South by Southwest is going on now, as if you couldn’t tell by the ubiquitous hashtag. Want to know what’s going on there? Social Media Today has the links you need.

Charge for an ad-free version of Facebook. GigaOm reports.

PR Newser asks: Is social media’s branding power overstated?

… whatcha gonna do when they follow you?

Shut up, evidently.

The other day I was curious about Lance Armstrong. Specifically, I wondered: Did people unfollow him on Twitter when the whole doping thing broke wide open and he confessed on Oprah?

To the contrary: According to Twitter Counter, Armstrong gained about 100,000 followers in the week surrounding the doping revelations (on Friday, January 18 alone he netted a one-day increase of 25,230 followers).

That top line in the chart tracks Armstrong’s followers over the last three months. That bottom line tracks his tweets.

Yep: Just before the wristband hit the fan, Lance pretty much shut down his Twitter feed — with the exception of one tweet on January 9 that linked to this article.

I would have thought he’d have lost rather than gained followers, and I would have expected him to speak out a bit more. Maybe Oprah demanded he save everything for her.

Last week, The Dish published this item about the Harlem Shake … and while the Best Of video was interesting enough, I was fascinated by this tidbit:

Past viral hits on YouTube have generated big paydays for content owners. “Gangnam Style,” the viral sensation of 2012, earned Korean pop star Psy and his handlers a reported $870,000 from YouTube ad revenue alone.

That number — $870,000 — is astonishing to me … mainly because I don’t  know of anyone — anyone! — who has ever clicked on a YouTube ad. The percentage of people who do is probably in the same approaching-zero realm as people who click on ads in games they’ve downloaded to their cell phones.

I would love to see some analysis someday that demonstrates what sort of ROI that $870,000 generated. I mean, are billboard-style impressions really all that valuable? Sure, lots of ads are being delivered, but are any of them actually registering or being clicked on?

Sheesh.