A student in my MMS160 Social Media Explored class recently posted a link to this story on Facebook addiction. It’s a worthy read.

She also posed the question about escapism as it pertains to the usage of social media? A tough query, to be sure, as we all know that downtime and escaping from the noise in our daily lives is good, if you can call time on Twitter escape.

I think that occasionally taking a break from one’s daily routine in the form of catching up with friends, family and colleagues via social media, the web or mobile can help stay grounded and in touch with what is happening in the lives of those we care about.

However, repeated, prolonged sessions of reliance on this digital engagement can be detrimental to our well-being, and remove us from the real world around us. If a user creates a world of “friends” and “followers” who are their main (or only) connection to the world, they enter into a fantasy world that could be harmful to them on many levels.

I spend 20-30 minutes a day on Twitter and Facebook, mostly reading headlines, sharing content with peers or colleagues, and engaging in the discussion of the day (weather, the Oscars, a TV show). Is this escapism? Maybe a little. But for the most part, this is how I (and a growing number of people) consume and share information today.

I rarely watch the local TV news or catch the top-of-the-hour radio broadcast because their headlines are delivered direct to my feed, or at least they should be. And when it comes to conversation, I see Twitter and Facebook as a simple way to engage with colleagues who I might previously have shared e-mails with. Surely we all remember the days before social media when we would send a funny YouTube video to people because that was the best way to reach them. No longer – just hit the share button.

Long story short, I think that how we use tools such as Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest and Path and Foursquare and on and on – to learn, share, interact and thrive – determines our level of addiction, not necessarily how much time we spend with these mediums.

What do you think? Is your use of social media “addictive,” productive or otherwise? Share your thoughts.

The Super Bowl was alive on nearly all social networks this year as never before. And that created an excitement about the game and the brands that advertiser there in a whole new way for folks connected via social mediums, namely twitter, which set records for its traffic.

Sure there were the Super Bowl ads – #superbowlads or #superbowlcommercials.

And, of course, the Super Bowl food – #superbowlfood

There was the #brandbowl – which was all about how brands were strutting their stuff and being perceived.

Oh, and there was a football game – #sb46.

All had their own discussions going throughout the game.

There were plenty of commercials that also rolled out their own hashtags – #solongvampires appeared on the end of an Audi ad, and then was the #makeitplatinum for the introduction of Bud Light’s new Platinum brew.

But the tag that caught my eye was one that actually had some utility and community service to back it up. That hashtag was #whatworks, and it was championed by GE. The site aims to “Share the great people, places & things that work to help get America back to work.”

Users are asked to share a photo, vote for a photo or like the company on Facebook, and the company will donate $1 for each of these actions to “Support job creation and skills training non-profits.”

The site collected hundreds of photos, all of which received votes, some of them hundreds of votes. And each day the company is giving away money to the top vote getters.

What I liked about this approach to the social realm was that it put a real-world issue – economic and job woes  – on the table as something you could help ease just by sharing a photo. And because we are wont to share what we love (or like), those who shared #whatworks still continue to promote the good of the cause just by sharing photos today and into the future, long after #superbowl has faded from our collective, social discussion.

Of course, being that it’s the internet, criticism like this is just a link away. But for now, I’m excited about #whatworks.

It could be that you’re too pushy, always asking for the follow.

It could be that all you post are retweets – someone else’s thoughts and messages.

Or it could be that you are just boring. I’ll admit, some days I’m not sure what my followers find amusing about my updates, but they stick with me.

Regardless, there are a handful of things that any Twitter user can do to start building a better brand for themselves on Twitter. It starts with adding a profile picture if you haven’t done that yet.

Here’s a great blog: 8 reasons no one follows you on Twitter.

And remember, these are not optional.

So every celebrity under the sun seems to be making their way to WhoSay, and the general public is still saying Who What?

Ok, you’ve likely heard of the site if you pay any attention to celebrity tech news. And it seems the smartphones of the rich and famous (and the things they do with them) are a story unto themselves sometimes.

I’ve had more than one person ask me recently about the celebrity, invite-only site, and I wasn’t really sure what to say.

I at first thought it was the latest trendy website for in-the-know (and those who want to be) celebs to catch some of the limelight that Ashton Kutcher and @Oprah garnered when they became Twitter’s trendsetters in the younger days of the microblog site.

Now even gray-haired media mogul Rupert Murdoch is tweeting, so what’s a standout celebrity to do to set himself apart?

WhoSay, of course. Or so, I thought.

On second glance, I realized that the idea behind WhoSay is actually one of copyright and content protection for artists. Now when Jim Gaffigan tweets a picture of himself, he owns the rights to the photo, instead of sharing the rights with a company such as TwitPic or Plixi, popular Twitter picture sharing sites.

And the site has gained legitimacy fast. In December, the Associated Press announced a partnership with the site. Find more on that here.

So what do I think of WhoSay? I think it’s a first step in organizing an often cluttered social media world. And in reality, the site is just a series of websites for celebrities. First celebrities, then the public. Oh wait, we have that already. Only I don’t have coffee mugs with my famous catchphrases printed on them.

Until now, us commoners have been allowed to walk with the rich and famous, with the exception of that little blue “Verified” stamp on their profile. Now, we’ll have to do so knowing that when we click that picture of Steve Martin swimming, we’ll likely be taken to WhoSay.

For the most part, social access to celebs won’t change, thank heavens – the celebs you love will still be accessible just an @ sign away. But they’re now free to tweet, blog and YouTube a little more freely knowing that their content is protected by copyright.

And for their fans, that’s probably a good thing.

No, that isn’t a typo. ifttt.com is a real web site that stands for “if this, then that,” and it’s a pretty cool way to cross-train your social media to share content.

What if you wanted to archive all your tweets in Evernote? You can do that.

Say you want to download each Flickr or Instagr.am photo you upload into a Dropbox folder on your desktop. You can do that.

You want all PDFs sent to a certain e-mail address converted into a format that can be read on a Kindle? Yup – you can do that, too.

How? It’s all done with an “if this, then that” structure. Pretty basic code-speak, actually. And of course the program just marries up data from one program to another. But the genius is that the programmers created what they call “digital duct tape… allowing you to connect any two services together.”

There are currently 39 programs, from Craigslist to Weather, Instapaper to Posterous, that you can match duties for and come out a digital winner – namely because the site helps cut time on things such as manually thanking new followers on Twitter, archiving tweets, photos, Facebook info and more.

I’m just digging into it, but already have found one way to bridge a digital divide that has frustrated me: sharing links with my non-social friends and family (yes there are still people refusing to use Facebook) by using a tag to push those tweets to e-mail. If this works, then I’m happy. And that’s good enough for me.

You can read more about it in this Wired story or in the company blog here.

Here is a sampling of what I am reading.

- More CEOS are starting to turn on to social media. Amen.

- A social media addict tries to unplug. Harder than you think.

-  The NewYork Times teams up with Ralph Lauren on iPad sponsorship, and everyone is happy.

- Promoting events via LinkedIn. Just one more place to put that event.

- Ad Age’s 10 best social media campaigns.

What are you reading?

No one did, but clearly the woman behind the counter had served her if she’d been around for a while. She is the mayor of said establishment on Foursquare, I told her.

“Foursquare? What’s a mayor?” was the reply I got. I was sadly dissappointed, but explained that it was a geolocation app on my phone. Blank stares.

But since this company does no local promotion and has little community interaction, I let it go.

But I’ve had the same experiences at major retailers such as JCPenney, so the incident isn’t reserved for small businesses.

The point? The woman who gave me the deer-in-the-headlights look is among the majority on this one, according to a new study by Forrester.

The study suggests that 7 in 10 people have never heard of Foursquare, Gowalla (which was recently bought by Facebook), SCVNGR or Loopt.

So what are these social mediums good for? Chiefly, deals for new and repeat customers. A local Radioshack deal offers $50 off an iPad 2. Saturday, I got $20 off a tree at Moser’s Greenhouse. What more incentive do companies, and the people who patronize them, need to discover these deals? Apparently a lot more, but they need to get on board because when I am offered a special, I don’t wait long to go get it.

Secondly, the tips are often worthy of exploring. I always check the tips when I check into a restaurant to see what others I know have eaten or recommended. If a resounding number of my peers have suggested I try a certain dish, such as the tenderloin (as one friend did recently when I checked in at Archies Wayside in LeMars, or the Guinness-battered bacon at McCarthy & Bailey’s) I’ll likely oblige. If they like, I’ll likely find the same pleasure.

So for you three in 10 geeks asking about random “mayors” and collecting “badges,” slow down and start educating the rest of the world. And then there will be a whole lot more competition for those mayorships. And that just makes the game more fun.

Read more about the study and geolocation apps here.

It seems obvious, but the keys to search success on Google are changing every day. And much of it is being driven by social media channels.

Great content, consistent links and targeted keywords are the keys, more than ever, to getting people to see your web site, and in turn become new customers.

A new eye track survey from SEOmoz shows what users look at when they visit Google for search. It’s pretty simple: we gravitate to the “Places” listings, and then relevant content links. Targeted keywords and social messages push our pages to the top of the list over time.

Social media mentions now rank right up there next to other content, meaning that when there’s a buzz about your product on blogs or social media, it’s near the top of search. And that’s a good thing for businesses who are creating a conversation about their brand and vision on social media channels now.

But those aren’t easy goals. They take time, a consistent message and dedication to making search a priority in your organization. They also consume resources, which are tight these days. But developing a social media strategy, even a small one, should be a priority in 2012.

There’s more to the study, which you will find here, but I don’t want to give it all away. What is your company doing to create a buzz about your passion? Share your story here.