The Curator’s News Feed: November 30, 2012

Hard to believe there’s only one more month left of this year! As November comes to an end we are seeing lots of social media news with end-of-the-year trend recaps and insight for what to expect in 2013. Here’s some of this week's news that caught our attention:

Imagining The Possibilities Of Facebook's External Ad Network, AllFacebook. Everyone expected that Facebook would eventually take users' information and use it to sell ads on external sites, and now Facebook says it's actually happening. If you're a Facebook user, this means the things you Like, share, comment and click on will be used to serve up ads on sites you visit outside Facebook. It could even mean you'll start to see ads that essentially say things like, "Your wife really wants this blender, Paul." Creepy? Only if you're still under the impression that your Facebook activity was ever private. Actually, I think I just convinced myself that this will be a lifesaver. – Paul

This is How Much Time You Spend on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Mashable. This week, Mashable pulled together some pretty intriguing infographics on how we’re using social media. Between work and personal use, my day appears to revolve around social platforms, so these numbers actually seem a little low in my book. But, taking into consideration the population as a whole, having the average time spent on social-networking sites more than double since 2006 is pretty striking. At the same time, we’ve seen a decrease in the use of email, which could mean users are ditching old methods of communication and turning to tools such as Twitter, Facebook, etc. to reach out to their contacts. This is a quick turnaround from the days when Twitter was used primarily as a quick news source. – Annie

Facebook and Pinterest are the New Wedding Planners, Mashable. As more and more of my friends get engaged or married, I feel like everywhere I turn there are Facebook posts about the proposal, the ring and pleas for planning advice and wedding ideas. It has become hard to avoid and I even find myself looking at photos on Pinterest. All I can tell from my ‘research browsing’ is that planning a wedding seems like an incredibly long and overwhelming process, but in a lot of ways has become easier thanks to the helpful tips and ideas on sites like Pinterest and TheKnot. This article proves my suspicion and shares some interesting stats on how these social media sites have taken over wedding planning. – Chelsey

Future Travel, CNN. Having clients in the travel category keeps me on the lookout for trends affecting travelers, so it was fun to stumble across this story about the future of travel in 2022… – Dan

4 Media Relations Tips From YouTube's Most Popular Video Ever, PR Daily. Korean rap sensation, PSY's, infectious "Gangnam Style" tune and music video – which is now the most watched video on YouTube – just might be able to teach PR pros a little something about media relations. – Jennifer

Your Emails Are Too Long: Here's How To Fix Them, Lifehacker. We're all guilty of sending the occasional rambling email or those "Thanks!" one-offs that clutter up inboxes. This post has a list of good reminders for keeping your messaging short and to the point. – Paul