It seems clear now (unless you are a totally pigheaded columnist for The New Yorker) that social media played a significant role in the revolutions which changed the face of the Middle East over the last two months. The question now is: what next? Can social media help Egypt -- the biggest country in the Arab world, which has traditionally led its neighbors by example -- make the transition to a peaceful, stable democracy?

The argument over the role of social media in the revolutions which shook the Middle East over the last two months has meandered along in that particularly unsatisfying way that public debates tend to nowadays, with pundits lobbing generalities in online echo chambers unlikely to produce any decisive conclusion, with scant evidence that anyone is even listening to the other "side." Indeed, I would be hard pressed to identify the central issue or issues of this disjointed non-dialogue at this point, after all the straw men have been duly demolished: does anyone seriously believe that social media made the revolutions …

Bubble or no, the value of leading social media companies just seems to keep going up -- even when analysts can't point to anything which happened to justify the increases. This week brings the news (first reported by CNBC) that Facebook has been valued at $65 billion by General Atlantic, an investment firm which is trying to acquire a 0.1% stake in the company by buying up 2.5 million shares from former Facebook employees.

This week brought the news that celebrated self-celebrator Charlie Sheen has set a world record, which will be recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records and everything, for the shortest time to gather more than one million Twitter followers.

It comes as no surprise that Facebook appears to be reaching saturation in its country of origin, as the massive social network now counts just over half the U.S. population as members. But this slowing growth rate makes it all the more urgent that Facebook monetize its existing audience more effectively, especially if it is to support the huge valuations assigned by analysts and private investors.

Social media has all kind of interesting but unexpected applications, including law enforcement, where online technology helps leverage the most important resource for police work -- cooperation and information from the community being policed. This week the Philadelphia Police Department unveiled a new crime-fighting initiative using social media called "Video Villains" -- a "most wanted list" comprised of criminals caught in the act by video surveillance cameras (including both property and violent crimes).

Flush with cash, JPMorgan's new Digital Growth Fund -- created to give private investors a stake in the burgeoning social media marketplace -- is angling for a minority stake in Twitter, which might value the site at $4.5 billion, according to the Financial Times. Negotiations are still in their preliminary stages, but a potential deal would value Twitter at roughly the value ($4.3 billion) suggested by trading in Twitter shares on SharesPost, a secondary market which first came to prominence with trading in private shares of Facebook.

Not long after Goldman Sachs raised a cool billion from private investing clients for Facebook, JPMorgan is getting into the social media game with $1.2 billion raised from its own private investing clients. In a sign of the huge interest in social media -- and more specifically, confidence in its profit potential -- the new JP Morgan Digital Growth Fund raised roughly twice the original target of $500-$700 million. While no specific investment candidates were named, press reports indicate it will only invest in social media businesses with proven business models (limiting the field considerably).

This week has seen a flurry of activity in social media for kids, with the launch of imbee (targeting 8-14-year-olds) followed by the news that Disney has acquired Togetherville, a social network for kids under the age of 10, founded in 2007. Like other social networks for kids, including imbee, Club Penguin and Minyanville's Minyanland, Togetherville aims to provide a safe online environment for kids to socialize, with more parental oversight and control than may be offered by general market social nets like Facebook and MySpace.

Whether their parents like it or not, some children are always going to find ways to use social media, for the same reasons adults are drawn to it -- because they find it intriguing and want to socialize with their peers online. Once concerned parents admit this fact, the best strategy is probably risk management -- which includes channeling their kids' social media activity into relatively safe spaces designed just for them.