Content, you may have heard, is king again. And curated content at that. After half a decade’s dalliance with crowdsourcing, user-generated content and giving up “control” brands once more have realized they have a responsibility and a right to tell their own stories.

These may very well be Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s final days as top dog in Libya, but he’s not going down without a fight. On Thursday evening he delivered a rambling rant of an appeal for calm to state TV condemning opposition forces as – get this – nothing more than “protesters… fueled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs.” And today? The opposition forces remain undeterred, but Nescafe is getting a nice spike on Twitter.

The influence game is a complex and much misunderstood one, particularly when it comes to the social media world. It’s important to understand from the outset that lots of big numbers may not mean a big influence. So how do we determine who is the linchpin? Who is the real person starting and guiding conversations online? Who should we sit up and listen to?

Last month we looked at growth trends for each of the big social media publishing channels, namely, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Not all of you agreed with our conclusion: that blogging is an activity that, at best, is leveling off. At worst, it’s an activity in decline. The New York Times is now jumping on this discussion meme, declaring that today’s twentysomethings no longer blog, a further sign that fewer people can find the time.

McAfee, the IT security company, along with viral video specialists Oddcast, launched an interactive Facebook campaign earlier this month to help inspire more responsible web surfing. The strategy was sound, and the online video was catchy, but was the Internet duly inspired?

Twitter admitted in its own research a few weeks back that the typical user has to view a hashtag at least four or five times “before it really clicks.” The message was clear to Promoted Tweets advertisers: ratchet up the Tweets if you want to be seen. Is Facebook any more effective?

As the Sun reminds us today: celebs are hot for Twitter and Facebook. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Stephen Fry have massive fan/follower bases that hang on their every Tweet and update, a potential bonanza for brands with Twitter-savvy celeb spokespeople. Ah, but not so fast. New rules in the UK designed to protect the public from the celebrity-endorsed Tweet could impact this practice before it gets a chance to take off.

Google has unveiled overnight a series of upgrades to its now two-year-old project to make its search results more personal social. Starting today, you’ll see item like your colleague’s Tweets and your friend’s Facebook “like” recommendations interspersed in the search results.

Last week, we got a 2010 report card on the Web-based side of the digital economy. Today comScore releases its mobile year-in-review, and it is a completely different story this time around with Asia clobbering us here in the West with an overwhelming majority using their handsets every day to take part in the social web, download content and make purchases via mobile wallets.

Well, it’s Facebook official. Mattel, the iconic toy company, has reunited its most famous couple in a monthlong social media campaign just in time for Valentine’s Day. Was the boost in romance enough to goose Facebook fans, too? Here are the results.