The economic outlook may look bleak, but it’s not likely to dent spending on social media marketing. A new study of small- and mid-sized businesses shows a healthy optimism for a strong return on social media investment, and, accordingly, an increased investment in this area. Their big focus? Yep, Twitter and Facebook.

Yes, it’s still a week to go before the Christmas lights are “officially” illuminated along Regent Street, but we want to get a jump on the season anyhow with our first (of many) reviews of the latest social shopping apps to hit the market in recent weeks. Here, we review Starbucks, Amazon, Walmart, and Debenhams, grading each.

We ask this question after Twitter revealed to the New York Times its latest growth figures in a profile this weekend of co-founder Evan Williams. Twitter has added an impressive 30 million users in the last two months, putting it at 175 million, far ahead of Facebook at the same point in its life cycle.

Okay, this factoid is a few days old, but it’s still worth noting. ComScore released last week its latest online audience reach numbers for social networks in the U.S. The winner? Yep. Facebook. By a mile.

New research suggests perhaps they should. We’ve known for a while now that Facebook fans tend to be a brand’s most vocal consumers and biggest advocates (not to mention, critics) too. But are they more likely to buy? Indeed they are.

Reuters’ latest vision of the transformative impact of social media holds lessons for not just big media, but big brands as well. Take a look.

Surely, they fade into the ether, never to be heard from or seen again. Not so for the Old Spice “I’m on a horse” spot. It may have fallen off Advertising Age’s “Viral Chart” late last month, but it’s getting new life from impersonators: Sesame Street’s Grover and the Blendtec guys.

Gap, the slumping clothing chain, has been feeling the heat these past few days after introducing a new corporate logo on its homepage, one that critics grumble looks like a logo for a bank, or worse, a medical supply chain. When hundreds of disapproving comments piled up on its Facebook wall, on Twitter and in blogs, Gap responded by turning the flap into an exercise in crowdsourcing. It now wants to solicit design ideas from you. Could this mean curtains for high-priced creative boutiques?

Facebook’s big announcement on Wednesday is a new feature that gives users the ability to categorize friends into smaller, targeted groups with the ability to share and converse with them individually or on a group level. It’s a great idea for organizations and brands looking to further target their message, but there’s just one catch: Sorry, this feature (for the moment anyhow) is not meant for you.

Twitter engineers revealed a bit more detail about their ongoing revamp of the platform’s search capabilities. The upshot: the upgrade means Twitter will do an even better job of indexing Tweets in real-time to help it keep up with the incredible strains on the network as usage soars.