Surely the shut-down of Bud.TV, Budweiser's massively expensive and embarrassingly ineffective video-hosting microsite, marks the end of brands spending millions of bucks on over-designed destinations with locked-down content? When distributed UGC through public platforms has become the way to share and spread creativity and comment, why would anyone want to silo and brand content so it becomes less independent, less available and less mobile?

It looks like Adidas.TV, soft-launched this week, has listened and learned, offering embeddable players and widgets. Their shorts will no doubt be well made, but one still wonders why they're sinking money into professionally produced clips instead of promoting and inspiring original creations from their customers.

If Bud.TV is the past, have a look at SEO Blog's 12 social media trends to watch for a glimpse of the future; it's a perceptive little list. We think that mobile technology and geo-location will be particularly important, along with consumers becoming ever more savvy about their rights, preferences and independence, as Antony Mayfield's canny examination of the Facebook Terms & Conditions debacle makes clear...