Which social networks drive the most engaged referrals? Do Facebook ads make sense? Are seniors taking to social media? Get the answers to those questions, plus the scoop on Twitter's Mesagraph buy and Evian's Spiderbaby. Skim to shoot Web...

(Super) baby love. This week in viral, Spiderman gets a glimpse of his own inner child... with a boost from Evian. It's been years since the dancing babies headlined Evian's "Live Young" campaign, and despite the eyerolls on a new spin on the old theme, Baby Spidey has appeal. The video's scored nearly 1.2 million views since its publication on April 1.

We can be heroes. For the World Cup, Pepsi celebrates the playful, soccer-loving spirit of Rio with an ad that includes interactive options that make viewers decision-makers in the story. We like the incitement to engage versus watching passively... plus, we're suckers for anything that includes a Janelle Monae cameo and some nostalgic guitar-strumming.

The definitive guide to April Fools. April 1 is a scary day to be online; every news article, product launch, or video has to be scrutinized with care. (And yes... Google did get us with Shelfies.) Buzzfeed provides a definitive guide to branded April Fools Day pranks, from the Google Maps Pokémon Challenge to Southwest's Service to Mars to Vegemite's Energy Drink. Don't miss a single schadenfreude-packed moment! It's the one time of year when brands are almost obliged to show us whether they have a sense of humor.

Mesagraph and Twitter join hands. Continuing its quest to gobble up any social TV analytics-related service that hits critical mass, Twitter purchased Mesagraph, a social TV analytics firm based in Paris. Clients include Canal+, France Télévisions, M6, TF1, and marketers such as Microsoft. Per Mesagraph, "Twitter is the platform where the vast majority of public Social TV comments happens," as well as "an immense source of opportunities for advertisers to reach their audience creatively and efficiently." The team will join Twitter UK and work with networks, agencies, advertisers, and other partners, presumably to punt Twitter's ad services.

YouTube: rippin' one out of the TV playbook. To attract more ad spend, YouTube took a lesson from TV Land's Upfronts: It will now promote its top 5% most popular programming to marketers and advertisers who commit quickly. In exchange, they'll be guaranteed high viewership, confirmed by Nielsen, YouTube's third-party numbers-cruncher. The more things change, the more they stay the same?

Need wider reach for Facebook updates? App developer im.mk released a Subscribe button that brands can put on their websites to get people to agree to receive Facebook notifications. The button can also be used to provide direct links to e-books, event RSVPs, and voucher codes. The button is available on its Embed Social platform.

Target the Lookalikes. This account of Facebook's recent ad updates explain why Facebook advertising makes sense for e-commerce businesses. It takes special care to explain Lookalike Audiences, a new targeting feature that lets you target new customers based on their similarity to people who've already made purchases on your website.

Not everyone's thrilled with Facebook Ads, though. Eat24 wrote Facebook an over-the-top break-up letter, detailing all its frustrations—with requisite GIFs:

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#SocialSkim: Engaged Referrals, Seniors, Facebook Ads, Twitter and Mesagraph, More!

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

image of Angela Natividad
Angela Natividad is a social media strategist, copywriter, and journalist based in Paris. A Bay Area native and lover of vending machine candies, she co-founded AdVerveBlog.com and is a frequent guest on marketing podcast The Beancast. You can follow her on Twitter at @luckthelady.