One of the most crowded fields of social enterprise software — social media monitoring — just got more cut-throat with Salesforce.com entering the market in the form of a $326 million buyout of Radian6 earlier today. Has the great social media measurement shakeout finally begun?

Syncapse is somewhat of an all-encompassing social media resource for brands. Its platforms offers state-of-the-art social media monitoring technology, and it offers consulting services to help build and maintain a vibrant branded social media presence across various channels.

The evolution of online video, you could say, took a step backwards last week with Warner Bros. stepping up as the first Hollywood studio to cut a Facebook distribution deal, streaming rentals of “The Dark Knight” for three bucks a pop. To some online video experts, it’s not the price tag, but the experience that has them grumbling. Batman fans are confined to viewing the entire film off-site, on Facebook.

That’s one of the big findings we pull from new research published by Forrester, which is predicting a nearly 20-fold increase in the apps marketplace by 2015. While the enterprise end of the market may not be big now, it is expected to take off in the next two years to claim nearly half that market share.

There’s been a flurry of media interest lately in the importance of hiring dedicated social media positions throughout the organisation. Both US News & World Report and Fortune magazine have picked up on the trend …

How much budget are the most pioneering firms allocating to social media? According to a new survey of corporate communications and marketing specialists, anywhere from 5-15% of the “overall external communications budgets” is being earmarked for social. It’s better than the sums we saw just two years ago, but how exactly is that supposed to cover costs on a year-round “holistic” communications strategy?

Fortune 500 companies are showing off their social acumen with more regularity, in particular, increasing their blogging and Twitter activity in 2009, a new study out this week says. But there are no gold stars for this sector. The Fortune 500 still lags behind the younger, faster growing Inc. 500 in terms of social media uptake.

Dell LogoIt’s a question that gets posed regularly within an organization: just how many people within the company should be trained to blog, Tweet or post on behalf of the brand? The answer?

A meteoric rise in popularity for social media in recent years has companies scrambling to understand its impact on how they operate. For training and learning within large organisations, social media makes existing practices appear outdated. Clearly, equipping colleagues with the skills and insights to compete in a fast-changing global marketplace requires a step change in approach.

According to a recent Nielsen study, nine out of ten consumers trust their online peers more than marketers. Businesses are always looking carefully at their customer engagement strategies to distinguish their customer service from the competition, and never more than now with social media starting to have a major influence on consumer behavior.