Contributing to these figures was the implementation of EA’s pop-up Facebook store – powered by 8thBridge – designed to drive fan-purchases (an estimated 10 million +) and brand awareness ahead of launch. Via a dedicated tab on the Battlefield Facebook page, and through a news feed shared virally by gamers, fans were able to pre-order BF3 via Facebook, with the added bonus of gaming freebies (in the form of a physical warfare pack, play4free beret and gun)

That’s the finding of a new piece of research from digital marketing specialists at Web Liquid who calculate that posts with photos consistently generate the biggest response from the online public. And the worst? The plain old link.

Financial protection company Unum has realized that its pedalling its wares to a largely disengaged audience, and has launched a Facebook app with the view to making the process of protecting income a bit more inspiring. Any takers?

While it may be the ladies dragging their weary partners from store to store in pursuit of that perfect dress on a Saturday afternoon, a new study reveals that in the world of social shopping, men like to take their sweet time, too. More so than the girls, in fact.

If you are not yet familiar with the story of 22-year-old Molly Katchpole, you’d better listen up. Peeved about a new $5 monthly bank fee imposed by Bank of America, Katchpole logged on to Change.org a few weeks ago to start an online petition urging the bank to back off. That’s when things got interesting.

Last month we reported on the slowdown-defying market that is social media advertising using the latest multi-billion-dollar projection to come out of the U.S. Today, there’s fresh detail on the global picture, and again the numbers paint a rosy picture. It’s particularly good news if you happen to be a member of Facebook’s ad sales team.

The numbers are trending nicely for social media. A new piece of research out this week estimates the global social network ad spend will top $8 billion next year and approach $10 billion the year after. There’s another social media figure on the rise too: despite the increased investment in social, companies are getting blindsided by the social media-fueled PR crisis, as our recent research into this shows. Here then are a few important tips to consider for integrating social media into your crisis communications plan.

Despite launching nine months ago, and with the clout of mega brands like Marks & Spencer, IBM, Virgin Money and British Gas, sustainability campaign Start Today did not make the impact anticipated in its ‘One Day’ event yesterday.

What goes through the human mind when a crisis strikes? Panic? Meltdown? You’d be surprised. During moments of extreme adversity, well-prepared teams can do extraordinary things – identify the heart of the problem, devise a plan of attack and return the operation to “business as usual.” Veteran crisis communications trainer Neil Chapman offers us some key insights, starting with some lessons from a must-read book.

Matt McAlister, Director of Digital Strategy at Guardian Media Group, spoke at the SMI11 conference about the future of social, mobile and local targeting – or “SoMoLo” for short – and its impact on communities a few months back. We caught up with McAlister again this week to discuss the beta launch of n0tice