By: Jenny Xie

Lately, the influx of visual content in social media is harder and harder to ignore. Discernible in everything from the latest apps to digital publications, “visually-engaging” is increasingly the priority. The profusion of visual stimulants going viral in the many channels of social media raises the question: is there a saturation point for all this? Will pictures one day cease to mean 1000 words, but rather become one-glance representations of “the-things-we-like”? 

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By: Eric Abrams

Note- please have the following youtube video playing in the background as you read this article: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V_h7Lm7C9Nk

Welcome to the official Social Media Power Rankings.  Who is on top this week?  Which social network is climbing the ladder to prominence?  Which ones are falling from grace?  Read the rankings below to see which networks matter the most.

Rank this week: 1

Rank last week: 1

Current Estimated Value: 98 Billion+

Facebook

Facebook is #1 and doesn’t look like it’s slowing down one bit.  There are some big changes on the horizon that only promise to make Facebook an even more powerful social network for users, marketers, and brands.  Brand pages will soon be getting the Timeline makeover, ads will be rolling out to Facebooks mobile platforms, and the new Gestures will allow users to update their friends on what they “watch,” “listen to,” “cook,” or “read,” rather than only what they “Like.”  Facebook is looking awfully comfortable at the #1 spot.  Will it ever have any real challengers?  It doesn’t look like it, but nothing is certain in the world of social media, so we’ll just have to wait and see.

Rank this Week: 2

Rank last Week: 5

Number of Users: 10 Million+

Pinterest

Pinterest is the fastest website to reach 10 million U.S. monthly unique users in the history of the internet – not just social media, but the entire internet.  Just let that fact settle for a moment, and you’ll see why Pinterest deserves the #2 spot on this week’s Power Ranking.  It’s kind of difficult to wrap your mind around the sheer speed of Pinterest’s rise to fame; it came out of seemingly nowhere and has been growing ever since.  People seem to just love the act of pinning their favorite photos and making custom pin boards of their favorite foods, fashions, pets, toys, books, music – the list goes on and on.  Look for Pinterest to settle down towards the middle of the pack in the next few weeks, but it’s going to watch as Pinterest finally rolls out a revenue plan involving ads on the site and how its users react to the changes.

Rank this Week: 3

Rank last Week: 2

Latest Member of Significance: The Pope

Twitter

The ever-popular microblogging site may have descended to the third rung of the Power Ranking ladder, but it’s still impossible to deny the incredible impact that Twitter has had on the world.  Remaining a [mostly] reliable source of breaking news in both sports and politics, Twitter is a staple among social networks.  Twitter currently doesn’t have any public plans to tweak its network, so be on the lookout for a possible stagnation.  Will people get tired of the old formula?  Or is Twitter just so important to those who use it that it would be impossible to take a true backseat to networks like Google+ or LinkedIn?  We’ll just have to wait and see what this battle between Pinterest and Twitter turns into and which network will rightfully own the #2 spot.

Disagree with my rankings?  Think G+ or Tumblr belong in the top 3?  Let me know in the comments!

By: Elton Silva  

When I told my mom that I landed a Buzz Builder position with Likeable Media, she was overcome with elation about my latest endeavor. However, I quickly hit a road block when she then asked what I’d be doing. It’s easy enough to explain, right? No, wrong! My mother is Portuguese. Not the kind of Portuguese that pretend that their Portuguese just because of the last name or because they know how to say a few words. Portuguese in the sense that she lived there and then moved to the United States in 1979 in hopes of finding the “American Dream” (which she subsequently found and is one of the main reasons I’m here today). Oh, and not to mention that if I don’t eat 12 courses with every meal, I was looked at as if I had some sort of eating disorder (well it was more like 9 courses). Anyways, back to the initial point I was trying to make. If you thought learning a different language was a difficult undertaking, try teaching the powers of social media in a language that an individual who is computer illiterate can understand. In this case, that person is my mother; the language, Portuguese.

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By Adam Lichtenstein

If poorly lit rooms with cigar smoke and scantily clad ladies wafting through the air is considered a gentleman’s club than Pinterest is the polar opposite. Want to show off your baking skills? Perhaps share a lovely quote written in front of a sunset? Is crafting a way of life for you? Then you’re in the right place.

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