That’s the conclusion of the latest comScore study which finds that women spend far more time than men online connecting with their social network of friends and acquaintances. Perhaps that’s not surprising until you consider that women, on average, spend roughly 90 minutes more per month on social networks than men. That amounts to 5.5 hours/month for women on the likes of Facebook, Twitter and YouTube compared to about 4 hours for men.

With the electric car market finally volting up manufacturers are turning to social media to inform and inspire a still skeptical public. General Motors this week is using its considerable social media prowess to build buzz behind the Chevy Volt electronic vehicle (EV). The momentum is already starting to build on the walls of Facebook.

Reuters’ Leslie Gevirtz kicked up a bit of a fuss earlier this week when she reported how French winemakers are still a bit too snobby when it comes to social media marketing, particularly when compared to more net-savvy New World producers. She based some of her reportage on a recent study conducted by My Social Winery that detailed just how anti-social French winemakers are. The results may surprise you.

Is the car show headed for the scrap heap? The auto industry is buzzing today after Ford debuted the new 2011 Ford Explorer model to the public in a brand new way: ditching the closed-door feel of the auto show and instead bringing the new model straight to its Facebook fans.

Creativity can be a powerful force, particularly in the world of cause-related marketing. But can so-called “good creative” motivate us to change our rigid ways? What if it’s to make the world a better place?

With a surge of nearly 200,000 new Facebook fans in the past month, the Old Spice viral video campaign featuring “The man your man could smell like” could very well be considered one of the most successful fully integrated campaigns yet. New fans are a great thing for the marketing department to tout, but, of course, the execs upstairs want to know: do new fans actually correspond to an improved top-line? The Old Spice team is already being bombarded with the question.

No, we’re not talking about this page. Ford Motor Co. has been running the ultimate give-away promotion in the run-up to the relaunch of the 2011 Ford Explorer. If enough people click “Like” on the official Ford Explorer Facebook page then one of those fans earns the chance to win the brand new SUV. We’ve seen other “Like” give-aways before, including for fancy lingerie that succeeds in amassing a quick surge of bargain-hunting fans. But what could the chance to drive home a brand new $30,000 car bring in in terms of new Facebook fans?

In the growing list of social media marketing #fails, Coca-Cola’s recently pulled Dr. Pepper Facebook campaign marks a new twist on an old marketing axiom: never underestimate your most influential market — moms. Mommy bloggers trump all in influence. That much we know. The Dr. Pepper campaign also proves they even understand raunchy porn references that get giggles from the guys in creative, but go over the heads of the starched shirts in marketing. Busted!

Many of you have commented on the one-on-one interview we did recently with Alexandra Wheeler, director of digital strategy at Starbucks. We thought we would also point you to her full SMI keynote presentation where she details how Starbucks built arguably the most successful social media brand marketing strategy. A hint: “it’s about relationships, not marketing,” she says.

I had the chance to speak to Ruth Speakman of Sony Europe on the sidelines of Social Media Influence where I posed the question: how did you get “social media” in your title and how is Sony Europe implementing this social discipline across such a vast organization? This is what she had to say: