@RushLimbaugh: They said it couldn't B done! That my #righteousaura was #2large2tweet! But its come 2 pass! Welcome, #dittoheads! 2 the @RushLimbaugh Twitter feed. @RushLimbaugh: Now I no ur used 2 Rush in audio. U might say "Rush, y reinvent the wheel? Wasn't radio good enuf? And isn't Twitter based in SF? Can we trust these #shiftlessbohemians?" @RushLimbaugh: But fear not, loyal #dittoheads! Rush wont let social media get the better of him. You see, I have a plan #deskknock @RushLimbaugh: but I need ur help

With multiple missions underway around the world, the U.S. military is constantly shuffling personnel (and their families) between locations all over the planet. And while moving thousands of people long distances poses any number of logistical challenges, it's no surprise that the human element -- feelings of dislocation, loneliness, homesickness, or just not knowing your way around a new place -- has often been neglected as a touchy-feely "non-mission critical" issue.

Here's yet another nifty, unexpected application of high-powered social media analytics: social media analysis can be used to predict unemployment trends, giving an early warning of economic downturns, according to new research by SAS and UN Global Pulse, a UN think tank, drawing on social media conversations in the U.S. and Ireland from June 2009-June 2011.

As the viral video "Kony 2012" leaves no doubt, Joseph Kony, the man who leads the Lord's Resistance Army in Uganda, is a bad, bad man. The video, produced by Invisible Children and disseminated via email and social networks, has also demonstrated the ability of social media to spread knowledge and ideas, including awareness of injustice in other parts of the world. There's no question that millions of people were moved by the video, and want to do something.

Advertisers are getting access to mountains of information about consumers from social media and other digital sources, but by their own accounts are still largely failing to exploit this "Big Data," according to "Marketing ROI in the Era of Big Data," a study presented by Columbia University Business School professors and the New York American Marketing Associatino at the Brite conference hosted by the Business School on March 5-6.

While government spooks are sniffing around social media for surveillance purposes, there's a less intimidating side to social media monitoring, which also enables quicker responses to natural disasters. In fact the American Red Cross has set up a Digital Operations Center to track social media in the immediate aftermath of disasters, letting the organization know where to allocate personnel and resources to assist with recovery.

One of social media's most useful applications is for market intelligence, canvassing what consumers think about brands and their competitors. Meanwhile advertisers are increasingly interested in the attitudes, perceptions, and consumption patterns of Hispanic consumers -- easily the fastest-growing ethnic group and market segment in the U.S. today. It was only a matter of time, therefore, before someone created online communities focusing on Hispanics to serve as consumer panels for market research. In fact, two new ones just launched in the last week alone.

Worries about privacy and security raised by social media have something of a halo effect, spilling over into purchase decisions for important items like smartphones and tablet computers, as well as guiding choices about which companies they do business with, according to a study by Edelman, titled "Privacy & Security: The New Drivers of Brand, Reputation and Action Global Insights 2012."

Facebook may be the 800-pound gorilla of the social networking world, but it faces challenges from a number of aspiring, 50-pouns gorillas -- and I'm not talking about Google+ (which is more of a 200-pound gorilla anyway). The new contenders have some advantages on their side, including launching in high-engagement areas like social gaming.

The growth of the world's largest social network is slowing in the U.S., which isn't really much of a surprise, considering that it already has about a third of the population. In 2011 Facebook had about 133 million U.S. users, according to eMarketer, up 14% from 117 million in 2010. This year eMarketer predicts that Facebook will grow to 141 million users, which represents annual growth of 6%.