What's next for Facebook? Just taking over the whole internet by putting Facebook features on any and all web sites that want to add them, through a program they're calling Open Graph API. From Facebook's developer page:

The Open Graph API will allow any page on the Web to have all the features of a Facebook Page. Once implemented, developers can include a number of Facebook Widgets, like the Fan Box, or leverage any API, which enable the transformation of any Web page so it functions similar to a Facebook Page.

For example, AwesomeTees might decide that strategically they would like to locate their brand identity at awesometees.com. AwesomeTees will install the Fan Box widget, which will allow any Facebook user to "Become a Fan" of AwesomeTees, thereby establishing an official connection to AwesomeTees. The user will then have AwesomeTees listed in their list of connections on their profile as Pages are represented today. Additionally, any content that AwesomeTees publishes on AwesomeTees.com will show up in the stream on Facebook like it normally would. And, any time the user searches on Facebook, AwesomeTees will show up in the typeaheads and prominently in search results.

This will be big. Open Graph API is scheduled launch in Q2 of 2010.

"Grandpa, what was Earthstock like?"

"Well, honey, a coalition of youngsters called Consequence built a virtual National Mall — like the one they have in Washington D.C. — so all of us would-be activists could rally for environmental change without missing a day of work."

"Were there lots of people there?"

"Oh yes. People from all over the world logged into Facebook and Twitter to attend. All they had to do was post about Earthstock and they would appear at the Mall, like magic."

"Bor-ring. That sounds like how you and grandma vote for the President."

"Yes, honey — but it wasn't always like that. Now finish your cereal."

The Global Social Media Check-Up, is a recent study done by Burson-Martseller explaining how the Fortune Global 100 companies use social media. Flowtown was nice enough to put it in a pretty graph for everyone.

The ever-elusive Millennial — hard to pin down, hard to sell to. But a new report by the Pew Research Center — Millennials: Confident. Connected. Open to Change. — might help you do just that. At 149 pages, it's a big read, but Netdiver has some high-level bullet points:

• They embrace multiple modes of self-expression
• They are more ethnically and racially diverse than older adults
• They are more upbeat than their elders about their own economic futures
• They have placed privacy boundaries on their social media profiles
• They'll become the most educated generation
• They sleep with their mobile phone
• They love tattoos and body piercing

Chapter 4, Technology and Social Media, was very interesting. Of Millennials:

• 75% have created a social networking profile
• 29% check social networking sites several times a day
• 26% check social networking sites once a day
• Women are more likely to have a profile and use it more frequently
• 32% have posted a message to an online profile in the last 24 hours

Yahoo! is getting deeper into the real-time search game, by adding Twitter to their search results. It's a bit behind the other major search engines, but it does mean that social media is even more embedded and integrated into basic search. With Facebook posts and Tweets now showing up in the top three search engines, social networks have cemented their place on the Internet and social media SEO might be the next buzz word.

It may be more symbolic than anything, but TechCrunch points out that even cofounder Tom Anderson isn't using MySpace anymore. Along with their resignation of the chief executive, people are starting to ask if MySpace can be saved.

I've been talking a lot about Google Buzz, but when you work in social media and Google announces that they've created a new social network, you tend to pay attention. Digg co-founder Kevin Rose has a great expliantion of why Google needs Buzz:

And I think he's right. A lot of this has to do with Google's push into real-time search. Thus far Google has been forced to use third-party entries for their real-time search results and Google wants to keep a slice of that pie for themselves. But in the rush to get that piece of pie and in the rush to create an entire social network quickly, Google has stumbled a bit and has had to make changes and apologize. But the end result — ownership of real-time search — might very well be worth it in the long run.

A new tool called Twiangulate draws follower data from single and multiple Twitter accounts. Find out who your most influential followers (Tweeps) are, followers you have in common with others, and more. Twiangulate allows you to gather the info from up to three followers.

The Super Bowl got the social treatment with Brand Bowl 2010. A ranking based on the number of tweets about an ad and if the opinion was popular or negative, Brand Bowl gave those that placed ads in the big game an idea of how their marketing was doing in the social sphere. Not surprising, Doritos, which ran five user-generated ads and had a large social media push before the game, came out on top.

Facebook's new Post Insights feature shows page administrators two critical pieces of analytical data for each wall post:

1. How many impressions an individual post has received
2. What percentage of those impressions resulted in action (likes, comments and clicks) 

This is a small yet significant step toward empowering Fan Page owners to deliver relevant content to its fans. Here's hoping Facebook does the same for Updates soon! :)