WhatsApp, to most of us American social media guru wannabes, is pretty much that thing that Facebook bought last year for $19 billion, even though its founders detest advertising so much they wrote a manifesto about it. The U.S. still remains unimpressed with it otherwise; only 8% of our mobile population use it. Gee, it must be fun to have billions of dollars to throw around! Nonetheless, WhatsApp piqued my interest this morning because of a small - but potentially telling - bit of data, highlighted in a post from Harvard's Nieman Journalism Lab.

As I write this, a blue couch is stalking me. It's a contemporary sectional that would be a worthy replacement for the aging grey sofa bed in our living room -- if it were red. But it doesn't come in red, so as far as I'm concerned, our relationship is over. It's not giving up so easily, though. It haunts my newsfeed, and Facebook's right rail. And, just as I've said about other material goods that have followed me online long after my fascination with them has waned, I wish it would go away.

With more and more consumers expected to search on social media for gifts and promotions this holiday season, many retailers hoping to reach shoppers online will put paid social media at the center of their marketing efforts this season. The result, no doubt, will be a very crowded social space. Here are some tips on creating the most effective holiday campaigns, taking into account this increased competition for the shopper's attention on social media channels.

Partly as a way of avoiding post-election news coverage, the Social Media Insider has been trying to focus on something equally important -- gleaning groundbreaking social media insights from this week's overnight Internets sensation: #AlexfromTarget. Unfortunately, those insights come down to this: where there's an overnight sensation, there's also always someone, somewhere, willing to take credit for making it happen. Perhaps from here on in we can call this simply Alex's Law.