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.

A few weeks ago, print publishers added to the pessimistic chorus of an imminent ad slump when The New York Times reported dismal Q3 numbers. That seems like a distant memory today as a new forecast predicts yet more bullish growth for one brash new sector – social networks.

LinkedIn’s $9 billion stock market debut last month may have stunned many on Wall Street, but it couldn’t have been much of a surprise to the denizens of Sand Hill Road. In the months prior to the LNKD IPO, venture capitalists had been placing huge bets on social networks of all shapes and sizes.

As I type, the LinkedIn (LNKD for you day-traders out there) IPO still has yet to open for its inaugural day of trading and already tech and finance journalists are buzzing about what this will mean for investors, every-day business managers and the entire social media IPO pipeline, some of it silly speculation, some of it precious nuggets of insights.

Last month we went in-depth looking at the trends, activities and passions driving the U.S. online market in 2010. Today, we look at Europe as comScore publishes its 2010 Europe Digital Year in Review. Like in the U.S., there were some big winners and losers.

It’s not sporty of us (or anyone) to pick on MySpace, but it’s worth putting its spectacular decline into perspective. And we do so here in a new chart that makes us wonder: will MySpace be around in another six months?

The influence game is a complex and much misunderstood one, particularly when it comes to the social media world. It’s important to understand from the outset that lots of big numbers may not mean a big influence. So how do we determine who is the linchpin? Who is the real person starting and guiding conversations online? Who should we sit up and listen to?

A recent study sponsored by the Social Media Success Summit suggested that 88% of businesses were using social media networks for marketing with the most commonly used platforms being Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

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.

Social media users are getting older. According to the latest research by Flowtown, the average social media participant is 37-years-old, and the fastest growing demographic is 50-plus. But don’t worry about mom third-wheeling your Facebook page. She is feeling right at home with her favorite social brands.