Tumblr beats Facebook, #BlackFriday begins and Oreo gets the final lick

Tumblr and Pinterest lead the way

Sorry Twitter and Facebook, there’s two new hotshots in town. According to the latest social report from the Global Web Index, Tumblr and Pinterest are the fastest growing social platforms in 2014, increasing active users by a staggering 120% and 111% respectively over the last six months. Things weren’t so peachy for Facebook, whose somewhat meagre 2% increase found them bottom of the leaderboard. Despite Tumblr’s new found fame, Facebook is still sitting pretty as the number one global network. But for how long?

Were you ready for #BlackFriday?

For those who hadn’t heard of Black Friday before today, it’s likely you’ve suddenly found yourself lost in a state of panic clicking on web page after web page in a bid to secure the best deals before the madness ends. For thousands of social media users, however, you were already very well informed. In the lead up to the big weekend, Michael Kors, Samsung and Sony were the most talked about global brands according to Meltwater, with fashion brand Michael Kors storming ahead with over 280,000 mentions. The UK’s biggest hitter was online retail giant Amazon, followed by Asda and Tesco.

Oreo Ads get the final lick

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) delivered their first ruling against YouTube and banned Oreo ads featuring popular British YouTubers. The world’s favourite cookie asked numerous vloggers to take part in their Oreo Lick Race campaign, involving, well, licking an Oreo really, really quickly. However, the ASA stated that the ads were not clearly marked as advertisements, misled viewers and ruled that any commercial nature should be made clear before any consumer engagement. The ruling marks an interesting turn of events with more brands than ever reaching out to YouTube stars in a bid to incorporate their products and messaging in their shows.

And just for fun - Smellcome to Manhood

Following their Momsong campaign in January, Old Spice hit us with the Dadsong this week, an advert for the festive season depicting how differently mums and dads react to their sons entering the wild and wonderful world of manhood. The one minute and twelve seconds of Old Spice surrealism features crazed mothers, seemingly level-headed fathers and lyrics from Flight of the Conchords’ Bret McKenzie, so you know it’s gonna be good.