In our first episode of 2019, Theo and Eve sit down for a special edition of Social Minds: Breaking Social. In this, we debrief from the biggest social media stories to break so far this year—including Mark Zuckerberg's challenge to host public debates, the hypocrisy of Instagram's spam ad scandal, Twitter's promising public beta and, of course, THAT Gillette advert. To make sure you're prepared for every change 2019 has in store for social media, download FWD: Cut The Bullsh*t Volume 2 here: insights.socialchain.com/fwd-2019

From the death of the News Feed to social-first CRM and a departure from social networking, December has seen an influx of marketers making their predictions for 2019. In our final episode of 2018, Social Chain strategy director, Mike Blake-Crawford, makes his return to Social Minds in order to pave the way for brands in 2019. In this, we cover his top 5 predictions, including WhatsApp's advent as a business tool and what Instagram's leadership under Adam Mosseri will bring in the new year.

Experiential marketing is broken. That is the opinion of Lee Benecke, head of digital engagement and our guest for episode 019 of Social Minds. In this episode, Lee gives a sobering account of the state of online/offline activations and blames brand naivety for the thoughtless addition of social media to OOH campaigns. With screen time increasing and marketers constantly competing, we ask: have social media marketers stopped living in the real world?

Is storytelling a realistic goal on social media, or just another of marketers' favourite buzzwords? In episode 018 of Social Minds, we sit down with Alex Ayin, commercial director at Media Chain, to find out exactly how brands can overcome platform limitations to drive a powerful narrative home - in 15 seconds or less.

Social media professionals typically suffer from a lack of understanding and respect from the outside world - but there's one position which struggles to gain recognition within the walls of the industry. In episode 017, we're joined by Elizabeth Knights-Ward, marketing director and champion of the social media manager. In this, we address why such a challenging position is regarded as entry-level - and why it's time for that to change.