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Most executives have no idea how to harness social media’s power – though companies diligently establish Twitter feeds and branded Facebook pages, few have a deep understanding of how social media interacts with consumers to expand product and brand recognition, drive sales and profitability, and engender loyalty, says McKinsey in the Demystifying Social Media article in the McKinsey Quarterly.

Generation Z is addicted to mobile devices. And as these kids grow up, mobile will become deeply integrated into their daily lives: an ‘Everything Hub’ which enables socialising, shopping and surfing the web, with geo-location services supplying information on nearby friends, relevant deals and amenities, says JWT in its Gen Z: Digital In Their DNA. In response, marketers will need to create tailored mobile strategies, with websites optimised for mobile browsing – a recent estimate from Google suggests that only about one fifth of advertisers have mobile-friendly sites, says the ad agency.

While 86% of 18-to-29 year-old university students surveyed by the College of Communications at Penn State accessed Facebook every day and 75% have ‘liked’ an organisation on the social network, 69% reported they rarely or never visit those pages again.

The consumer market is seeking new institutions, brands and values to trust in, says Gartner in its list of 10 consumer macro trends shaping technology and media. The collapse of confidence in traditional institutions following bank failures, government collapse, corruption, economic and civil unrest and the disruption to previously accepted norms – such as local communities and nuclear families – have sent consumers searching for new brands, values and social organisations that they can trust.

Increasingly, consumers are turning to social networks to get their daily fix of news and information about the wider world, as well as sharing their news and posting their commentaries, says Gartner in its list of 10 consumer macro trends shaping the technology and media.

As consumers adopt an increasing number of digital devices, a number of distinct ‘digital personalities’ are emerging, a shift which is forcing companies to adopt more innovative business models to deliver personalised experiences, according to a new IBM study, Beyond Digital.

IBM says most users fall into one of four emerging personality categories:

Efficiency Experts use digital devices and services to simplify day-to-day activities. Efficiency experts send e-mails rather than letters, use Facebook to communicate with others, access the Internet via mobile phones, and shop online.

Consumers have not yet understood the value to them of the personal data held about them by different online companies, Tim Berners-Lee tells the Guardian.

Advertising art and copy have a new partner, technology, and it’s revolutionising every part of the communications business, argue Torrence Boone, Cecelia Wogan-Silva and Blair Dore in the latest issue of Google’s Think Quarterly.