Social Media certainly had an interesting year in 2013. From several high-profile announcements to acquisitions, some stories really caught us by surprise. Here is my take on some key announcements and my expectations for 2014.

1. Twitter went public

The “global town square”, Twitter has time and time again showcased the power of 140 characters to spread the word, shape public opinion, and literally change lives. The Obama presidential campaign, Arab Springs and the recent shaming of Justine Sacco are just a few examples.

Hashtags and twitter trending topics is how most of learn about whats happening around the globe. So it was not that surprising that Twitter is now a publicly traded company expected to return value to shareholders. In my opinion, Twitter IPO was handled  much better than that of Facebook. Yet they have to make a number of improvements and enhance their advertising solutions  before they start reaping the rewards.

2. Yahoo acquired Tumblr

To everyone’s surprise Yahoo acquired Tumblr in May for $1.1Bn. Thus far Mayer is yet to make any remarkable changes to the site, other than a few ads on the personal blogging site. Continue reading →