Here is the latest in the very useful series of longitudinal studies on social media use by The Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth led by Nora Barnes.  This one covered Social Media Usage in the Inc. 500.

A survey conducted at ad:tech by EPiServer has found that 60% of respondents are getting the highest return on investment from email marketing and company websites and blogs when compared to mobile and social channels like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and LinkedIn. 

9 out of 10 mobile Internet users have accessed the mobile web while at a store, according to a new study from Yahoo and Nielsen. Furthermore, 51% of those users indicate that they make a purchase after doing research on their mobile device. 

E.Life, a social media monitoring firm, has released an interesting look at what Halloween candies people have been tweeting about the most. Snickers takes the cake. It’s no surprise really. You’d be hard pressed to find a better candy. 

What’s your favorite Halloween candy? Let us know in the comments.

Every so often, one of those "social media vs. blogs" discussions comes up. Questions like "is social media killing blogging?" gets asked. Time and time again, the answer is a resounding "no", but various pieces of news released this week seem to really drive that point home. 

McAfee released a new report authored by faculty affiliated with the

Next Issue Media, a digital publishing consortium made up of Condé Nast, Hearst, Meredith, News Corp., and Time, has revealed findings from a study on consumer demand for digital newspaper and magazine products. According to the consortium, $3 billion in subscription revenue is expected by 2014.

After accounting for potential cannibalization of some print subscriptions, the industry could realize $1.3 billion in incremental revenue, the consortium says.

comScore has released some interesting research on Twitter usage in different countries. The firm found that in June, about 93 million people visited Twitter.com, up 109% from the previous year.

Of course this doesn’t even take into account all of the third-party Twitter apps, which many users access Twitter regularly from. A lot of users rarely go to Twitter.com.

This week, Nielsen released a new report on the global state of video consumption, finding that consumers all over the globe are adding screens to their media mix, as opposed to replacing them.

The firm highlights the following findings:

Update: It appears there are some people out there that would pay to use Twitter if they had to. MG Siegler points to a survey from film critic Roger Ebert who would pay for Twitter, along with about 20% of his followers. Make of that what you will.

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation and Xerox’s Buck Consultants have released findings from a survey looking at employer-employee communication.

Among the findings are that the most common communication vehicles organizations use to engage employees and foster productivity are email and intranets, 83% and 75% respectively. In addition, half of employers are communicating through Facebook, IM, and Twitter.

ABI Research is sharing a new report in which it forecasts that over 60% of handsets will have mobile browsers in 2015. At 3.8 billion mobile devices, that would double today’s penetration rate, the firm says.

The worldwide mobile broadband market will reach 1 billion connections during 2012, segmented by 3G and 4G network technologies, according to Pyramid Research.

The International Data Corporation (IDC) has released its Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker study, which finds a 14.5% increase in mobile phone demand, as the market fragments.

Young people who have grown up with computers and are perhaps more educated than the average individual tend to just put their faith in whatever Google shows them when it comes to online research.  A study determined that college students often click on the top search result regardless of other factors.

It’s no secret that Android usage is on the rise, but Guardian points to research from GfK Retail and Technology indicating that in the UK, Android’s share of the mobile market has grown from 3% in the first quarter to 13.2% in the second.

On top of that, contract market sales grew by less than 1%, while sales of Android phones increased by 350%, the firm says.

A new report from Econsultancy suggests that email still beats social networks when it comes to marketing for e-commerce. The report says that over a third (37%) of consumers don’t use a social networking site, and that those who have become a "fan" or "friend" of a company or brand online are still in the minority.

A new report from Appssavvy claims that "virtual goods may be bringing the largest disruption entertainment, communication and e-commerce infrastructure companies have seen for a long time." The company’s research found that leveraging social activity around virtual goods has been successful in building brand awareness, influencing positive opinion about products, and even driving purchase intent.

This week, MerchantCircle shared the results of its "Merchant Confidence Index," in which about 10,000 local merchants shared their confidence levels in the current economy. While confidence has remained generally flat, the index also found that many of these merchants are more prominently using social media as a free online marketing tool to increase their customer base and revenue.

Opera has released its new State of the Mobile Web report. In the report, Opera finds that 8:00pm through 12:00am are the peak hours for mobile data consumption.

"Regardless of differences in economy, culture or location, those four evening hours account for a disproportionate amount of mobile data consumption," the company says.

Dynmark has released a report based on a study of creative marketing agencies’ use of mobile marketing. The firm spoke with figureheads from agencies including Ogilvy, Gyro HSR and Essence Media.

What ways do you use mobile in your marketing mix? Discuss here.