These may very well be Colonel Muammar Gaddafi’s final days as top dog in Libya, but he’s not going down without a fight. On Thursday evening he delivered a rambling rant of an appeal for calm to state TV condemning opposition forces as – get this – nothing more than “protesters… fueled by milk and Nescafe spiked with hallucinogenic drugs.” And today? The opposition forces remain undeterred, but Nescafe is getting a nice spike on Twitter.

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?

Last month we looked at growth trends for each of the big social media publishing channels, namely, Facebook, Twitter and blogs. Not all of you agreed with our conclusion: that blogging is an activity that, at best, is leveling off. At worst, it’s an activity in decline. The New York Times is now jumping on this discussion meme, declaring that today’s twentysomethings no longer blog, a further sign that fewer people can find the time.

Twitter admitted in its own research a few weeks back that the typical user has to view a hashtag at least four or five times “before it really clicks.” The message was clear to Promoted Tweets advertisers: ratchet up the Tweets if you want to be seen. Is Facebook any more effective?

As the Sun reminds us today: celebs are hot for Twitter and Facebook. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Stephen Fry have massive fan/follower bases that hang on their every Tweet and update, a potential bonanza for brands with Twitter-savvy celeb spokespeople. Ah, but not so fast. New rules in the UK designed to protect the public from the celebrity-endorsed Tweet could impact this practice before it gets a chance to take off.

Google has unveiled overnight a series of upgrades to its now two-year-old project to make its search results more personal social. Starting today, you’ll see item like your colleague’s Tweets and your friend’s Facebook “like” recommendations interspersed in the search results.

Last week, we got a 2010 report card on the Web-based side of the digital economy. Today comScore releases its mobile year-in-review, and it is a completely different story this time around with Asia clobbering us here in the West with an overwhelming majority using their handsets every day to take part in the social web, download content and make purchases via mobile wallets.

After reading in today’s Wall Street Journal that private investors are valuing gaming developer Zynga at between $8 billion and $10 billion, and then this beaut in the New York Times – that JP Morgan is looking to raise up to $750 million for a social media investment fund – I figured it’s now time to get out a scrap of paper and compare the present, pre-IPO multiples as we know them for the next batch of Nasdaq darlings. The numbers remind me of another heady period a dozen years ago.

2010 was a good year for e-commerce and online advertising, and a great year for Facebook and Twitter. It was another rough year for Yahoo, AOL and email. ComScore delivers its 2010 U.S. Digital Year in Review report, packed with interesting data points that we’ll quickly summarize here.

That’s the big conclusion drawn from the 2011 Edelman Trust Barometer, the details of which were revealed yesterday at the WEF forum in Davos. And where do our friends and peers rank? They are losing ground. Fast.