While a lot of attention has been paid to instances of fraud, identity theft, and deliberate spreading of misinformation via social media, many users believe that social media actually makes people more honest by bringing greater transparency to relationships. According to a survey of 2,000 British Facebook users by OnePoll, 36% reported telling fewer lies since they joined the site, and 53% said they think lies are easier to discover because of the personal information offered by Facebook.

Summary execution: that's basically the punishment meted out by consumers for brands which annoy them on social media, according to a new study performed for Pitney Bowes Software by Vanson Bourne, a U.K.-based marketing and research outfit, titled "Social media: contrasting the marketing and consumer perspectives."

Four men from Southern California have been arrested on charges of plotting terror attacks, with the crucial tip-off coming from -- wait for it -- their own social media profiles.

LinkedIn has some competition in the social media recruitment category, with Facebook's launch of its new "Social Jobs" app, which helps Facebook users find employment and allows employers comb the ranks of the social network for talent. The product of a partnership between Facebook, the U.S. Department of Labor, the Direct Employers Association, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, and the National Association of Colleges and Employers, Social Jobs aggregates job listings and other relevant information from a number of online recruitment platforms, including Work4 Labs, Jobvite, BranchOut, Monster, and US Jobs.

The days when the horrors of war could be filtered by newspaper editors and TV news producers are over, thanks in large part to social media, which allows users to post and share raw, uncensored photos and video footage of violent conflict, including the terrible consequences for civilians. This development has opened up a whole new arena in the battle to shape public opinion, leading to tit-for-tat social media exchanges between combatants.

When it comes to finding gift ideas, social media now rivals word-of-mouth and store advertising as a source of inspiration for shoppers, according to a new survey of 1,035 U.S. adults from Research Now's consumer panel conducted by ConsumerSearch.com, part of The About Group, from October 8-12.

Americans have always loved their road trips, and during a down economy, tourism to destinations in the U.S. is more popular than ever: according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, spending on domestic tourism increased from $610 billion in 2009 to $654 billion in 2011, and is projected to reach $675 billion in 2012. Meanwhile more and more U.S. cities are using social media to attract some of those itinerant dollars.

So after the BBC's reputation has been dragged through the mud due to an alleged cover-up (of a pedophilia scandal within its ranks) and shamefully incompetent reporting (falsely accusing a member of Parliament of being a pedophile), what's the best way to restore trust in Britain's venerable but troubled news institution? Easy: by becoming less transparent to the public.

Social media can be a useful tool for doctors to communicate with other doctors, patients and the public in general, but doctors run the risk of ethical breaches if they fail to disclose any potential conflicts of interest, according to a new article published online by the Journal of General Internal Medicine.

If they're doing it for college admissions, it only makes sense to do it for medical school admissions, and guess what: they are. A small but growing number of medical school admissions officers and post-med school residency program directors say they are using social media sites to do background research on candidates, according to a new study published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal.