While "social search" -- meaning the practice of surfacing content from your social media contacts in search results -- may or may not be consigned to the great digital trash can of history, there are clearly still a lot of places where search and social media overlap, at least for brands. On that note, Google recently began including social profiles in the search results for brands, as first reported earlier this week by searchengineland.com.

Although plenty of people have opined that social media can be stressful and emotionally unhealthy, this actually isn't the case, according to the latest Internet study from Pew Research Center. However, there is an emotional cost, especially for women, who report that they are more likely to find out about adverse events in the lives of others and feel sadness as a result -- a phenomenon the authors call "the cost of caring."

Although some recent surveys have shown that social media's contribution to e-commerce remains small, it's still growing fast in relative terms. That's according to a new report from "Internet Retailer," which tallied online spending from social media and found that total sales increased 26% from $2.62 billion in 2013 to $3.3 billion in 2014.

The selfie has a dark side, according to new research from psychologists at Ohio State University, who found that men who post a lot of selfies on social media sites tend to display traits associated with psychopathic individuals. Based on a survey of 800 men ages 18 to 40, the research asked questions intended to determine the subject's degree of empathy and likelihood to engage in impulsive behavior and found that men who are prolific selfie posters scored lower in empathy and higher in impulsivity.

While it still remains far and away the most popular social network in the U.S. and the world, Facebook's rate of growth is definitely leveling off at home, according to the latest survey of social media use by the Pew Research Center, based on a poll of 2,003 US. Adults conducted by Princeton Survey Research Associates International in September 2014.

The Dallas Cowboys are indeed "America's Team," judging by their huge success on social media during the NFL playoffs. Since the beginning of December the Cowboys have generated about 27.7 million interactions from their official social media accounts, according to data from MediaPost's Digital Engagement Index, a new social media activity benchmarking and tracking feature powered by ListenFirst.

This year's CES in Las Vegas is overflowing with all kinds of new gadgets that promise to feed our addiction to social media, including cameras. On Thursday HTC announced that its new RE camera will support live streaming of video to YouTube, allowing consumers to share special moments (or mundane ones) with their friends via live online broadcasts.

This week Virgin Trains (a division of Richard Branson's UK Virgin empire) won online acclaim for its nimble response to a passenger who tweeted his distress after finding that the toilet paper had run out in the loo. Adam Greenwood, a 16-year-old video blogger and generally prolific social media user, tweeted with a plea: "pls send help." Remarkably, and to Virgin Trains' great credit, they did.

Half of Americans said they have received a good suggestion from something to try on social media, according to a new survey of 2,276 U.S. adults by the Harris Poll, including 16% who frequently receive suggestions and 35% who said they receive suggestions on occasion. Meanwhile, just 29% said they never get suggestions from social media -- and the remainder don't use social media.

Polaroid has unveiled a new digital camera, the Socialmatic -- which, as its name indicates, is designed for social sharing of pictures. According to Polaroid, the camera (designed by Socialmatic and manufactured by Polaroid under license) "creates a social media hub... delivering a true 360-degree social media experience."