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Promoted Pin today is being reviewed by a member of the team to ensure that it meets community guidelines and that the quality is high.

Pinterest is working with just a handful of small businesses for the launch of its self-serve offering. That includes companies like custom prints business Artifact Uprising, home cooks content and commerce destination Food52, and clothing brand Vineyard Vines. But the company expects to gradually make the self-serve offering more widely available to small and medium-sized businesses that want to test out the ads platform.

it’s raised a big new $200 million round of funding valuing it at $5 billion. That round was led by SV Angel, and included participation from a number of existing investors, including Bessemer Venture Partners, Fidelity, A16Z, FirstMark Capital, and Valiant Capital Partners.

Big money is changing hands, much of it to teenagers, which has made this a topic the media has loved to cover.

"The way that I started was creating a parody account of a fictional character, which is probably more common than you think."

Nikolai is in favor of working directly with companies to build awareness instead of driving traffic to websites and getting paid off AdSense, which he calls unsustainable.

Fans respond to originality, live-tweeting events, and piggybacking on trending topics

YouTube, Twitter, Vine, Instagram, Pinterest—these are the platforms where you find young buyers waiting to be influenced.

Since Facebook makes users pay to reach target audiences, it’s the only major social network not in the mix.

Google+ is reportedly at work on AdHeat, a patented system connecting brands with influencers.

"Influencers" get paid per tweet or post, or work under contract on campaigns. Some get connected with companies covering multiple platforms, like theAudience, or specialty spots like Big Frame, CollectiveDigital, or Jukin Media, which focus on video creators. Then there’s twtMob for Twitter, theAmplify for Instagram, or HelloSociety for Pinterest. A startup called Niche gives you a customized group of social media "celebrities" who will organically tweet, post, and talk about your products. This isn't canned material made by some agency coming out these kids' mouths. It's them.

Twitter has started to quietly reveal engagement numbers for major users, a real metric influencers can use to prove ROI.

But while the 16-year-old stars making big bucks are being celebrated, what’s not as well known is that some of this activity is not legal. That’s because in the U.S. the Federal Trade Commission mandates the disclosure of paid or sponsored content. Penalties are in the six figures, but many in the space say there’s still a Wild West mentality at work.

On YouTube, Vine, and Instagram, creators are the stars, but on Twitter, the trendsetters are largely parody accounts, which can leave the people running them feeling like the Cinderella of the ball.

In 2009 the FTC released guidelines concerning online endorsements.

There are more than 50 pages of regulations, but the main takeaway is this: If you’re paid to post online, you have to make it known, and when it comes to social that means including an "s/p" designation (sponsored post), or tags that say #sponsor or #ad.

Typically millennials in their teens and 20s, influencers drive engagement—creating tweets, videos, photos, memes that people respond to, share, comment on, or even steal. Originality, wit, and volume posting is key—and so is pulling at heart strings or tickling funny bones.

followers and reach are key, but the main criteria hinges on "capturing an emotion or quality in a platform that is meaningful," explains Oliver Luckett, the founder and CEO of the social media publisher theAudience

they don’t have to be traditional stars. The fact that they’re relatable, and look and live like their peers actually make them more convincing than Hollywoo

With mainstream magazines like Seventeen putting Instagram stars on their covers, commercials using user-generated videos, and brands like American Eagle turning Viners into models, are these the new secret celebs?

People feel closer to them because they show up in their feed—they hang on every word and thing they’re wearing

it’s a win for teens to work with big companies that line up with their personality, and a win for brands to reach new audiences. "This is the way it’s going."

Perlman says back then Disney laughed when they proposed using an online heavyweight as a marketing tool. But in 2010 they convinced Disney to use the electronic musician Pogo to create an official remix for Toy Story 3. They also managed to twist Disney’s arm and sell tickets for the film on Facebook. The video got almost 4 million views and the gambit was a huge success.

Taryn Southern has built a following of almost 350,000 subscribers on YouTube, parlaying that success into television appearances, a web series sponsored by Glamour magazine, and a deal with Hot Pockets. Southern, who appeared on American Idol when she was only 18, says she won’t work with brands she doesn’t actually have an affinity for.

"Your audience knows—it never works with a brand you’re not passionate about," she told me. "Where I’ve made mistakes is trying to be clear of an integration that doesn’t work for YouTube personalities. If people are being paid on social they have to be honest."

"Anyone with 250,000 to 300,000 followers is influential enough to work with,"

Content thievery remains rampant, as are selling accounts, and failing to disclose brand partnerships. Eventually the FTC will start cracking down. And what happens when influencers grow up? What will their role be then—will they lose their brand appeal or morph into a new commodity?

Facebook ads have huge potential return on investment

shows an increase of $5,500 in net sales and a 1100% ROI when the company used Facebook’s in-store offer ad

may not provide the most effective medium for your business message.

LinkedIn is right for you... if you are in B2B

most users are in work mode on LinkedIn so it is optimal for peer networking and industry-specific information

Pinterest is right for you... if you are in a highly visual industry

deeply interested in a subject that can be visually represented

particularly appealing to "information junkies"

As with Facebook, Twitter is more effective when it is a two-way platform in which you respond to and engage with followers

visual aspect to what you do

Given Instagram's appeal to specific ethnic segments and its popularity among urbanites

Tumblr, which tends to attract a younger and less affluent audience overall

BI also looked at Google , which it found to be very male-dominated

71%+ +

18% + +

17% + + +

60% or so of social media time is spent not on desktop computers but on smartphones and tablets.

Facebook attracts roughly seven times the engagement that Twitter does, when looking at both smartphone and PC usage, in per-user terms. 

Snapchat is a smaller network than WhatsApp, but outpaces it in terms of time-spend per user. 

Pinterest, Tumblr and LinkedIn made major successful pushes last year to increase engagement on their mobile sites and apps. The new race in social media is not for audience per se, but for multi-device engagement. 

Facebook is often used by us mainly for its group functionality. I know plenty of classmates who only go on Facebook to check the groups they are part of and then quickly log off. In this part Facebook shines—groups do not have the same complicated algorithms behind them that the Newsfeed does. It is very easy to just see the new information posted on the group without having to sift through tons of posts and advertising you don't really care about.

Messaging on Facebook is also extremely popular among our age group, mainly because they provide the means to talk to those people who you weren't really comfortable with asking for their number but comfortable enough to send them a friend request.

Facebook is often the jumping-off point for many people to try to find you online, simply because everyone around us has it.

Instagram is by far the most used social media outlet for my age group.

I'm not terrified whenever I like something on Instagram that it will show up in someone’s Newsfeed and they'll either screenshot that I liked it or reference it later.

I am not as pressured to follow someone back on Instagram, meaning my feed is normally comprised of content I actually want to see

The content on Instagram is usually of higher quality.

Instagram hasn't been flooded with the older generation yet

Another point: tagging. I don't have to constantly check Instagram to make sure I wasn't tagged in any awkward or bad photos. That’s because you can't easily see them in your feed, making the whole experience seem way more private.

People do not post 10000 times a day on Instagram. Many are much more polite about posting, either doing once a day, a few times a week, etc.

it is possible to be “caught up” with my Instagram feed.

There are no links on Instagram, meaning I'm not being constantly spammed by the same advertisement, horrible gossip news article, or Buzzfeed listicle

Facebook gets all of the photos we took — the good, the bad, etc—while Instagram just gets the one that really summed up the event we went to.

Tumblr is like a secret society that everyone is in, but no one talks about.

Many of those younger than me (10–16 years old) who I've talked to about this matter don’t even have a Facebook — Instagram is all that they need.

To be honest, a lot of us simply do not understand the point of Twitter.

Your tweets are also easily searchable on Twitter which is good but not good if you want to be yourself and not have it follow you around when you're trying to land a job. Thus, to others Twitter is used like Facebook—you post with the assumption that your employer will see it one day.

There are then three main groups of Twitter users: the ones who use it to complain/express themselves, the ones who tweet with the assumption that their prospective employer will eventually see whatever they are saying, and the ones who simply look at other Tweets and do the occasional RT.

Snapchat is quickly becoming the most used social media network, especially with the advent of My Story.

Everything about the application makes it less commercialized and more focused on the content

On Facebook you post the cute, posed pictures you took with your friends at the party with a few candids (definitely no alcohol in these photos)

On Instagram you pick the cutest one of the bunch to post to your network.

Snapchat is where we can really be ourselves while being attached to our social identity.

Without the constant social pressure of a follower count or Facebook friends, I am not constantly having these random people shoved in front of me. Instead, Snapchat is a somewhat intimate network of friends who I don't care if they see me at a party having fun.

Snapchat has a lot less social pressure attached to it compared to every other popular social media network out there.

If I don’t get any likes on my Instagram photo or Facebook post within 15 minutes you can sure bet I'll delete it.

Another quick aside about Snapchat—I only know a handful of people (myself included) that believe Snapchat does delete your photos. Everyone else I know believes that Snapchat has some secret database somewhere with all of your photos on it. While I will save that debate for another day, it is safe to say that when photos are “leaked” or when there’s controversy about security on the app, we honestly do not really care. We aren't sending pictures of our Social Security Cards here, we're sending selfies and photos with us having 5 chins.

Tumblr is a place to follow/be followed by a bunch of random strangers, yet not have your identity be attached to it.

You post yourself getting ready for the party, going to the party, having fun at the party, leaving at the end of the party, and waking up the morning after the party on Snapchat.

Tumblr is where you are your true self and surround yourself (through who you follow) with people who have similar interests.

It’s often seen as a “judgment-free zone” where, due to the lack of identity on the site, you can really be who you want to be.

it’s simple in Tumblr to just change your URL if anyone finds you.

There is a lot of interaction on this website in the form of reblogs because people just simply have feeds of only things they care about (and are then more likely to support with a like/reblog)

I wouldn't say a lot of “socializing” — at least in the way we've defined it in our social media society—occurs on the site

I wouldn't say a lot of “socializing” — at least in the way we've defined it in our social media society—occurs on the site, but people can really easily meet others worldwide who hold similar interests

Yik Yak

There’s an advertisement I see often on Twitter for Yik Yak that says something along the lines of “Everyone’s on it before class starts.” I can 100% reaffirm that this is true. And everyone’s on it during class, talking about the class they are in. And everyone’s on it after class to find out what else is going on around campus.

Yik Yak is a powerful contender that people actually use. Often I see people post about the fight for anonymity with other applications such as Secret. I can tell you that I do not know a single person in my network who uses that application.

Yik Yak is only as good as the 10 mile radius around you, so if you are in an area with a low population of Yik Yak users, you won’t really be using the application much.

LinkedIn — We have to get it, so we got it. Many wait until college to get this (as they probably should, it isn’t for this demographic anyways).

Pinterest—It’s mainly female-dominated and is for those who have an artsy/hipster focus. Not too many people talk about it.

GroupMe—By far the most used group messaging application in college. Everyone has one, uses it and loves it. GIF support, the ability to “like” others messages, even trivial things such as being able to change your name between group chats all make this both a useful and enjoyable application.