SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER — Facebook is hot. There’s not question that Facbeook has a large audience. But what does this mean for marketers and business owners? Here are three recent Facebook-related studies that answer these very questions by examining how much time Facebook users invest in the platform, if Facebook ads are effective and other Facebook trends among online merchants. According to recent findings by market researcher Morpace, U.S. Facebook users are on the site for 1 of every 3 minutes of time spent online. Users 18 to 34 years old spend the most time on the site per week (8.5 hours out of 22.4 spent online). Users 55 and older spend an average of 4.6 hours per week on Facebook...

GIGAOM — As Twitter focuses on building up its own services and applications, financing for startups built on the microblogging service has dropped sharply, according to recent analysis by CB Insights. The firm, which tracks private market investments, says funding for pure-play Twitter apps and services has fallen by more than 50 percent over the past year, and a recent analysis by Twitter itself showed that the vast majority of the ecosystem is controlled by Twitter...

EMARKETER — Older web users are flocking to social networks, according to a May 2010 Pew Internet & American Life Project survey. Usage among internet users ages 50 and older nearly doubled during the past year, from 22% to 42%. More specifically, 47% of 50-to-64-year-old internet users and 26% of seniors ages 65 and up indicate that they now use these sites, with Facebook and LinkedIn being the main beneficiaries of the more mature traffic...

INSIDE FACEBOOK — The United States has fully bounced back from a period of slow growth in June. Following fairly strong July numbers, we’re now seeing a big gain of five million new monthly active users in August for Facebook’s home country. Seasonality can serve to explain some of what’s happening in the US -- early summer has traditionally been a slow period for social networks and other youth-dominated sites, as high school and college kids take a break from school. But there appears to be more to the story...

MEDIAPOST — Location-based services from Foursquare and Loopt to the new Shopkick app have generated lots of buzz and interest among marketers and investors. But how much spending will they lead to? According to a new report from ABI Research, location-based marketing will increase from only about $43 million this year to $1.8 billion by 1015 as part of overall mobile marketing budgets. "It's still early days and there's no single 'right' approach to location-based advertising," said Neil Strother, practice director for mobile marketing strategies at ABI. "This remains a very fragmented market that is full of experimentation"...