• There are over 400 million active users on Facebook
• 70% of Facebook users are outside the US – although the US is still the #1 user of Facebook
• #2 UK, #3 Indonesia, #4 Turkey & #5 France
• Average user spends more than 55 minutes per day on Facebook
• Average user sends 8 friend requests per month
• Average user writes 25 comments each month
• Average user becomes a fan of 4 pages per month
• Average user is invited to 3 events per month

For more info read: http://www.digitalbuzzblog.com/facebook-statistics-facts-figures-for-2010/

With millions of basketball fans across the country betting on which of the 65-team is going to win the NCAA tournament, there are literally dozens of new online and mobile applications looking to capitalize on March Madness.

One new app that’s launching today is called tweetBracket, which gives users an extremely easy way to share their picks with their Twitter followers. The application, while basic, is notable because it’s a preview of the technology being built by a Y Combinator startup called 140bets.

According to TechCrunch, “ Using tweetBracket is simple. You sign in to Twitter using oAuth, and are presented with a random matchup from today’s games. Click the team you think will win, optionally tweet your choice to your followers, and repeat. The game keeps track of your picks throughout the tournament, and prizes are being awarded to the people with the most correct predictions for each round.”

Social media is intersecting with the 2010 NCAA Basketball Tournament in a major way this year. As the following piece from Mashable.com indicates, in a recent poll, 54% of respondents indicated that they plan to watch at least some portion of the Tournament live online, 10% via a mobile device, and 18% through various social networks (http://mashable.com/2010/03/16/social-media-march-madness). Moreover, according to Internet services provider Akamai, three of the top five Web-use rankings over the past decade are related to the college basketball playoffs. In fact, the only news events that attracted more clicks per minute during that period was the election of President Obama in 2008 and the ousting of the U.S from World Cup soccer competition in 2006.

The numbers are so compelling that companies are lining up at the chance to have access to this vast and impassioned online audience, for example:

• Coke Zero is sponsoring a Department of Fannovation Brain Bracket asking fans to vote online for the best idea to improve the tournament.
• MillerCoors launched an iPhone app, Tip ‘n Spin, in which participants earn points by balancing a basketball on a Miller Lite bottle.
• Applebee’s is offering $1 million to whomever picks the winners of all 63 tournament games via its Facebook page with Twitter updates.
• Papa John’s Papa’s in the House Hoops Sweepstakes on Facebook let fans pick the prize: a $2,000 shopping spree and pizza for a year.
• Captain Morgan Rum is asking fans to select their favorite “Morganette” on Facebook to win a free trip to Las Vegas.

This interactive foray is absolutely logical, according to Tom Herbst, Captain Morgan Director of Marketing. “This is how our target customer lives his life. He chats, e-mails and watches TV on his computer,” says Herbst. “It’s where he communicates.”

Mike Davitt, Miller Lite Brand Manager adds, “Marketers struggled in the past for a forum for daily interaction with consumers. Social media offer that forum.”

Sears Holding Corp. said Wednesday that more than 7,000 job openings at Sears and Kmart will be posted on Twitter, a move experts say is a way to advertise and market its brands to 18- to 34-year-olds, the mainstay of the social networking site.

Lance Brolin, Sears’ director of talent and human capital services
operations, said the company wants to see what social media can offer in employment, advertising and in ensuring their messages are getting to the right candidates.  ”We are marketing the employment brand and also marketing potential customers.”

http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0318-tweet-jobs–20100318,0,6074051.story