To friend or to de-friend, that is the question. New research from NM Incite, a Nielsen McKinsey company, reveals that there are innumerable factors that help Facebook users decide to add a friend or cull someone from the fold, though knowing someone in real life is the top reason cited for friend-ing someone (82%) and offensive comments are the main reason someone gets the boot (55%).

Facebook and apps from Google like Gmail and the Android Market are the most popular smartphone apps among Android owners according to Nielsen’s latest research on smartphone usage.

American consumers are increasingly connected, and our recent survey shows they are increasingly multimedia multitasking.

With new daily deal sites entering the fray on a regular basis, The Nielsen Company took a look at this popular genre, revealing who Groupon and Living Social’s audiences are and what couponers online want.

64% of adult Internet users who follow a celebrity also follow a brand – five times more likely to do so than all adults online.

Americans spend nearly a quarter of their time online on social networking sites and blogs, up from 15.8 percent just a year ago (a 43 percent increase) according to new research released today from The Nielsen Company.

Growth in consumers’ use of social media is changing the media landscape across the world. In Asia Pacific it has become increasingly important for advertisers to understand what is driving this change and leverage its growing popularity.

Social media usage has seen unprecedented growth in Asia Pacific in the past year and is now one of the most critical trends in the online sector, according to Nielsen’s Asia Pacific Social Media Report.

The popularity of social media is undeniable as the world now spends over 110 billion minutes on social networks and blog sites – 22 percent of their time online.

Compared to user activity on social networking sites last year, Facebook and Twitter posted gains of 69% and 45% respectively in the U.S. Globally, the total minutes spend on social networks monthly saw a more than 100% gain over the same time last year.