Would you be surprised if some researchers told you there was virtually no correlation between peoples’ propensity to read and share online news and analysis? Citing just that finding from real-time traffic tracker Chartbeat, The Verge calls it a “bombshell.” By way of explanation, The Verge writes: “Clicks from social media are more likely to come from mobile devices, where readers typically spend less time on the page.” 

Who wants a permanent record? Definitely not young people, and a wave of new messaging apps like Snapchat and Whisper are using that fact to take on established social leaders like Facebook and Twitter. Regarding this new breed of services, The Wall Street Journal writes: “It is a form of communication that many say more authentically mimics personal interactions in real life, where conversations are fleeting and not part of a permanent record.” 

Despite reaching a small settlement, Facebook could face additional penalties for using the images of members’ children in sponsored stories, and doing so without their permission. “A group of parents, backed by child advocacy and privacy groups, plans to ask a federal appeals court Thursday to throw out a settlement with Facebook over its use of children’s images in advertisements,” The Washington Post writes. 

Social media wunderkind Gary Vaynerchuk is ready to find the next Facebook. Backed by Miami Dolphins owner Stephen Ross, Vaynerchuk just launched a $25 mullion seed fund. Not a “pure investment play,” as he tells Re/Code, Vaynerchuk plans to operate and incubate start-ups in what he’s calling the Vayner/RSE joint fund. As part of the deal, RSE will become a minority shareholder of VaynerMedia, his social media company. 

Despite attracting a fair share of ridicule, Facebook’s "Look Back" videos have led to a ton of viewing and sharing. "Almost 200 million people watched [their Look Back video], and 50% of people who watched their own video, shared it,” Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook's chief operating officer, said on Tuesday during a question-and-answer session at the Goldman Sachs Technology and Internet Conference, as reported by CNet. The one-minute videos were automatically generated for every Facebook user and set their more popular pictures to music. 

Not everyone is buying the theory that recent changes to Facebook’s news feed algorithm are responsible the supposed struggles of certain Web sites (read: Upworthy). “I think it’s unlikely that those news feed changes are responsible for Upworthy’s apparent dip in Facebook traffic -- if the dip is even real,” Slate reports. Upworthy has actually changed its own priorities in recent months … Rather than focus on page views and Facebook shares … the site has begun measuring the amount of time readers spend reading or commenting on a given story.” 

After losing much of its own, um, clout, over the past year, Klout is reportedly giving up on its independent growth ambitions and selling the farm to social customer service company Lithium Technologies. “The deal is signed but not closed,” Re/Code reports, citing sources, which are putting the sale close to $100 million. “It’s a dead-on fit in terms of topic focus for the two companies, but it’s also a save for … Klout.” 

Facebook doesn’t let people pay so-called “click farms” -- typically made up of real people in developing countries -- to artificially boost their follower counts. Yet, science podcaster Derek Muller believes that some page administrators are using click farms to their advantage in a slightly different way. “While generating Likes for their client, the click farms cover their tracks by clicking the Like buttons on many innocent pages, too,” The Washington Post reports. The strategy, however, is greatly reducing the value a Facebook follower, according to Muller. 

Presenting new opportunities and challenges for users and advertisers, some new apps are riding high on the promise of anonymity. From Wut and Secret to Confide and Popcorn, they are intended to let users either talk secretly with people they know, or blurt out random comments to total strangers,” The New York Times’ Bits blog reports. Despite the hype, however, “sll of these vanishing social apps could vanish themselves at some point -- viral sensations that go the way of Chatroulette.” 

Twitter Inc's shares fell almost 25% on Thursday, wiping out about $9.8 billion in market value, after the company reported a sharp slowdown in user growth. The stock, which debuted at $26 in November, hit a low of $50 in early trading. The shares hit a peak of $74.73 in late December as investors bet that the social media platform could become as ubiquitous as Facebook. Analysts, unlike investors, were divided on the company's outlook a day after it reported fourth-quarter results. Twitter is either the overvalued owner of a niche product or set to give Facebook a run …