©Tumblr's menu makes it easy to do quick multimedia posts across multiple platforms and networks.

The social blogging movement continues to gain momentum as a newer generation of blogging tools add more social networking features. In case you're wondering, social blogs are a cross between a blog and a social network. The software programs creating them are often called microblogging tools because they encourage short or "micro" posts analagous to status updates on Facebook.

Social blogs let people post short updates quickly by email or cell phone, and auto-post the same updates to social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Social blogs go beyond RSS-type subscription feeds of first-generation blogs to include following and friending capabilities similar to those of Facebook and Twitter.

• Read more about social blogs.
• Learn how to use Tumblr and Posterous, two free social blogging tools.

The annual Consumer Electronics Show typically showcases prototypes and technology that are months, if not years, from hitting the market. So it's an early barometer for winds of technological change.

And when it comes to social media, one big wind at the 2012 CES last week was integration with technology of all kinds, suggesting it will be another newsy year for social networking and related services. In particular, social TV and connected cars were two areas where social media made plenty of news in Las Vegas.

In addition to TV growing more participatory and social, and cars getting social networking plugged in, four other areas likely will be ripe for social media evolution this year:

• Mobile communication
• Social marketing strategies
• Labor, staffing, job issues
• Presidential politics

Read more about social media predictions for 2012.

The new search system Google rolled out this week incorporating more social networking content and contacts into search results has stirred quite a backlash from privacy advocates and competitors.  It represents perhaps the most advanced type of social search the Web has seen so far.

Privacy advocates are worried about personal information potentially being shared more widely than people want, even though Google said it has taken pains to develop a system that can encrypt the personal part of each person's search results and keep that private, so only the person searching can see it. Competitors like Twitter, meanwhile, expressed concern that Google's new search results won't give as much prominence to breaking news tweets as they would in the past.

Google came up with a totally dorky name for its new system: "Search Plus Your World." On the company blog, Google said it represents an expansion of the "social search" results it previously offered . Read More...

It's a ritual to look back at each year when it ends, and there was plenty to look back on in social media during 2011.

So for all you social media news hounds, here are two lists of noteworthy trends and news in the 2011 social mediasphere.

• Business Trends - One reviews the seven top social media business stories of 2011, or what leading social media tool makers were doing to generate headline news.
• People Power - The other looks at major social media news events in 2011. People using social media in high-impact ways made news all year long during 2011. The biggest social media trend by far was how these tools are changing our lives and society as they go mainstream