk trash in one particular place — Twitter...   4. New App Designed for Sports Fans on Twitter ...That was the beginning of SportStream, a free application for the iPad that was just approved by Apple and is expected to go live on Thursday. The new program offers curated Twitter feeds for major games that focus on posts from the most popular users based on an evolving credibility database. Fans also can check into games on Facebook and invite friends, as well as talk trash with others in another area of the app...   5. Who is EURO's Most Engaging Football Team on Social Media? ...The data shows who is top of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube – as well as some insights around who has received the most engagement on Facebook and YouTube...   Other articles that you may enjoy:

• MLB All-Star Game to be 'most social event in baseball history'
• Arizona Cardinals setting up social media lounge
• Best Sports Teams on Tumblr
• How 'Social' are the London 2012 Olympic Sponsors?
• Who Wins the NBA Social Media Finals? [INFOGRAPHIC]

  We are working to make the #Sports e-newsletter and community among the best in class in the sports marketing industry. If you have any feedback or constructive criticism that will improve the #Sports experience, share your thoughts with us in the comments below, and of course, please subscribe below if you haven't already!