When Facebook started ads, they still were the number #2 social networking site behind Myspace. Twitter was just over one year old and the iPhone was brand new—there wasn’t even an app store yet.

Today, brands have a plethora of social options to engage audiences. Beyond standbys like Facebook and Twitter, audiences spend their time in places like LinkedIn, Pinterest, Google+, Tumblr, Instagram, Youtube, Vine, and Snapchat. And messaging is only a small facet of what these channels o er consumers. These are places to share, collect, curate, and create content.

These new channels aren’t just variations on a theme, they can be altogether distinct anthropological ecosystems, with di erent vernacular, customs, and memes. Providing an engaging offering on Pinterest requires a talent for curation, an eye for trends, and keen sense of knowing exactly who your audience is. Good content on Twitter demands an understanding of cadence whereas Tum- blr relies more on memes and community. Producing a compelling six-second video on Vine requires creators to have a sense of storytelling and wit. These are all things that go beyond a Facebook status update.