The Tagboard thesis: the days of bulky, hardware-based systems must give way to more agile, cloud-based systems that support today’s distributed workforce.

I've talked previously about the growing basic human need to remove ourselves at times from social media’s public stage; and our search for new apps that will offer us a means to express ourselves freely and without regret. However our partial escape from the theater of Facebook and Twitter to what we hoped was a new digital oasis in apps like Snapchat and Secret has turned out to be a mirage. Huge and glimmering, they and others like them have failed to keep us or our moments private and safe.

If Facebook, Twitter and Instagram are the stage, then apps like Snapchat, Wickr and Confide are the new digital oasis. Places that move us from being public performers, to just being our true selves. These apps and others like them have the ability to remove the “documentary pressure” of the web and turn it back into a regular method of conversation – one that is unavailable for third parties to hear, dissect or disseminate.

Simply put, irrespective of the goals or KPI’s we establish to justify our media spend, changing consumption patterns via social media bear continued examination and media plans require continue fine tuning as these platforms continue their evolution.

Today, as always, agencies are in a state of transformation – moving from simply the art of ad creative and tech driven branding efforts and optimization to one of messaging, engagement and storytelling.

Expectations for 2012 in the technology and digital media spaces have never been higher – even with the backdrop of global economic uncertainty and the less than stellar IPO showings of the industry’s best and brightest.

Like a boomerang, brands and the meteoric rise of their proliferation on various social networks to increase reach and engagement – is the appropriate one given the reach social networks have to offer. However, now that they’ve thrown themselves into the social cloud, will it come back to them as they intend?

Let’s face it, the term “video snacking” describes the quick and consistent consumption of video, and how millions of people have historically chosen to view content online.