Nielsen BuzzMetrics. If you’re familiar with terms like product placement and slotting fees, and your brand is familiar to consumers through prime time TV advertising, you should probably evaluate this tool. Nielsen’s monitoring covers more than 100 million blogs, social networking sites, discussion boards and other sites where consumers can post content. Forrester Research has named Nielsen a leader in brand monitoring solutions, saying “the vendor has the strongest strategic vision and currently competes at a scale unmatched by any other competitor.&#. MORE >>

A couple of reports were released in the last week that highlight how people are using Social Media – by two well respected research firms. First, the folks at Nielsen give us their April 2012 Internet usage report. Yes, with the recent IPO fiasco and the gloom-and-doom reporting of the inefficiency of Facebook advertising you could come to the conclusion that Facebook is a waste of time. While it is easy to get blinded by the numbers, a look inside can reveal some facts that can help you focus your Social Media marketing strategy. Don’t buy into that. SMThree. MORE >>

53% of employers now research candidates on social networks before hiring. Researchers To Marketers: Go Social, Mobile by MediaPost Online Media Daily. Les Luchter looks at research showing that 10% of all website visits to the top 1,000 web properties come from social sharing, half as much as from search. Shea Bennett examines research finding that, no surprise, the user base on LinkedIn skews older than on other social networks: more than half of all members are aged 36-65, with just 6% younger than 22. ” B2B Marketing Research and Statistics. hours. MORE >>

And her most repeated forecast — the prediction that more people will access the Internet on a mobile device than on a personal computer by 2015 — is a key data point that continues to get play in industry presentations, conferences and research around the globe. Her latest research was unveiled this week at the Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco,  where she provided an inside look at the latest in mobile trends globally , including mobile penetration, mobile usage and mobile advertising spend (still out of sync with actual mobile use, by the way). MORE >>

And then it was time to learn about Social TV from Mike Hess at Nielsen. The most interesting parts of Mike’s presentation, though, was when he discussed how Nielsen is paying particular attention to the multi-taskers – the people who watch TV while participating on the social networks. Nielsen is looking at the evolution of an increase in ratings, as they compare to an increase in online buzz. Think about that if you’re a television advertiser. was furiously taking notes! Social TV. He began by describing the amount of time people still (STILL!) MORE >>