52% had commented on a friend’s post over that same time period. Millennials (ranging from 18-29 years old) now comprise one-fifth of American adults. This age group is 53% more likely than all U.S. adults to feel that social media sites are very important for finding information about news and current events, according to a new report from Scarborough Research. few highlights from the report: 60% of respondents had visited a friend’s page or profile during the previous 30 days. 49% had updated a status. 48% participated in email and messaging activities. 41% posted a picture. MORE >>

According to Cindy Chen, the marketing director for Oreo at Kraft Foods, the daily ads are “to show the world how relevant this brand is now” by commenting on “real-time happenings.” Since the first Daily Twist on June 25 through the ad on August 20th, the brand has seen an average increase of 110% in ‘likes,’ comments and shares on social media, Ms. Social media has taken on a big role as Oreo cookies celebrate their 100th anniversary this year. But Oreo also wanted to show the relevance of the brand today – and for that Kraft turned to social media. MORE >>

Audi averages 1,423 “likes” and 34 comments per photo – and the brand generally posts one photo per day. Four in 10 of the Interbrand Top 100 brands are now on Instagram, according to a new study by Simply Measured. The mobile-only photo sharing app began 2012 with just 15 million users and was only available via iPhone; now, Instagram is also available via Android, and the press that came with Facebook’s acquisition of the app saw numbers swell to 80 million. How active are these top brands on Instagram? 37 have an active profile. MORE >>

Commentators , who individually have little influence but as a collective form the trend of opinion around a subject. “Influence without context is irrelevant,” says the new TweetLevel how to page , and anyone who has followed my rants and reports on influence measurement knows that is music to my ears. This week TweetLevel launched a new version of its influence measurement tool that adds context to the influencer scoring in two important ways:  topic and influencer types. Influence: How Information Flows Between People. Influence: Far More Than A Score. and web links. MORE >>

Despite these party differences, it seems that individuals in either party seldom use social networks to proclaim their own political views: 84% of users have posted little or nothing related to politics in recent status updates/comments/links. Over one-third of social network users consider sites like Facebook and Twitter “very” or “somewhat” important for keeping up with political news, and fully one-quarter (25%) see these sites as a place for debating political issues. The Pew survey was conducted Jan. 20 to Feb. MORE >>