Like hot dogs and beer in the stands, sports and social media just seem to go together, and many professional sports teams are creating special areas in stadiums for fans who are also social media maniacs. The list now includes the Cincinnati Reds, who unveiled a social media hub at the Great American Ballpark in downtown Cincinnati.

A significant subset of social media users are uncomfortable making new social connections online and view online socializing as less "real" than face-to-face interactions.

While many people were scratching their heads and asking "What's Oculus?" following the virtual reality gaming company's acquisition by Facebook earlier this week, a smaller group was asking "WTF Oculus?" Many of the people who backed Oculus on Kickstarter are not at all pleased with the decision to sell to Facebook, which they consider a case of "selling out."

Fashion is all about getting "the look," so it's no surprise that young fashionistas favor image- and video-focused social networks, including Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube when it comes to pursuing their fashion passion.

If it seems like your Facebook posts aren't reaching as many people as they used to, you're not alone. Posts to brand Pages will reach far fewer fans, forcing marketers to -- you guessed it -- make greater use of paid advertising.

I am in no way averse to ribaldry, but even I am too demur to put the words "Sock on a Cock" in the headline of a blog post. That particular conjunction of footwear and gonads is the central idea behind a spontaneous social media campaign that started in the U.K.

Turkey, for years one of the few functioning democracies in the Middle East, is breaking bad. This week, prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdoan made good on his recent promise to ban Twitter, which he accused of circulating "lies" and "slander" - damaging recordings of phone conversations showing his involvement in official corruption - during recent protests against his government.

One out of every three people (33%) seeking facial plastic surgery in 2013 was prompted by a desire to look better for social media. In addition, 13% of plastic surgeons surveyed specifically identified photo-sharing apps and Web sites as fueling increased demand.

Do you ever feel like the world is a vale of social awkwardness, filled with tiresome people you'd really rather avoid? Do you regret ever meeting some of your "friends" on social media? Then there's an app for you! Cloak is a new "antisocial" anti-network that alerts you if any of your social network connections are in the vicinity, so you can avoid them.

Social media and big data will be key to the future success of business, most chief marketing officers believe. But most also have doubts about their companies' ability to make effective use of the information obtained from these sources.