By now, we all know that businesses, consumers and the media alike are all taking advantage of the power of social media. This influential medium continues to grow at a rapid pace in both the number of users and the number of platforms/applications.

I decided to take a look at two of the most popular social media platforms, strictly by the numbers, in the event some of you readers may still not be convinced of their breadth and depth.

So, what is Twitter? Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates (known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. Updates are displayed on the user’s profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them. Senders can restrict delivery to those in their circle of friends (delivery to everyone being the default).

*Estimated 14,590,000 accounts
*Total active users: 200,000 per week
*Messages per day: 3,000,000
Information source: SocialMediaExpert.com

Famous people and companies you can follow on Twitter:

Celebs:
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Britney Spears, Yoko Ono, Luke Wilson, Eli Manning, Shaquille O’Neal, Michael Phelps, President Obama, Joe Biden

Companies:
Southwest Airlines, Apple, Zappos, M&Ms, Starbucks, BLASTmediaPR

Twitter can also be a great way to get breaking news by following:
Reuters, CNN, NY Times, NPR, CNET News, Revision 3, Orlando Sentinel

You can even follow us here at BLASTmedia:
Ryan
Margie
Ashley
Chantal
Lauren
Hillary
Carey

And Facebook? Facebook is a social networking Web site that was originally designed for college students, but is now open to anyone 13 years of age or older and is growing extremely fast among the 30+ adult population. Facebook users can create and customize their own profiles with photos, videos and information about themselves. Friends who you accept in your network can browse your profile and the profiles of other friends and write messages on their pages.

*Estimated 175 million accounts +
*More than half of Facebook users are out of college
*The average user has 120 friends
*Companies and businesses can create pages and attract “fans”
*More than 3.5 million users become fans of Pages each day
Information provided by Facebook

Famous people and companies you can connect with via Facebook:

Celebs:
Michael Phelps, Adam Sandler, Mr. Bean, Usain Bolt, Ben Stiller, Jim Carey, Johnny Knoxville

Companies:
Skullcandy, Cyberhomes, Blue Man Group, Apple, Lego

Who are your favorite people or companies to follow?