• The app SnapChat turned down offers from both Google and Facebook (the offers being up to $4 billion).
• Apple rolled out iOS7, which created a lot of social media buzz and blog posts/apps created to fix and maintain repeat annoyances with the update.
• Selfie became an official word in the Oxford Dictionary.
• According to Business Insider, 1 in 5 people in 2013 own smartphones.
• Facebook changed its algorithm yet again to display more links to articles in news feeds, especially from those that Facebook has deemed as “high quality” sources.
• Facebook began allowing users and brands to embed Facebook posts onto their websites and blogs.
• Vine, owned by Twitter, launched in the beginning of 2013, allowing users to create 6-second videos that loop.
• Facebook responded to the launch six months later, allowing users to create up to a 10-second video on Instagram.
• An analysis by Nielsen Ratings was released in October that showed a direct correlation between live tweeting during a TV show and having a larger, more-engaged audience.
• Jimmy Fallon and Justin Timberlake poked fun at the ever-popular and over-used social media strategy, “hashtag”.
• Google forced the merge of YouTube accounts and Google+ accounts. Users now log-in, upload videos, and comment using their Google+ account.

So what should we be looking out for in 2014?

• Social media is a necessity. As the number of mobile users, Facebook accounts, and Pinterest boards grow, the more important it is that brands look at building and growing their social media presence. This isn’t an area that businesses can overlook, anymore.
• Go Mobile. If you haven’t configured your website to be mobile-friendly, you need to do so. With 1 in 5 people owning a smartphone in 2013, you’re missing a large 20% of your audience if you haven’t done so at this point.
• It’s all about the visuals. In 2013, statistics showed that more people “liked” and shared Infographics than SlideShare documents or presentations. The same happened with image and video posts on social media sites, as opposed to text.  Businesses will share visuals more frequently than text-based information on social media.
• The dark horses in social media will take the lead. SnapChat was a controversial app when it first came one, and now marketers are finding ways to integrate the “story” feature on the app with their business. Be on the lookout for apps like SnapChat to emerge and grow in popularity quickly. Other apps will decline greatly in 2014. Forbes.com predicts that Foursquare will be on of the social apps to see a decline in the year to come.

Final thoughts: embrace the change, and consider new apps in 2014 as an opportunity to adjust your marketing strategy. Find what works best for you, but be open to experimenting. Here’s to the New Year!

What have been your favorite social media moments of 2013? What are you hoping to see change or stay the same in 2014?