Marketing experts are telling Toyota that it needs to rebuild the trust of women in the wake of the recall mayhem. Social-media listening can play a critical role in campaign design, helping to fill in the gaps left by traditional methods.

Traditional media continues to struggle despite more focus on the consumer and growing social-media adoption. Throw in some patent-infringement lawsuits and it’s just another week in the life of new media.

The 2010 Winter Olympics have become a laboratory for how events and advertising play on the second screen. Most of the “experiments,” the way we interpret social media data, are focused on how consumers behave in social media. But what we can learn from 300 million people interacting online should inform all aspects of marketing.

This week saw another patent award (this time for Google), the CDC launch a massive social-media campaign, and lots of academic and MBA-style theorizing about the business value of social-media marketing. And apparently your grandparents are using Facebook.

The Oscars are one brand that still controls its equity from the top down: Winners are chosen by the Academy. But outside of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, winners are decided by thousands of movie buffs posting their opinions online.

TV, NASCAR, and the U.S. military are all embracing social media? How much more evidence does corporate America need? It ain’t going away, folks.