• Forecast: Facebook and Google to go head to head in 2012
  Facebook and Google will spend much of 2012 competing directly for dominance of the social sphere -- a battle that only one side can win, Nancy Messieh writes in this collection of predictions for the coming year. The Facebook-Google situation will see both networks racing to offer consumer-facing features, but also vying to win enterprise users and social media marketers. "[E]ven if we don't see any concrete results in the next 12 months, the year will certainly set them on the inevitable path of success or failure," Messieh writes. TheNextWeb.com (1/2)     

• Can Mark Zuckerberg keep control of Facebook?
  Facebook's initial public offering will be the big event for tech-industry watchers in 2012, says Forrester Research analyst Josh Bernoff -- but it probably won't bring too many changes to the social network's leadership structure. Mark Zuckerberg will be careful to ensure that he retains control of the company he co-founded, and will continue to be the driving force for Facebook's strategic decision making. "The managers around him might shift some, but his position there is similar to Bill Gates' position at Microsoft. And that lasted a very long time," Bernoff says. New Straits Times (Malaysia)/Agence France-Presse (1/1)     

• Howard Stern has a few drinks and calls Twitter fans
  Radio host Howard Stern kicked off 2012 by "drunk-dialing" his Twitter fans on New Year's Eve. Stern posted a Twitter message demanding that his followers post their phone numbers, then spent the next few hours calling fans to discuss their pets, video gaming and drinking habits. MSNBC/Entertainment on Today blog (1/1)     

• Rupert Murdoch joins Twitter
  Rupert Murdoch has opened a Twitter account, and quickly got himself embroiled in a minor scandal. The media mogul posted a tweet accusing British workers of damaging the economy by taking too many holidays. The Telegraph (London) (1/2), The Daily Mail (London) (1/2)     

• Other News

• Flood of New Year's tweets is suspected amid Twitter issues
  The New York Times (tiered subscription model)/Bits blog (12/31)     

• Most Middle Eastern women are missing out on social media, study finds
  Women account for 33.5% of Facebook users in the Middle East, according to a study by the Dubai School of Government. Analysts say the discrepancy is due to the same social forces holding back Middle Eastern women in the real world. "This virtual gender gap is connected to the real live gender gap," report author Fadi Salem says. The Media Line (12/27)     

• The A to Z guide to social media marketing buzzwords
  Social media marketers must keep track of the vast and constantly changing array of applications, widgets and strategies available to them, Kipp Bodnar writes. This glossary covers 120 of the most important terms and tools -- from AddThis to Zooomr -- that Bodnar argues every social media marketer should know about. HubSpot.com (12/30)     

• What great crowdsourcing efforts have in common
  Great crowdsourcing efforts are all about getting fans to become invested in your project by helping them understand your brand's value, writes Wil Merritt. That can mean getting them to explain what they like about a brand, or even asking them to help define it going forward, Merritt writes. "If your product or service solves a unique problem for consumers, you're in a position to inspire each of them to creatively share their relationship with your brand," he writes. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media (1/3)     

• Smart social media strategies to start this year
  Sociallybuzz CEO Andre Kay answers three social media questions that he says business owners ask most. He advises eateries to analyze their business goals and objectives to determine which social platforms make the most sense for them, and offers tips on managing and budgeting for social-marketing efforts. SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Restaurants (1/3)     

• Other News

• Will celebrity Twitter users play it safe in 2012?
  IBN Live (India)/Reuters (1/1)     

• When local news reports go wrong
  Television reporters across the U.S. had plenty of on-air bloopers in 2011. These clips show anchormen and reporters who kept going in the face of misfiring jet-packs, misbehaving animals, technical malfunctions, obscene slips of the tongue, blustery wind and even gunfire. YouTube (12/29)     

Featured Content

Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Social Media readers in the past week.

• What trends will drive social networking in the coming year? (CNET)

• Has social media's disruptive impact plateaued? (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media)

• 5 lessons from the most popular social media stories of the year (SmartBrief/SmartBlog on Social Media)

• What does going "viral" really mean? (TechCrunch)

• PR gaffe leaves Ocean Marketing lost at sea (ZDNet)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

Position Title Company Name Location Digital Strategy Manager Robert Bosch Broadview, IL Coordinator, Communications and Public Affairs National Retail Federation Washington, DC Click here to view more job listings.

I'm getting killed for fooling around here and friends frightened what I may really say!" --Rupert Murdoch, in a post on Twitter, as quoted by The Daily Mail