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Jack Hird (@Jake_Hird), senior research analyst for Econsultancy, offers the following social media stats:

• Twitter has 175 million registered users; 95 million tweets per day; 4 million tweets per hour.
• LinkedIn registrants number more than 100 million
• Facebook population officially is more than a half-billion, but some unofficial counting has it at 640 million. At least 250 million users log in every 24 hours; 200 million access it through mobile devices. The average Facebook user creates 90 pieces of content each month.
• Flickr hosts more than 5 billion images; 3,000 images uploaded every minute.
• Wikipedia now has more than 17 million articles and 91,000 active contributors.
• YouTube video views number more than two billion every 24 hours; more than 24 hours of video are uploaded every minute.

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Graham Charlton (@gcharlton) has assembled statistics about the mobile Internet:

• People use mobile search at home in the evening (81%) than any other time or places more frequently than anywhere else (81%), followed by at home on weekends (80%).
• 66% use mobile search while while watching TV, something which should get advertisers thinking, while 61% said they use it at work.
• 75% said mobile search makes their lives easier, 63% said access to mobile search has changed the way they gather information, and 32% said they use mobile search more than search engines on their computers.
• 84% use mobile search to look for information on local retailers, such as opening hours, address and contact details. 82% look for online retailers, 73% find a specific product or manufacturer website.
• Tying in with the crossover in TV viewing and mobile search, 71% learn more about a product or service having seen an ad, 68% use it to find the best price for a product.

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Also see Social Media Today’s “Best Social Media Stats and Market Research of 2010 (So Far)” by Tom Pick (@TomPick).

Let Somersault help you create an integrated social media marketing strategy. And be sure to use daily our SomersaultNOW dashboard to remain current with the latest developments in social media marketing and digital publishing.

This article in Book Business (@bookbusinessmag) highlights the online tools that are enabling publishers to spread the word about their books to more targeted audiences — sometimes, at a much lower cost — than traditional marketing methods.

Simon & Schuster recently launched a brand-new way to connect with its customers through Foursquare, the popular, location-based mobile social networking community.

Users who follow Simon & Schuster Foursquare receive information and tips culled from Simon & Schuster books and authors when they "check-in" at certain locations, be it their favorite diner in London, a resort in Arizona, or the Pyramids in Egypt. For example, they'll receive facts about historic landmarks, a dish their favorite chef enjoys at a restaurant, or a tidbit such as 21 elephants walked across the Brooklyn Bridge in 1884, proving its stability.

Read this article in full.

Somersault has identified more than 500 online services to leverage for successful social media marketing. Let us know how we can help you. And be sure to daily use our free SomersaultNOW dashboard, created especially for publishing and marketing professionals.

In a blog post on Publishers Weekly (@PublishersWkly), Barbara Vey expresses her frustration at authors who don’t keep their websites updated or worse, don’t have a site at all. She says, “To me, being an author is a business and as a business you need people to see the product. What’s available and what’s coming up at the very least.” She says the site doesn’t have to be complicated. “Just something that says I take my job seriously and here’s why you should read my work.”

The next worse thing is an author having a website that’s not updated. I’m embarrassed for them when I see their latest release showing 2003 when I know they’ve written more since then.  I’m not saying to blog something everyday or even update daily, but once a month would be nice. Just a little something to say, “Hey, I’m still here and working hard on getting out my next exciting book.”...[E]ven saying what they’re reading not only updates the web page, it also helps out a fellow writer.

An even easier way is to attach a Twitter feed box. That way, every time you Tweet something it shows up on your website. Instant updating and you only had to type 140 characters (or less).

Read what else she says.

Through our blog postings, Somersault's recognition of the wide-ranging set of changes in the publishing world is reflected, along with our particular attitude of embracing the future in response to those changes. We're creating a service firm for the publishing world that will lead the way in responding creatively and aggressively to the new parameters of publishing. We invite your interaction with us in this blog, so that we all learn from one another and move forward with confidence.

You can see what publications Somersault is following on our own alltop page at http://my.alltop.com/somersault

For an inspiring video presentation on the advances in social networking, watch this