MASHABLE — What’s the first thing young women do when they wake up? Check Facebook. How do enterprise employees pass the time at work? With social media. With so many studies highlighting ever-accelerating social media usage rates, the conclusion is obvious -- social media is everywhere. What follows are five of the hottest social media trends right now. Each are influencing our social, online and mobile behaviors in significant ways...

EMARKETER — In 2009, nearly half of all teen internet users bought goods such as apparel, books and music online, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project. This represents a 17-percentage-point increase in penetration over 2000. An even higher percentage would have made such purchases had they more spending money and access to a credit card...

CLICKZ — A lot of e-commerce marketers are trying to make shopping more "social" these days, and now Visa's gotten into the game. The payments technology giant on Monday unveiled a plug-in called Rightcliq that lets shoppers involve their friends via Facebook and e-mail when it comes to purchase decisions. Consumers can download the plug-in and use the system on any site. Companies can work with Visa to incorporate the delivery of special offers as part of the plug-in experience. Barnes & Noble, Drugstore.com, JCPenney.com, Kmart.com, and 1-800 Flowers are notable partners that have implemented the plug-in with special offers, according to the San Francisco-based Visa...

FORRESTER RESEARCH — As you probably know, Facebook and Amazon are allowing consumers to connect the two sites. What I find most interesting is the care Amazon is taking to inform consumers what this will mean to them and why they should do it. Given Facebook’s repeated stumbles on issues of consumer privacy, the approach being taken by Amazon is one every marketer should note and consider. What’s important about Amazon’s approach is that they’re not simply leaving the communication of important information to Facebook...

VENTUREBEAT — Facebook and Amazon.com partnered Tuesday in what could be one of the social network’s most important integrations yet. Amazon.com now offers a personalized page, where consumers can see product recommendations influenced by friends and their own tastes. They get notifications on when friend’s birthdays are coming up and suggestions on what to buy for them. It’s a big deal for a number of reasons...