Quick: Think of watching a YouTube video. What kind of screen pops into your head? Chances are you thought of your laptop, desktop, smartphone or tablet before you imagined flopping down in front of a YouTube video on your widescreen TV in the den.But that’s an attitude YouTube is desparate to change — and TV makers are eager to help them out. A number of sets launching at CES 2013 this week in Las Vegas — including sets from Bang & Olufsen, LG, Panasonic and Sony — offer the video service’s recently launched “send to TV” feature.This lets you pair an Android phone with a TV on the same Wi-Fi network, and cue up videos using the YouTube app as your remote. Sony and Samsung apps on some recently-sold TVs already work with the feature, as do TV apps on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii and Wii U consoles. Google TV not required. Controls in the iOS YouTube app are coming soon.

via Inside YouTube’s Plan to Dominate Your TV.

2012 has come to a close, and it’s been an amazing year for reddit. We’ve had approximately:

• 37 Billion Pageviews

• 400 Million Unique Visitors

• 4 Billion Votes

• 30 Million Posts

• 260 Million Comments

Here are some highlights from the year.

via blog.reddit — what’s new on reddit: Top Posts of the Year and Best of 2012 Awards.

A year-end review from Trendrr reveals that sports (31%) and reality (17%) are the primary genres generating social TV buzz, combining to account for about half of social TV conversations between January 1 and November 30 2012. Drama (11%) and comedy (5%) also played a role in the social TV landscape, with the remaining 36% of conversations taking place around the aggregate of other, miscellaneous TV genres.

via Sports and Reality Shows Account for Half of Social TV Chatter.

The brands with the most fans on Facebook see a majority share of those fans residing outside the US, according to an analysis of Socialbakers data. Socialbakers recently launched local fan counts in their Facebook Page statistics, providing geographic distribution data for each of the brands it tracks. Aside from Walmart, an outlier with 95% of its fans concentrated in the US, none of the other top 10 brands by current Facebook fan size have a majority share of their fans in the US. That’s despite 9 being headquartered in the US.

via Top Facebook Brands Build Global Fan Bases.

When it comes to sharing content on social media, pictures and links get the nod over quotes and videos, according to survey results from SocialToaster. The company surveyed its “Super Fans,” a collection of social media experts and professionals, finding 90% agreeing that pictures were most likely to be shared, and 68% saying the same about links. Quotes (51%) and videos came in next (47%), with studies and statistics (20%) far behind.

via Pictures, Links Most Likely To Be Shared, Say Social Media Buffs.

B2B companies short on cash are trying to maximize the resources they have. According to an August 2012 study by Demandbase, a targeting platform, and Ziff Davis, a technology media company, B2B marketers said their No. 1 challenge was lack of budget.With eyes set on getting more out of investments, social media has moved up the chain of importance for US B2B marketers, coming in just behind search optimization, a stalwart of the B2B online marketing mix. That social media was employed by 60% of marketers, followed by 53% using content marketing, is an indication of the important role engagement is now playing for B2B marketers.

via For B2B Marketers, Building Relationships Trumps Blanket Approach – eMarketer.

When it comes to acquiring and keeping satisfied customers, smart entrepreneurs must understand what’s going on inside their customers mind’s. Just as we saw how neuroeconomics can be used for smarter pricing tactics, small business owners can benefit from insightful research in behavioral psychology to increase sales and provide exceptional customer service.

Today, you’re going to see some research that reveals how marketers and ecommerce entrepreneurs can use implicit egotism, social constructs, and appeals to social inclusion to create stronger brand engagement, keep customers happy, and increase their bottom line.

via How to Engineer Increased Sales & Happy Customers With Behavioral Psychology.

Which category does your organization’s Web presence fall into? Over- or under-managed? When it comes to the Web, few organizations have found the Goldilocks zone. Their online activities are either under-managed with minimal policies and procedures, or dogged by bureaucracy and internal politics.

Those that fall into the former category are vulnerable to legal threats, internal disputes and knee-jerk management where the website lurches from one crisis to the next. Those in the latter are crippled by indecision and fail to respond to the fast-changing nature of the Web.

via An Organizational Structure That Supports Your Digital Presence | Smashing Magazine.

You see, while the sharing of news stories on social media has boomed in recent years, I often find myself wanting to share just one part of an article. For instance, if I see a quote I like, I’d like to share that to my Twitter account. Or if I see an image within an article, I sometimes want to share just that picture to my Pinterest page. Sometimes I want to share just the video embedded in a news story, not the news story itself.That’s why my prediction for 2013 is the rise of “microcontent sharing”.

via Big Idea 2013: Unbundling Media | LinkedIn.

When it comes to reading long form, the web can be an ugly, distracting place. It’s the reason why services like Instapaper and Pocket (née Read It Later) exist: to strip content of its context — noisy site designs, advertisements, and other unnecessary elements. But perhaps we’re moving into a new era where more of the web is clean and readable. Maybe the future of web publications will be beautiful enough that the reading experience is more enjoyable in its natural habitat.

via The future of the feature: Breaking out of templates to build customized reading experiences » Nieman Journalism Lab.