I love stats: my inner nerd lights up with anticipation at the mere mention of statistics, reports, and analysis. Even if you’re not a professional geek like myself, you should still pay attention to the figures: they can tell you everything (and, occasionally, nothing). Want some examples? Here you go:

• Europe Grew by 10 Million New Facebook Users Last Month – figures on the top 20 gainers in social media
• Email software popularity: 5 lessons for your list – useful analysis of email client usage from Mark Brownlow
• Surprising Email Study – an overview of a recent, interesting, report by smartFOCUS
• Cyber Monday/Black Friday Forecast for 2009 – predictions based on stats from previous years
• New Research Shows Email Marketing Still Delivers Impressive ROI – stats to back up what you should already know
• SocNets, Email at Top of 2010 Media-Buying List – a review of a commercial report available from MediaPost

Amusingly this week, news about the sale of SORBS for “a cool half mil” broke via jedsmith.org (with a later followup of the effect) after Michelle Sullivan foolishly revealed details over IRC (apparently in front of 25 other people, d’oh). SORBS is not known as being the most, ah, user-friendly blacklist around (the word “reviled” has been used), but it’s hard to doubt its reach – something which irate sysadmins have often complained about after finding it difficult to get a legitimate netblock removed from the list. GFI have now issued an oft-quoted official statement regarding the matter, but seem to have been caught slightly off-guard, as there’s still no mention of it on their main site.

Special mention this week to Chris Wheeler, whose brother passed away unexpectedly last week. Prompted by this awful event, he has decided to offer up his own time to try and give something back to the world by doing what he feels he does best: help improve people’s email deliverability. It might seem a little strange, but it’s a gesture that I’m sure is heartfelt, and from the content of the post seems as genuine as they come. You have our sincere condolences, Chris.

A bumper roundup this week due to the last two Fridays having been taken up with development work for our shiny new Analyse section with all its lovely new charts and tables. Crunch time is finally over however, so please expect normal service to resume – for now.

So, what have people been talking about over the last couple of weeks? One particularly well covered topic has been social media, particularly with regards to how people use it for sharing content:

• Reportlet: FTAF vs. SWYN – some facts and figures from RetailEmailBlog.com
• Yahoo Points the Way to the ‘Social Inbox’ – Y!’s attempts at integration
• You know social media is pervasive when … – “Trapped girl calls for help on Facebook” (!)
• Inspire Interaction with Promo Emails – “4 Tactics to Boost Clicks, Encourage Social Sharing”
• Social Media Integration Survey – interesting results, but no real surprises
• Social Sharing: Who Cares?! – why should people want to share your content?
• Email Share-to-Social: Not Just About The Links – sensible advice from MediaPost’s Loren McDonald

Also of note is our very own Gareth Langston‘s ongoing series of posts on how to leverage social media:

• Join the Twitter Conversation
• The Facebook Platform Revisited
• Create a consistent brand image across Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
• Adding bespoke content to Facebook Pages
• Social Media Insights

The above links are only a few highlights from the series – and Gareth’s got plenty more to say, so stay tuned for more insights.

Another perennial talking point that’s been discussed recently has been the maintenance, management, and proper use of your email lists:

• 20 Ways to Build Your Email List – sensible, and practical, recommendations
• How to Build a Good Email Newsletter List – the basics (and most important!)
• Email Marketing Minute: Hand Written Email Optin – short video with advice for retailers
• Opt-In, Opt-Out: Confusion Reigns – clarification and edification
• How to Overcome Email List Fatigue – keeping your lists fresh
• The (Hopefully) Final Word on Purchased Lists – in a nutshell: don’t buy lists

Not news, but still worth covering: testing remains one of the most powerful and, sadly, underused methods of optimising the effectiveness of your email campaigns. Thankfully however, it’s not being ignored by the email marketing sites out there, with plenty continuing to provide sage advice on the subject (including one of my favourite sites, Anne Holland’s Which Test Won?).

For our now-regular mention of activities in America, a quick note to say that in fine litigious tradition RPost have sued Goodmail for patent infringment. Interestingly, I came across a great collective noun proposed the other day: a fleece of lawyers – perfect.

Lastly, this week’s special mention goes once again to Mark Brownlow for the third addition to his series: Famous inboxes #3: Sauron, offering some rare proof that humour can exist alongside useful and insightful information.

One of the more meaty topics this week has been the never-ending flood of spam:

• Barracuda and BarracudaCentral RBL – hidden pitfalls of this anti-spam service
• Important information for users of spamassassin – and bl.open-whois.org
• MessageLabs Stats: Spam Learns a New Language – foreign spam on the rise
• More Spam? Say it ain’t so! – all spam on the rise
• There Oughta Be A Law! – “Anti-Spam Legislation Around the World, Part 1″
• You might be a spammer if… – … you read this post’s comments without smiling

Widely reported this week was the news that AOL are no longer providing report cards on people who have received a high number of spam complaints. Fortunately this doesn’t affect Sign-Up.to, as we already closely monitor our feedback loops and will be in touch with clients long before they reached the 30% threshold that previously trigged a report card from AOL.

Speaking of reports, this week’s special mention must go to our very own Matt McNeill, who has painstakingly cleaned, sorted, and analysed over 200 million emails in order to present us with the most comprehensive Email Marketing Benchmark Report in the UK. Check it out for all sorts of statistical goodness related to industry averages for bounce rates, unsubscribes, clicks, and more.