Since 2004, Technorati has been publishing its annual State of the Blogosphere survey, an insightful look at how blogging habits of individuals and companies continue to evolve. The details for the 2010 survey will be released in November, but Technorati is asking for your input now.

Facebook’s virtual currency, Credits, has emerged, seemingly from nowhere, as a huge potential money-spinner for the social network. Now we are getting a picture of just how big it could be, but can it ever hope to eat into PayPal’s lucrative market as the de-facto online payment system?

Corporate social media deployment has to start somewhere. Deutsche Bank, in a new piece of research, traces it to its origin to find out how companies are benefiting from web 2.0 investment. Some of its findings may surprise you:

Games on Facebook such as Farmville or Mafia Wars: chances are you either love them or hate them. Either way, the announcement of a dedicated games team for the social platform looks set to be good news. For the haters, say goodbye to annoying updates about your friends headed to the country market to sell virtual pies. For the gamers, there’s more reason to talk up your latest gaming exploits.

American Express is the latest brand to embrace social media publishing as a way of connecting with potential customers. The credit card giant has recruited money experts to help in its launch of a new financial services site called, simply enough, Currency, aimed specifically at helping recent university graduates better manage their income.

Social searching is getting smarter all the time (or so we hope), and Microsoft announced some further interesting developments on Bing Social this week. But how do the two heavyweights of social search, Google and Bing Social, match up? We measure them up here.

Whatever happened to Blockbuster? The movie-rental giant is closing stores in neighborhoods across the U.S., U.K. and parts of Europe, while online-only Netflix continues to flourish. The New York Times wraps up the story neatly today, pointing out Blockbuster failed to understand the market had moved beyond neighborhood stores. We look a bit closer and see another problem: a fraction of the public is talking up Blockbuster.

What do the marketing departments at PepsiCo, Kia Motors and Pizza Hut (and not just them) have in common? They’re all plotting participatory, social media-inspired ad campaigns that star–get ready for it–you! Is this a sign of bold marketing-think or the latest indication that the creative guys have plum run out of ideas?

Social media is no longer just about who you are and what you like – it’s increasingly about where you are. Facebook Places went live in the U.K. today, just as we read about McDonald’s latest success with a Foursquare marketing campaign. Is the enthusiasm for location services confined to early adopters, or are we seeing the start of a much wider phenomenon?

An “apps culture” is emerging among U.S. cell phone users, yet many are still unaware of what their phone can do, and some don’t even know if their phone has apps. Those are among the findings of new research by the Pew Internet Project, which suggests the apps market is some way ahead of most adult phone users.