Brands are more comfortable on social networks and have started to engage more authentically and build communities with other users on the sites, according to Burston Marsteller (via e-marketer).

25% of companies worldwide are using all four major social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and blogs. Eighty-four percent are on at least one platform. 67% of companies using Twitter use the “@” convention to directly mention other users, while 57% use retweets to repost a fellow user’s comment, an increase compared to 2010.

On March 1, Facebook announced a deeper way to incorporate its Comments platform into third-party sites, allowing, for example, users’ comments on company blogs to be posted on Facebook as well. Additionally, Facebook has introduced a way for companies to act more like people on the site, and to comment on or “like” items as the brand or company, rather than as an individual.