The NFL’s two representatives in the Top 20 are the Dallas Cowboys and Pittsburgh Steelers. India’s national team makes a breakthrough for cricket in 15^th position, while baseball’s Boston Red Sox nab 18^th spot.

City will use Twitter to engage and entertain fans who tune into television broadcasts at City Square, a dedicated fan area near the club’s shop. It is also integrating real time fan Tweets on the Etihad’s video boards, on JumboTron large-screen televison, and other arena distribution channels. City is the first Premier League club to use Twitter as part of its in-game displays.

Manchester City has successfully trialled social media during games against Newcastle United and Norwich City. In a December match with the latter, the club teamed with Mass Relevance to deliver social content on screens throughout the stadium, and to create dialogue with and between fans, pundits and announcers before and after the game (hashtag #blueview). The strategy resulted in more than 1,500 #blueview Tweets in just six hours from more than 965 unique Twitter authors, providing the club with message and brand reach of nearly 400,000 Twitter users and nearly 2.5 million impressions.

“At City we have always believed that home games at the Etihad Stadium are not just exclusive to the 47,000 fans in the stands,” says Richard Ayers, digital laymaker for Manchester City. “They are an opportunity for City supporters from around the world to connect with one another and feel part of the match day experience. Mass Relevance enables us to empower our fans and add a new dimension to our pre-match build up by being able to broadcast their Tweets in real time around the stadium big screens.”

“Football fans are some of the most dedicated – and vocal – fans on the planet and real-time social content continues to play a key role in enhancing the experience whether you are at the match, watching on TV or following on your mobile device,” says Mass Relevance CEO Sam Decker.

And it’s clear Man City is really committed to social media. There’s the FanCam campaign, for one, the club’s Facebook drive for another, plus a spot of augmented reality, to name but a few.

That means ad execs may choose to divert budget from traditional advertising to social media to reflect changing audience profile,rather than request a dedicated budget to experiment with a new technology.

Also, based on the rather broad range of social media activities, coupled with low management buy-in and measurement, there is every indication that social networking still has a long way to go before it is accepted as a core business strategy.

“All of this serves to remind us that we are still really only in the early dawn of social media in business,” says KPMG. “We suspect in a couple of year’s time, the responses to these sorts of questions may be very different and that we will see social media moving far closer to the core of strategy considerations.”

KPMG finds that more than three-quarters of retail/wholesale and finance brands use social media, while just 67% of firms in the public sector do so.

“Whether you’re a Capitol fashionista seeking inspiration for your latest look, or a District citizen tracking rumours about the Tributes and other celebs, Capitol Couture is the only place to turn for pictures and news reports on the fashion, trends and lifestyle that make Capitol living so grand,” says an intro on the website.

Fashion and style are pretty important to the denizens of the Capitol. They dye their skin, embed gems in it, get tattooed breasts and wear colourful wigs, among other cosmetic items.

Brands are getting in on the action too, with nail lacquer maker China Glaze on the blog to proffer advice on healthy nails – clean and beautiful are a sign of class in the Capitol, apparently.

And keep an eye out for Capitol-born style icon and District 12 Escort Effie Trinket, a fashion pioneer since her very first Hunger Games. “Effie likes to complement her exquisite full body polish with audacious garment selections paired with dazzling footwear such as the daring 24-Karat McQueen peep-toes she was recently spotted wearing in the City Circle.”

And there’s social media gaming fun to be had with The Hunger Games too – more info here.

Social networking delivers mass reach for brands and the trend is most visible among younger Internet users, with 16-to-24 year-olds much more likely to ‘like’ a brand or product than older age groups. However microblogging remains a far more targeted social strategy with just 9% having retweeted a branded post, and only 13% opting to follow a brand on Twitter.

The most social engaged market in the world is China, where 84% of Net users contribute at least once a month to either social networking, blogging, video uploading, photo sharing, microblogging or forums. Next in line come Russia, Brazil and India, demonstrating how BRIC markets dominate the social landscape. In the UK the figure stands at 64%, in the US 60%, in Germany 52%.

The platform most utilised by the Inc 500 is Facebook, with 74% of companies onboard, and 73% using LinkedIn. Twenty-five and 24%, respectively, report that Facebook or LinkedIn is the single most effective social networking platform they use. Texting, mobile apps and Foursquare are used by 13-15% of companies.

However, blogging has declined for the first time among the Inc 500. In 2010, half of members had a corporate blog – up from 45% in 2009 and 39% in 2008 – but last year the use of blogs dropped to 37%.

Companies in advertising/marketing are most likely to blog, while companies in government services and construction make very little use of this communications tool.

“The use of social media in the Inc. 500 is evolving,” says Dr Nora Ganim Barnes, senior research fellow of the Society For New Communications Research. “Older tools are being shed in favour of newer, more nimble tools. Creating networks with other professionals is seen to be as important as communicating with target markets via Facebook or Twitter. These fast-growing companies intend to continue to invest in social media and will fill their needs in a variety of ways, including new social media hires.”