How confusing can the advertising picture on Facebook get? You know all about General Motor’s $10 million pull-out last week. That move, and the dud underwhelming Facebook IPO, prompted WPP chief Martin Sorrell to declare on Friday that Facebook is “one of the most powerful branding mechanisms in the world, but it’s not an advertising mechanism.” Fast-forward to this week and WPP’s Group M ad-buying unit has struck an extensive licensing deal with Buddy Media to “make it easier for clients to spend money there.” Confused?

It’s been just over two weeks since the aptly named, under-the-radar NGO Invisible Children released to YouTube a classic piece of agitprop video, KONY2012. And what a two weeks! The video has been viewed more than 100 million times and Invisible Children have been lauded for their actions in shining a spotlight on the atrocities carried out in central Africa by Joseph Kony, leader of the Lords Resistance Army. At the same time the very success of KONY2012 has shone an equally bright spotlight on both the finances of Invisible Children and the factual accuracy of the video.

As winter creeps into many parts of the world, men everywhere must steel themselves for the debilitating seasonal condition that affects an alarming number of them every year: Man Flu.

Once upon a time, charities looking to raise colossal sums of money quickly would turn to fundraising kingpins like Elton John or Bob Geldof, who would round up their rich and famous musical pals and encourage the general populous to congregate in a city park, get drunk and wave at the cameras beaming the event live into millions of homes around the country. But what about now?

Greenpeace is up against the bad boys again, this time with the help of an online campaign that, in a break from the past, is mysterious and stealthy. For now.

There’s a lot of fuss around the promise of social commerce, and, in particular, F-commerce. But brands are only just beginning to see the potential of using the world’s most popular social network to sell product.

We share 27 million pieces of content every day, a new study says, and that number is increasing everyday. But what types of content are consumers more likely to share? It’s a question top-of-mind for big brands and organizations investing in social media outreach. Here’s a hint.

While much has been made of how social media is changing consumer behavior, advertisers are struggling to keep up with and make sense of this shiny new toy. Matthew Goldman is the executive director of product management for subscription ad products at ATT Interactive (parent of YellowPages.com). Goldman is ATTi’s point man on social strategies for its advertisers.

We’re a bit surprised today to learn (a few days late) about the demise of Viewzi, a nifty tool to visualize search that was launched in 2008 by Austin-based entrepreneur Brandon Cotter and died just after Christmas.

Shoppers in the U.S. have set an impressive five single-day online sales records this Christmas season as total sales through Dec. 10 ticks upward to just under $22 billion, a 12% year-on-year increase. Good, but not great. At this rate, online retailers will not reach the ambitious $32 billion e-Christmas sales forecast set earlier this year.