As SMK takes a brief break over the festive season, we look back on the year in social.

Twitter makes a move into the lucrative direct messaging space.

Gmail now lets brands see when users open and read messages.

We look at the final, fascinating Australian Facebook stats for the year.

Twitter reveals the most popular tweets of 2013.

Animals eating, Harlem Shake, Psy and Jean-Claude Van Damme dominated online viewing in 2013.

The Pope, politics and cricket dominated Facebook in the year that was.

Facebook to deliver more media content as it tries to grab the breaking news crown from Twitter.

John Scott from The Orchard gives his top tips for email marketing over the holidays.