Company attitudes toward social media sites vary. Some swing the doors wide open, allowing employees to tend to their Facebook farms and update Twitter statuses throughout the day. Others lock 'em down, keeping non-business site access to a minimum.

A recent study found that, in the United States, 77% of employees with Facebook accounts check in with the community from the office. And, the amount of time they're spending in this part of the online world is growing. In the United Kingdom, another study found that 57% log in regularly from work, costing their employers 40 minutes a day.

Philip Wicks, a consultant at Morse PLC, a technology research firm in London, "It isn't just something you can do for half an hour during a lunch break but all through the day and because of that, it has a huge impact because people aren't necessarily concentrating on what they should be doing during the day." He estimates that this translates to lost productivity of $2.25 billion a year.

It seems like the obvious move would be to block the sites, but William Beers of PricewaterhouseCoopers disagrees. "Instead of trying to shut it down, I think we should try to embrace these technologies, put in a nice policy that governs it and explain to users the risks related to it, provide some training and then see what business benefits we can have from it," he said.

Who needs venture capital money when you have litigation? Facebook was awarded $711 million in damages Thursday in an anti-spam case against Sanford Wallace, an internet marketer. The popular social networking platform went after Wallace for tapping its users' accounts without their permission and sending fake posts and messages.

Wallace has quite a reputation for spamming, having gained the nicknames "Spam King" and "Spamford" back in the 1990s, when he was good for up to 30 million spam e-mails a day.

It was still a good idea for News Corp. (NASDAQ: NWS) to buy MySpace.com over fours years ago for a little more than half a billion. The social media network still brings in decent ad revenues, even though it is out of the popular fad culture of social media. That space is now owned by Facebook and Twitter. But then MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta says that his company is "fundamentally different" than Facebook -- as in a special experience providing entertainment content -- those words could come back to haunt him.

As will words like "I really don't view Facebook as a competitor." While it's true that Facebook and MySpace go after two types of online social interaction, they are both vying for many of the same customers in a large crossover audience. Teens, 20-somethings, and others are very fickle and many use both social networks. The two may have different goals, but they are competitors.

Where do you tweet? When? More important, what's normal? Are you some kind of freak?

A recent Gadgetology study by Retrovo.com, a consumer electronics shopping site, seeks to ascertain where the line in the sand is in regards to social media use (and overuse). If you're 35 or younger, regular use of sites such as Twitter and Facebook is common (big shock, right?). It looks to Retrovo like a new addiction may be taking root.

Internet giant Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) sent out invitations to 100,000 developers to come in a test the waters of its newest creation, Google Wave.

Unfortunately, for most of us, since the service is being offered on an invitation only basis, we will have to wait a bit longer to see what Google Wave is all about, but it does seem to offer some really nice features that will probably become very popular with internet users.

Have you ever looked at your Yahoo! (NASDAQ: YHOO) Flickr account and thought, "Why am I doing this? I can just throw my pics up on Facebook"? If this has crossed your mind, you're not alone. In fact, many photo-sharing sites – Snapfish (NYSE: HPQ), Photobucket, Picasa (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Shutterfly, as well as Flickr – are asking the same questions. With the development and enhancement of photo management capabilities in major social networking websites, niche players need to find new ways to stay relevant.

The situation is still far from grim. Fed by traffic from their behemoth owners, the photo-sharing sites remain substantial forces, and they are currently home to more than 20 billion pictures. There's still plenty of interest in these environments ... which has been bolstered by specific features that make the likes of Flickr attractive to both professional photographers and amateur shooters. The ability to order prints and personalize portfolios, for example, still provides an edge over sites like Facebook and MySpace (NYSE: NEWS).

Nonetheless, the threats from the social networking space are quite real.

In the wake of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) stronger-than-expected earnings, I found an interesting article about a study published by wiki provider Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group. The study suggests that when a company/brand is more active with its consumers through social media (the likes of Facebook and Twitter), it is more likely that the company will have financial success. The study looked at a group of 100 companies from BusinessWeek's listing of the top 100 brands of 2008 and their activity on Facebook, Twitter, and the likes.

According to the study, the brands scoring the highest on the engagement scale saw 18% revenue growth in the past year. Those brands with the least engagement saw revenue decline 6%. Companies that were the most active were classified as "mavens," while the least active were called "wallflowers."

While Twitter's founders are struggling to figure out exactly how to cash in on their creation, others may have found a way.

Lolplaying, a gaming company, seems to have found a new way to make some cash with their new role-playing game called 140Mafia (a reference to how many characters you use to tweet). The company is trying to harness Twitter's ability to make money by teaming with Super Rewards, which is a "virtual currency" service that makes a great deal of cash from various forms of online recreation.

Social networking sites gained a lot of eyeball-share last year. The time that users spent on sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace nearly doubled in the past year, increasing by 83% relative to April 2008. The number of minutes spent on Facebook by its 200 million active members spiked 700% year-over-year to 13.9 billion. The second most popular social networking site, MySpace, saw a 31% fall in minutes spent on the site to 4.97 billion, but ranked number one in video stream consumption.

Blogger, Tagged and Twitter took the third, fourth and fifth spots. In April 2009, the number of tweets unleashed shot up 3,712% from April 2008.

The missing link? Money.

I have ridiculed Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) in the past, but I actually have to give them some props for trying something new. Of course, this newest move is a double-edged sword, but we'll deal with that in a moment.

According to The New York Times, SBUX will display new advertising posters in six major cities and will try "to harness the power of online social networking sites by challenging people to hunt for the posters on Tuesday and be the first to post a photo of one using Twitter."

Mark to market is R.I.P. But that's good news. Sentiment is building in the punditosphere that unemployment has not yet peaked and might not peak until 2010. TechCrunch reports that not a single venture-backed company IPOd in first quarter and M&A transactions were down by half compared to a year ago. Twitter is the next MySpace, according to this post. Too many impostors, follower counting and other sad parallels.

Carol Bartz, the new CEO of Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO), has no qualms about executive transparency. During an appearance Tuesday at the Morgan Stanley Tech Conference in San Francisco, Bartz confessed that she doesn't use Yahoo's mapping functionality. "I use Google Maps," she admitted. Chief Financial Officer Blake Jorgensen tried to defer the potential PR problem by explaining that Yahoo Maps has been placed on the back burner, since it's so expensive to invest in the product.

Yahoo Maps isn't the only weakness Bartz noted. Though she said it's "very clear" that Yahoo needs to dive into the social networking arena, the CEO floated the idea of a partnership with an existing company, rather than the launch of a brand-new product. "I do not believe we can invent the next Facebook," she explained.

With all the gloom in the global economy, I got to wondering whether there is anything else going on in the world of business. I'm looking for growth because I think that's what will ultimately bring the economy out of the doldrums. Not surprisingly, that growth is coming from technology companies. In Growth Matters, I look at consumer technology companies that point the way to growth trends -- and in the process introduce services and products you may want to explore.

Looking for a bit of fun to cheer you up in these trying economic times? Check out MocoSpace. According to its VP of Marketing, Jim Gregoire, MocoSpace is "the most fun you can have on your mobile – stay in touch with friends, make new ones, make a profile, share photos, blog, chat, IM, play games and so much more." MocoSpace was founded in 2005 by a pair of entrepreneurs who saw a chance to profit from the intersection of mobile technology, social networks, and advertising,

The popular social-networking site Facebook has blossomed into a gathering place for professionals, teenagers and a place where old friends can reunite to catch up on all of life's changes. But apparently "friends" may not be the only ones tracking you down.

An Australian court recently ruled that the site could be used by a lender to serve "virtual" papers to a couple, notifying them that their house would be repossessed for failing to keep up with their mortgage payments.

It's just the latest example of how lenders, colleges and employers are all becoming hip to the social-networking scene and how keeping your profile online for the world to see could actually hurt you in the long run.

There have been several cases of posts on social-networking sites backfiring on individuals -- from students being denied college enrollment or degrees, job seekers missing out on their dream job and even a college football player being kicked off the team -- all because of an inappropriate comment or photo on their profiles.

So before you add your profile, post a message on your friend's wall or update your photo album, you may want to consider how it will reflect on you or just who may find it online.

Founded in 2002 – during the dark times of the Internet – Friendster became one of the pioneers of the social networking space. The company quickly got traction and even attracted the interest of Google (NASDAQ: GOOG). But, of course, MySpace and Facebook had ultimately beat out Friendster.

Yet, the plucky website hasn't given up. In fact, the company has announced a $20 million round of venture capital. The investors include heavyweights like IDG Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Founders Fund. In all, Friendster has raised $50 million.

Actually, Friendster is ranked as the 9th most trafficked site in the world, with a heavy penetration in Asia where it is the #1 social networking platform. There are about 75 million registered users.

Interestingly enough, Friendster has a broad portfolio of patents, which perhaps can be used as leverage when combating its rivals. What's more, the company has done quite well in terms of adding features and providing a good user experience.

To help keep things on the right track, Friendster has hired Richard Kimber as its CEO. He was formerly a regional managing director of South Asia for Google. Apparently, he'll be spending much of his time in Asia, trying to put together partnerships.

While social networking seems to be maturing in the U.S., there still are great opportunities in foreign markets. Furthermore, with $20 million more in the bank, Friendster can broaden its footprint and perhaps be a hot property for an acquisition.

Tom Taulli is the author of various books, including The Complete M&A Handbook and The Edgar Online Guide to Decoding Financial Statements. He also operates MergerBook.com.