According to the 2012 annual State of News Media report, more Americans than ever own and receive news from smartphones and tablet computers, the Pew Research Center reported.

A survey of 3,000 adults conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that 44% of people over 18 now own a smartphone, while 18% of adults own tablets—a 50% increase in tablet usage from the summer of 2011.

The survey found that, of the majority of Americans who own a desktop or laptop computer, more than half also own a smartphone. In addition, it found that almost a third of smartphone owners also own a tablet. Overall, 13% of the adults surveyed owned all three devices.

The survey also asked participants about their smartphone and tablet behaviors, discovering that about half of smartphone owners and more than half of tablet owners use their respective devices to get digital news.

Liz Heron, a key social media editor at The New York Times, is moving to the Wall Street Journal to take up the position of director of social media and engagement for the WSJ Digital Network.

 “In this pivotal role, Liz will lead a growing team that will be ever more focused on deepening the engagement we have with existing readers globally, as well as expanding our audiences, both on our own platforms as well as in social media,” said Raju Narisetti, WSJ’s managing editor for digital, in a memo reproduced on Capital New York.

Heron also announced her move on her Facebook page, where she has more than 380,000 subscribers. In a later update, in response to those who have asked if there will be a war between the two papers over her subscribers, she said that “The Times is too enlightened for that.” Nobody can “own” Facebook subscribers, she continued, adding that she hoped her fans will stick with her but that she has already suggested plenty of other NYT journalists to follow if they prefer.

Yesterday, Twitter announced its acquisition of blogging platform Posterous Spaces, a move which could have interesting consequences for online sharing.

“Today we are welcoming a very talented group from Posterous to Twitter,” stated a Twitter news blog post. “This team has built an innovative product that makes sharing across the web and mobile devices simple—a goal we share.”

Posterous, which allows users to upload blog posts, photos or videos by sending an email, simplifies online sharing and cross-blogging for the tech-averse, as previously reported by Poynter. Co-founded by CEO Sachin Agarwal and Garry Tan in 2008, Posterous also allows users to post on-the-go via mobile phones, which can help bloggers share news-worthy information faster than a traditional blogging platform.

In a blog post, the Posterous team expressed its approval of the acquisition, citing the two companies’ common interests in simplifying the sharing process for users.

Facebook’s newest feature allows users to create special sections or feeds for specific topics via ‘lists’ in a new Interests section. “Interest lists can help you turn Facebook into your own personalized newspaper,” says Eric Faller, a Facebook software engineer, on the company’s site.

The new tool can be used much like Twitter lists: anyone can create a list on a specific topic and others can subscribe to it, if the creator chooses to make it public, or visible to his or her Facebook friends. Creating a list from pages or people who you already follow is straightforward, and Facebook then suggests other organisations and people who you might want to add to it. Only the creator can edit the list.

Lists are accessible in an Interests section to the left of the newsfeed. The most popular stories from lists you subscribe to will also be shown in your main newsfeed, reported TechCrunch. Facebook gives a couple of examples of lists created by its staff: NFL Teams and 2012 US Presidential Candidates.