It’s that time of the year again, where we all begin to focus on our resolutions and goals for the year

ahead. Here at SMCSLC, we plan to do the same and are bringing you a revamped SMCSLC for 2013.

First off, if you’ve landed on this page, you’ve probably noticed that we have redesigned our site. What

would a revamp be without a new site, right? Secondly, one of our goals is to bring you more content

in 2013. We’ll be posting more on our blog page, and you’ll be able to hear from all of the members of

the SMCSLC leadership team. If there a topic or industry trend that intrigues you, or want to learn more

about, feel free to tweet us at @SMCSLC and we’ll do our best to incorporate it into an upcoming blog

post. And finally, we hope to bring you more events in 2013. Between panel discussions, networking

events, and just downright fun-to-be-at events, you’ll be seeing more of us this year. And we hope to

see more of you too!

As we all know, it’s important to stay fresh and ahead in the social world. Keeping abreast of trends in

the industry is important, and as we dive into 2013, let’s talk about the chapter we are closing for 2012,

and the year ahead. 2012 was fueled by social media – from the election to the Olympics to Hurricane

Sandy – and 2013 will be no different.

Highlights of 2012:

• Facebook IPO.
• Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram for 1 billion dollars.
• #Frankenstorm/#Sandy and the blunders that came along with it from insensitive brands such as Gap, Urban Outiftters, and Sears.
• 31 million recorded tweets on Election Day – @BarackObama’s tweet of “four more years being retweeted over 800,000 times.
• The continuation of people flocking to Twitter to learn of the news faster than their televisions with events such as the Olympics and Whitney Houston’s death.
• The rise (and fall) of companies such as Zynga and Groupon.

And now the things to watch out for in 2013:

• The rise of ephemeral messaging platforms –SnapChat, Facebook’s Poke.
• The larger issue behind Facebook’s privacy controls – and how this will affect our privacy in the future.
• And alongside Facebook’s privacy controls, increased usage of location sharing services such as Foursquare and Instagram’s ability to geo-tag, and how this will shape the future of our privacy.
• Will Twitter pull a Facebook and go public in 2013?
• How mobile payment services such as Square and Apple’s Passbook will change the way in which we pay for goods and receive rewards and discounts.

As we all know, with the speed at which the social world is evolving, there are likely to be a few things

that make this list but of course, it’s very likely that some of these things haven’t even been invented

yet, or can’t be predicted. As we blog this year, we hope to bring you more content that is relevant to

you, whether it applies to you as an individual, or as a business person looking to help your business

or company grow in social. Stay tuned for more content, and if you have a question you would like

answered, feel free to tweet us or post on our facebook page.

post by Nina Tekwani