It also makes sense when you consider that tweets with content associated are retweeted more than tweets that are not while tweets with infographics (the ultimate short form!) receive 832% more retweets than normal articles and images. (Well, the ones on Bitrebels do anyway).

It’s also good to see twitter doing something to take them to a new level. Weibo, the Chinese equivalent(copy/clone), of twitter has evolved way past its 140 character origins to include all sorts of longer form content and as a result it’s incredibly engaging, dynamic and popular. In fact, having played about with Weibo a bit (via a Chinese friend – I’m good but I’m not that good!) I think Weibo is more engaging than twitter.  If Weibo follows the lead of Tencent which is pursuing an aggressive overseas expansion policy via its free chat app, WeChat , the twitter will have to look to its guns. But with properties like Vine under its belt it seems to be moving towards a more content reach space. And that can only make it a more social and entertaining space for the likes of us.

For some great examples of Vine in use check out the following:-

Calvin Klein had actually prepared a whole evening of Vine entertainment with model Matthew Terry
However, when the lights went out they tweeted this image of him doing sit ups. Great use of the moment.

285 Retweets and 121 favourites
Vs
Average of 30 retweets and 13 favourites for the other films they loaded up

 Mr Porter shows a clip of their show, but rather than it just being about models, it demonstrates some technology they were using at the show too. Which is very nice experiential technology based on the insight that actually you would rather the models walk more slowly to let you actually see what they are wearing!

And for some non-twitter related Vine fun check out http://www.vine-comic.com

They took the model we developed over here for Social Media Week in September 2012 stateside to our NY office.

Great speakers at the event and a nice piece from Alex T about whether the internet of things will compromise our ability to lie…

Nah. (But am I lying? follow this link to find out.)

Digipills - download an app with a hypnotherapy basis to help you deal with what ails you. No I haven’t tried any yet but based on how my first week of 2013 is shaping up…

Ingress - A new game from Google in Beta at the moment requires you to choose to either fight or embrace a mysterious, intelligent data that seems to have the power to control human thought. Use your phone to reveal the portals where this stuff leaks into our world and group together to solve the game. I have just started playing and I’m off on a “training mission” at lunch time to find my first portal. Brilliant, nothing’s better than a game and one that uses social and mobile is the bestest.

Social gaming does not pass Go – Ok so that’s an exaggeration but in the spirit of The Sun I thought it might get your attention. Zynga the social gaming giant has closed 11 games including Petville and Fishville – yes Zynga are the evil geniuses behind Farmville. They still have 30 games left so it’s not the end of the world for them, but it is for the gamers who have pumped their money, time and emotion into these games.

Why a beatboxer with an ST?  Well, cars lend themselves so well to videos of “hooning” beauty shots and the engine revving. But this car has a special “sound symposer” that has been developed from Mustang technology so you can see why we’d want to make a feature out of that. And then of course there is the target audience magic that has to be applied which makes Killa Kela’s vocal stylings a perfect match to demonstrate precision and power.

Enough of the strategy stuff already. It’s a great film! Hope you enjoy it. And of course, if you do please don’t feel backward about coming forward to share it!

So I thought I would give a little run down in chronological order backwards of the stuff we’ve been up to starting with FordLIVE.

Yes, Zoe and the team are back and they are reporting from the Ford stand at the Paris autoshow. It’s important to us that the stand experience reaches further than the stand itself. Socialising Ford’s content in this way allows people who might never otherwise attend and enjoy a stand to get a flavour of the experience. Hope you enjoy the latest installment!

Ah, that feels so much better.

Own up – tell me you’ve never felt the smallest bit of unwanted pressure to check your tweet stream or sighed just the teensiest bit when you received yet another random update from a company you “liked” simply to get a free weekend in Croydon or the barest smidgeon of envy when yet another friend blogs about their amazing business venture.

Go on tell me. I won’t believe you.

There are just those days when the whole social media scene simply makes you feel like everyone else is out there having an amazing time while you’re quietly contemplating the fluff in your navel. It doesn’t matter whether you are searching for business inspiration or just sharing a location – there’s always someone out there apparently doing it bigger, brighter and with more followers than you are and then telling you about it, just to be certain they feel good about it themselves. It doesn’t make it any better that they are probably exaggerating, it just makes it worse. They exaggerate better than you do.

So that’s why this blog came as a breath of fresh air. Hacked off with interior-deco one-up-man-ship on Pinterest, blogs and lifestyle sites whilst searching for design inspiration, an anonymous couple stateside set up this tumblr – fuckyournoguchicoffeetable.tumblr.com. Every image they saw of stylish living rooms had a Noguchi coffee table. Hence the subtle yet clear name. The blog basically mocks interior overload with categories like “Terrarium Tuesday” and “Super Combo Sunday”. It’s ace. And it makes you feel a lot better about your scruffy beige walls and Argos tv unit.

And so social media will eat itself – and I pop out the other side feeling a lot better and refreshed.

And here is the moral of the story kids  - social media is like any other form of social interaction, if you hang out with the wrong people it’s hell. If you find the right people it’s heaven.