So you’re new to this whole social media thing. Maybe you’re savvy enough to know your Facebook from your Twitter, your Pinterest from your Spotify. But what about Tagged? Xing? Futubra? Where do they fit into the social media ecosystem? Just learning their names is enough to make your head spin, let alone how large they are or what kind of numbers they’re pulling down.

Never fear. Mashable has got you covered.

This comprehensive infographic whipped up by social media strategist firm Hasai, below, serves both as a cheat sheet for the newbies and a scorecard for old hands; there’s sure to be a stat that surprises even the most jaded social guru.

Did you know Club Penguin has more employees than Twitter? That Spotify has larger revenues than Tagged, which in turn has more users than Twitter? That Pinterest may be a hot property, but Foursquare still has more users? (All revenue figures are in U.S. dollars, by the way.)

Facebook remains at the top of the social media tree, of course. But as Thursday’s trending Twitter topic, “RIP Facebook,” suggested, that can’t last forever. So who is best positioned to replace them? Take a look at the chart, and let us know in the comments what you think.

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Pew have updated their annual look at who is using Twitter – you may recall that in their 2011 report it was revealed that some 13 percent of online adults were using the micro-blogging platform (up from 8 percent in 2010), and that the typical user skewed towards an 18-29 year-old non-white male.

Fast-forward another year, and what has changed?

Not much, to be honest. While Pew’s latest findings reveal that overall Twitter usage is up a couple of percentage points to 15 percent of online adults, the service still performs strongly with minorities, with more than one quarter of black internet users (28 percent) and 14 percent of Hispanic users active on the platform. Conversely, just 12 percent of whites use Twitter.

The 18-29 demographic continues to be the most highly represented at 29 percent, ahead of those aged 30-49 (14 percent) and 50-64 (9 percent).

The only notable difference: women (15 percent) have taken the lead from men (14 percent), albeit marginally.

Did you know that the number one reason why somebody unfollows you on Twitter is because you are making too much noise?

That is, sending out too many tweets that contain little or no “signal”. In a recent multiple answer study, 52 percent of respondents chose this as their top reason, ahead of too much self-promotion (48 percent), posting spam (47 percent), being uninteresting (43 percent) and too much repetition (29 percent).

These, and ten other main reasons why you’re getting unfollowed (alongside a lot of minor ones), can be found in this infographic from the Marketing Tech Blog, who used data taken from an Econsultancy survey.

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By Carl Anderson 

For months America’s bishops have attempted to work with the current Administration to ensure adequate First Amendment religious freedom protection of religious organizations. They have been rebuffed each time, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops formally responded to proposed rules in the HHS mandate on May 15.

Our bishops’ response shows how easy it would be for the administration to make real progress on this issue, and how the federal regulations being implemented conflict with the cherished history of First Amendment liberty.
The brief states: “On balance, while the [proposed regulation] may create an appearance of moderation and compromise, it does not actually offer any change in the Administration’s earlier stated positions on mandated contraceptive coverage, which are now enshrined in a final rule.”

It continues: “The simplest and best solution to the various problems described above is the one the Administration so far has declined to adopt: to rescind the mandate. Failing this, the Administration should provide an exemption that protects all stakeholders with a religious or moral objection, in keeping with the consistent language and longstanding tradition of federal conscience protection law.”

Resolving this issue in keeping with the First Amendment is critical to the American way of life, and our bishops have shown excellent leadership in defending our constitutional rights.

Warren Buffett sticks with what he knows, and that now includes newspapers

The world’s worst traffic

The Inrix study shows that drivers in other major cities are still spending a fair number of hours stuck in traffic, too. While Los Angeles ranked a close second to Honolulu, those in San Francisco spent almost 48 additional hours in the car because of traffic.

The news wasn’t all bad, though. Inrix says overall congestion was down 30 percent in 2011 from the year before, and notes that of the 100 cities it surveyed, 70 of them logged lower rates of congestion year over year.

These cities had the worst traffic in 2011, according to Inrix, which lists the average hours wasted per driver after each city:

10)      Chicago – 32.8 hours
9)         Boston –  35 hours
8)         Austin – 30 hours
7)         Seattle – 33 hours
6)         Washington, D.C. – 45 hours
5)         Bridgeport, CT – 42 hours
4)         New York – 57 hours
3)         San Francisco – 48 hours
2)         Los Angeles – 56 hours
1)         Honolulu – 58 hours

The study also finds that, nationally, the worst morning commute occurs on Tuesday, while the worst evening commute is on Friday.

Rome, Italy,  (CNA/EWTN News).- Western military aid to Syrian rebels could prove disastrous for the country, according to the Damascus-based head of the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.

“It is time now to have some accord,” Patriarch Gregorios III told CNA on March 15, “and not to arm the opposition, not to attack the regime.”

There is a window of opportunity, he said, to “call both sides” to negotiate and prevent a civil war. But if this opportunity passes, “it will be more difficult because the opposition will be united, maybe more armed, and then more blood. Then it is finished.”

“In order to avoid this very, very sorrowful, very dark end, let us go the way of concord, of dialogue.”

The Eastern Catholic leader spoke to CNA shortly after he met with Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican, to discuss the Church’s prospects in the midst of a conflict that is drawing worldwide attention.

That same day, the Patriarch confirmed that Pope Benedict would be visiting Lebanon from Sept. 14-16, with the possibility of a stop in Syria “if the situation improves.”

Syrian Christians and other religious minorities are concerned about what the future may hold, if the regime of President Bashar al-Assad collapses. The worst-case scenario is a power struggle between different Muslim groups, as has occurred in Iraq.

But Patriarch Gregorios believes there are alternatives to a sudden regime change that could plunge the country into chaos. He is also convinced that the Church can help the cause of peace in the “shaken Arab world” at large.

— Carl Anderson is CEO of the Knights of Columbus

he topic of religious liberty has been in the headlines a great deal recently, and in two weeks it will be on the big screen as well.

Years in the making, the film For Greater Glory tells the story, which has been all but forgotten, of the Mexican government’s persecution of the Catholic Church. It is a story of exiled bishops, murdered priests, and eventually a civil war: a war fought over religious freedom.

Americans of all faiths should watch this film. And they should thank God that they live in the United States, in a country ruled by law, where our differences are decided in courtrooms and with ballots rather than bullets.

Threats to religious freedom everywhere have certain similarities. A government attempts to take away from its people a fundamental right. It attempts to redefine how its people can think. In Mexico in the late Teens and Twenties, enforcement of the laws was violent, and violence begot more violence, and soon the entire country was engulfed in a civil war.

Nearly nine decades later, in the United States, a country that functions under the rule of law, we will protect our rights very differently. When people of faith in the United States respond to government intrusion into our First Amendment right of the free exercise of religion, we do so with civility, and with the knowledge that courts and elections have power to effect change.

For Greater Glory is a stark reminder that not every country has the stability, meaningful enfranchisement, and legal recourse that we enjoy here in the United States.

Mexico in the early 20th century was a turbulent place. Governments and revolutions came and went — violently and frequently. But the Catholic faith, to which the overwhelming majority of Mexicans adhered, held the country together.

Then in 1924 the Mexican government moved to suppress that faith. With the election of Plutarco Eliás Calles as president, it began to enforce anti-Catholic provisions of the 1917 constitution that had mostly been in abeyance until then. One of the government’s first assaults on religious liberty was its attempt to control who could serve as clergy. Foreign priests were expelled — or killed. Clergy were required to register with the government, which reserved the right to determine who counted as a priest.

Next came the move to ban religion from public view. Citizens were told they could “worship” freely, but privately. Priests who wore clerical attire outside their churches or rectories faced large fines. A priest who criticized the government could be jailed for five years, and priests were arrested or killed just for serving their flocks. Catholic organizations, with the blessing of their bishops, started resisting — peacefully at first, but then with arms when they were attacked. The violence snowballed, and soon Mexico was in the grip of a civil war.