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There's no doubt that social media has shifted the consumer landscape, both online and offline. Whether they're buying a house or a hamburger, consumers now base purchasing decisions more and more on what their peers think - and with the proliferation of social platforms like Facebook, YouTube, review sites and blogs, it's easier than ever to collect that feedback instantaneously.

Today's consumer is social and savvy, and their channels of influence can't be overlooked. While all digital channels play an important role in a brand's holistic marketing strategy, brands must understand and leverage the channels that most influence the social consumer. Check out a great infographic that analyzes today's social consumer here!

Google just announced the soft launch of Google Plus - will the new social network prove to be the game changer/Facebook-killer that Buzz was not? The immediate response was decidedly mixed, with some touting user-friendly functionality like video chat feature Hangout and messaging service Huddle, and others noting a striking resemblance to another premier social networking service. Although this launch was limited to a small test group, Google promises that the product will soon be available worldwide.

Want to use Google+ on your Android phone? Yep, you guessed it - there's already an app for that.

What better way to celebrate the start of summer than a lunch at the beach! We grabbed some of our favorite health food, pizza, and our boards and headed to Fletcher's Cove Friday to give ourselves a well deserved break. Check out the full set of photos from Friday on flickr HERE.

Before this week, coupon darling Groupon (a start-up now hot enough to turn down mega-suitor Google) held the record for money generated from a single offer - $11 million from their $25 off of $50 promotion from the Gap. That was, until competitor LivingSocial came out of the Groupon shadow to take the lead, generating over $13 million with a $10 coupon worth $20 at Amazon.com. The record-breaking gift card deal with stakeholder Amazon may have given LivingSocial a leg up in the coupon wars, and helped make the DC-area startup the new belle of the social media ball.

A new report from comScore MobiLens show that mobile social networking is gaining traction, as more and more Americans use their mobile devices to connect to social media networks like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and MySpace.

By the end of January 2010, over 17% of mobile subscribers in the US visited a social networking site or blog, compared to 13.8% in October of 2009. This trend is widely expected to continue, growing to an estimated 30% by the end of the year.

Social networking giants Facebook and Twitter have both seen triple-digit growth from mobile Web traffic over the last twelve months, now reaching 25.1 million and 4.7 million US mobile users, respectively. Globally, the trends are even more striking. Facebook recently announced that the site has reached a jaw-dropping 100 million mobile users worldwide.

Inc.com has an interesting read on yelp.com's rise to success. One of the most interesting observations is yelp's exponential growth started after they began inviting their top reviewer's to a frequent open bar party. They encouraged the expansion of their content, and thus relevancy, by responding to the most basic uniting factor of their user base: the desire to go out and be social.

Conversations in Social Media - The Social Media Prism

It's not a trick - Microsoft and Twitter have announced a deal to start including real-time tweets in Bing's organic search engine results. Microsoft's Qi Lu took the stage at Web 2.0 Summit in San Francisco today to discuss the new partnership. It's a great opportunity for brands to have their Twitter messaging included in search engine results, but what does this mean for the average Twitter user? Unless you want the world to read the fascinating play-by-play from your recent gallbladder surgery, you may want to make extra sure your Tweets stay private.

Check out the new partnership here.