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The impact of social media is harder to measure than, say, the effectiveness of banner ads, because social media are often used to build brand loyalty. A person may see an ad or promoted social media message but choose not to click through, then search for the product later, and finally make a purchase on a third, fourth or fifth visit to the company's website. While social media didn't have a direct hand in the click-through and sale, it did have a hand in how the brand made a conversion.

Too many brands - GM included - rely on likes (which can be artificially inflated) and direct click-throughs (which don't always result in sales). And while the industry is making strides to help brands better measure what they get for their social media buck, there is still a ways to go, Chou said. Social marketing by brands "is just terrible right now," he observed. "I can't tell you exactly what it should be, but I can tell you it sucks right now. People just shout."

Right now, marketers can’t easily measure a follower who doesn’t click on links or interact directly with a brand’s Facebook page or Twitter feed. That will change as social media tracking gets better.

The social media generation puts accessibility above almost all else, and nothing is more accessible than the world wide web. As a result, a new type of viewing experience has emerged--quick views over your breakfast cereal or during your lunch break. But video producers often fail to cater to this type of viewing experience, instead focusing on what has been successful over the past half-century.

the current online environment calls for video and content that is made specifically for online audiences. Meaning short-form video with a quality that matches the production level of offline content. Not spinoffs or originally discarded footage, but shows and content made specifically for online viewers

Now the online market is over-saturated with tons of low-quality, unpredictable content. As a result, the next stage the web's evolution lies in curation and original content.

Though Facebook is still the most popular social network among teens, their enthusiasm for Mark Zuckerberg's network is decreasing, according to new findings from the Pew Research Center. Pew reports that 77% of online teens (ages 12-17) surveyed use Facebook. But while Pew's findings show that teens view Facebook participation as important for socializing, they have "waning enthusiasm for Facebook," as explained in the video above. The report cites teens' dislike for over-sharing and stressful "drama" on the social network. Teens also don't like the fact that more and more adults are joining Facebook, although Pew found that 7 in 10 teens are Facebook friends with their parents.

Pew found 24% of online teens use Twitter, an increase from 16% in 2011

Outside of Twitter and Facebook, teens don't have as much of an online presence. In 2012, 11% of teen social media users used Instagram, while Tumblr (5%), Google+ (3%) and Pinterest (1%) drew in even fewer teens.

say ads that are disguised as content have higher click-through and engagement rates than intrusive banners because they’re contextual and have quality conte

a new survey due out today by Harris Interactive for MediaBrix, a social and mobile ad firm, says otherwise. Harris asked online adults what they thought about three native ad formats—Twitter’s promoted tweets, "Sponsored Stories" on Facebook, and video ads that appear to be content. According to the survey, a majority found the ads negatively impacted or had no impact on their perception of the brand being advertised.

45 percent found promoted tweets misleading, while 57 percent and 86 percent said the same about sponsored stories and video ads, respectively.

To which social media brands do consumers feel the most attachment? Facebook ranked number one in a Brand Dependence Social Media Survey conducted by UTA Brand Studio

And we're not talking about "liking," apparently. To clarify, attachment, which is at the core of Brand Dependence research methodology, refers to the degree to which consumers believe a brand is like themselves and the degree to which thoughts and feelings about a brand come to mind,

Facebook was followed by Instagram, then YouTube, Pinterest and Reddit in the February 2014 survey of 2,006 U.S. adults aged 18 and up.

a recent study by Shareaholic found that post-click engagement with Facebook posts trailed far behind the results delivered by YouTube, and also lagged behind Google Plus, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Shareaholic examined six months’ worth of data from more than 200,000 websites reaching more than 250 million unique monthly visitors

YouTube drives the most engaged traffic. These referrals have the lowest average bounce rate (43.19 percent), the highest pages per visit (2.99), and the longest visit duration (227.82 seconds).

video watchers are especially receptive to links within video descriptions that complement the audio and visual content they just consumed.

Convincing casual social media users that something like Airtime isn't just speed dating is a hard sell. Blame Chatroulette, mid-'90s AOL chat rooms or Grindr, but meeting strangers through technology not for sex still feels inescapably creepy, even when it's cleverly facilitated by an app such as Glancee or Highlight. We like connecting with the people we meet in person after the fact, and even that's hard to make adequate time for. When it comes to video chat with the people we already know, there's no compelling reason to opt for Airtime over a Google+ Hangout, a Skype chat or even a Facetime call. And if you're interested in connecting with friends and family via video to begin with, odds are you've already picked your poison. Sean Parker may want to make Facebook less "boring" by inspiring serendipitous social discovery, but it's hard to imagine that Airtime isn't dead on arrival - there just isn't room for such a diluted blend of existing social tools nor is there the adventurous userbase to adopt them. We have Facebook and Facetime for the people we already know, Twitter and Google+ for the people we want to know and OkCupid and Match.com for the people we want to know, er, intimately. And for the greyer, more "serendipitous" areas? Chatroulette still boasts enough unfettered weirdness for a lifetime.

“social media” refers not to platforms, but to what those applications enable: social interaction.

Instead of touting Twitter in general, instead emphasize the importance of reaching new and savvy stakeholders using the platform. Instead of evangelizing for a blog, show how blogging can generate leads. Instead of pointing to videos gone viral, explore video tools that will help your client develop a brand identity.

50 percent of social network users share or repost news stories, images, or videos, while 46 percent discuss news or current events on their networks, and 11 percent have submitted their own content to news websites or blogs. Pew reiterated its findings from a report earlier this month that Internet users who arrive at the 26 news websites it analyzed by directly typing in those sites’ URLs or via bookmarks spend far more time on those sites, view more pages, and return more times per month that Internet users who arrive via Facebook.

78 percent of Facebook users see news while they are on the social network for other reasons. Only 34 percent of Facebook news consumers like news organizations or individual journalists, which Pew interprets to mean that most of the news they see on the social network is shared by their friends. Facebook news consumers reported seeing entertainment news the most, followed by “people and events in my community,” sports, national government/politics, crime, health/medicine, and local government/politics. News consumers on LinkedIn were high earners and college-educated, while those from Twitter were younger than those from Facebook, Google Plus, and LinkedIn.

One-half of Facebook users get news there even though they did not go there looking for it. And the Facebook users who get news at the highest rates are 18- to-29-year-olds.

Facebook users will sit still for ads that, per current reports, will take over your desktop screen and run for 15 seconds, up to three times a day per user. What are the odds of that? 

Initially, the 15-second autoplay ads will appear on Facebook's desktop site; the social network is still working to bring them to its mobile app as well.

Facebook is expected to offer four daily "slots" for its video ads, each targeting a very large demographic: Women over 30 Women under 30 Men over 30 Men under 30

Each video will last a maximum of 15 seconds, suggesting Facebook has taken note of Vine’s offering – which is limited to a 6 second video format. A small number of big brands will be part of the initial trials, including Unilever, Nestlé, Ford, Diageo, American Express and Coca Cola. To create more impact (at least at the beginning) users will only see video content from one of these advertiser’s in any one day. The ads will be bought on a cost per thousand basis with rates predicted to be in the low $20s, a cost per engagement model is not currently being considered.

rapidly expanding online video advertising market - 41% growth Y.O.Y, US 2012.

Unruly Media's research reveals that branded Vines (see Doritos example below) are shared four times as often as branded Internet videos. What's more, Unruly found that five Vines are shared every second on Twitter—so the non-advertising world apparently digs the six-second videos, too.

4 percent of the top 100 shared Vines were made by brands. Comparatively, according to the New York-based firm, only 1 percent of Top 100 viral online videos were the work of brands.

Vines are tweeted more during the weekend than all of the weekdays combined. Also, between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m ET is when Vine activity peaks.

According to Joyus founder and ex-Googler Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, people are five times as likely to buy something from a video ad than from a picture on an e-commerce site, and buy five times as often.

The Facebook videos will run silently until the user chooses to activate the sound, which will relaunch the ad from the beginning. How long before Facebook offers an ad-free newsfeed to users--at a price?

Why are they known as Gen C? Because they thrive on Connection, Community, Creation and Curation; they’re engaged and they want their voices to be heard. They’re not a generation in the traditional sense – about 65% of Gen C are under 35, but regardless of how old they are, they’re the sort of mavens who shape opinion and lead thought. Put simply, Gen C isn’t a quirk of when or where you were born; it’s a way of life.

59% say the internet is their main source of entertainment and 38% turn to their phone first when they want to be entertained, with 66% spending the same amount of time or more time watching online videos compared to TV. They haven’t abandoned traditional TV viewing altogether, but they have augmented it with shares, ‘likes’, +1s, comments and retweets, all of which add to the first screen viewing experience.

The act of creating has become second nature to Gen C, but they’re selective, only adding something when they think it’s relevant and they can have an impact. Eighty-three percent of Gen C have posted a picture they took but only 42% post pictures every week, while 65% have uploaded a video they created, but only 25% upload videos every week.

The 15-second ads will begin playing on users’ News Feeds without audio, and they will stop playing if users scroll past them. Users who are interested in viewing the video ads can tap them, after which a full-screen version, with sound, will begin playing. Facebook said in announcing the test last December that for mobile users, video ads are pre-downloaded when their devices are connected via Wi-Fi, so they do not consume additional data, and users on data plans will not see their usage rise.

People can expect to begin seeing these new ads over the next few months.

we’re working with a company called Ace Metrix to help us review and assess how engaging the creative is for each ad — before it appears on Facebook. Ace Metrix will allow us to objectively measure the creative quality of the video in the Facebook environment and highlight performance indicators for advertisers such as watchability, meaningfulness, and emotional resonance. We’re taking this step in order to maintain high-quality ads on Facebook and help advertisers understand what’s working to maximize their returns on investment.

now, a new decade is upon us - the decade of games. These are not children's games, however. These are games that could change the world.

how game mechanics would solve global warming.

"The last decade was the decade of social. The framework for the social layer is now built," declared Priebatsch. "It's called Facebook."

shift toward what is now known as contextual computing

Amazon’s and Netflix’s recommendation engines, while not magnificently intuitive, feed you book and video recommendations based on your behavior and ratings. Facebook’s and Twitter’s valuations are premised on the notion that they can leverage knowledge of your acquaintances and interests to push out relevant content and market to you in more effective ways.

four data graphs essential to the rise of contextual computing: social, interest, behavior, and personal.

Imagine people in developing countries thinking Facebook is the gateway to the Internet. They would log into Facebook to access email, Wikipedia pages, weather information, and food prices. If they wanted additional services like the ability to stream video, they can buy it with a simple click—through Facebook. That’s Mark Zuckerberg’s vision for Internet.org. 

“Connecting the world” is Facebook’s vision—one that can’t be achieved without the support of other organizations, including the six telecom companies it partnered with for the Internet.org initiative.  Zuckerberg said the organization is looking for an additional three to five partners to bring on board, ones that will bet big that Facebook subsidies of social services will pay off by up-selling their data plans.

By using Facebook as an on-ramp to the Internet, the next one billion people will use social logins not just to control various apps, but their entire Internet usage.