Sometimes enhancements, updates, accolades, and coordination aren’t necessarily good things. Social continues to march on, but are we getting smarter or just more emotional?

The big players are getting bigger, but we’re worried about security, privacy, and the government AND we’re getting nickel-and-dimed to death in the process.

In our third installment on the World Cup and the social media buzz around its most popular players, we’ve found that audience engagement is decreasing as fan favorite teams (and most notably the U.S.) have been booted from the tournament. Still those players who can maintain buzz even after their team has been sent home, show real potential as future brand endorsers. We’re using SocialSense, our social media listening platform, to track engagement and themes around these players.

In our second report on the World Cup and the social media buzz around its most popular players, We’re discovering that the battle to make it to the second round had heavy implications for the future of these athletes as brand endorsers. We’re using SocialSense, our social media listening platform, to track engagement and themes around the players.

This week’s top stories are chock full of big companies squeezing out the little guy in the social-media space. Whether the big guys are doing anything worthwhile is another story…

Sometimes the best things come in pairs. Social-media news items this week are no different.