Saved by the B

While Facebook approaches 2 billion users and we also examine that all important transition of power that has occupied the minds of marketers for millennia - who will step into Maurice Levy's shoes? Meanwhile, here is a shot of Beyonce.

There is a rule of thumb that goes like this: how long something has lasted determines how long it will continue to last. So books are phenomenally resilient and will most likely be produced forever. The Sinclair C5 was less successful. Everything in-between might be considered to be at risk of extinction. Computers? I think they are safe. Google? AliBaba, which has recently posted a 54% rise in revenue on top of staggering existing sales.

Take Manchester United managers - Ferguson was there a long time and was irreplaceable. Will the current manager stay for the long haul?

3D TV is another example - lots of enthusiasm, but Sony and LG, the two main maunfacturers of 3D TV, have stopped producing them. This is the final nail in the 3D TV coffin.

Publicis is having the same problem. Maurice Levy, has not just held power but dragged the company to international prominence over a long and highly successful career. He is Publicis.

Well Maurice has finally announced his successor. It’s Arthur Sadoun, former CEO of Publicis France. The amazing press release is full of hyperbole and the subject of much urine extraction by Dominic Mills, who pens his own version.

Is the coronation complete, or will there be a swift replacement in the not too distant future? Only time will tell.

The same thing is happening to voice assistants, subject of a great deal of development and investment, and then when taken into the home a genuine novelty.

But when the novelty has worn off, which takes around two weeks, then the assistent sits idle.

Such questions have plagued the mind of Guardian columnist Simon Jenkins this week, who pondered the the appeal of 'old' and 'redundant' technologies that seem to be having an unexpected renaissance. Book sales are up, e-reader sales down. Vinyl sales are back from extinction. Even film has made a comeback. Are these old technologies just 'better'?

Jenkins says we make one crucial mistake when we think about technology - it's a slave and not a master.

Facebook's rise makes it seem like a strong contender as a company that will be around for ever, or at least next week. Almost every measure available shows more growth, more expansion, more users and more profit.

This is all in spite of almost relentless criticism. For example, the company has been ordered to pay ZeniMax $500m because it broke the terms of an NDA signed between ZeniMax and Oculus founder Palmer Luckey.

Facebook's next enthusiasm is Virtual Reality, and they have poached Hugo Barra, one of the original Android developers, to lead its VR/AR ventures.

Back in the real world, watch this incredible, if rather terrifying, presentation by the CEO of Cambridge Analytica Alexander Nix, and how he used data to transform Ted Cruz from no-hoper to one of the final three in the Presidential run-off. Oh, and that 'other candidate' cryptically mentioned right at the end? Yes, it's Trump.

The full story is here, and the company has not just won for Trump, but for Farage in the Brexit vote too:

Novelist Jonathan Coe recently asked whether Trump was 'Mr Brexit' in the New York Times. According to the video and analysis above, Nix may be both Mr Brexit and Mr Trump.

Adam&Eve ddbo lost £3m in contracts following the Brexit vote while co-founder Jon Forsyth quits the business following the partners' buy-outs we learned this week.

Incidentally, many of the Network bosses have come out to condemn Trump's 'Muslim ban'.

So that's how data can swing opinion for an election. But is Adtech, lovely as it is, making any more sales, asks Vayner Media's founder Vaynerchuk? It's certainly working for some, with IBM now using Watson to buy its media.

Asda, which apparently suffered over Christmas, is taking the lead from its US parent to share its data with its suppliers to find competitive advantages.

Channel 5 is now the biggest beast to join Sky's Adsmart, while agencies are apparently in retreat over the rebate scandal, giving their clients money back to avoid disclosure.

A mere 15 years ago publishers are awash with cash. Today, online journalism has brought the industry to its knees. Here are the 41 key moments in online journalism.

Finally, the Eames brothers made this early example of content marketing for IBM in the 1970s. It's still brilliant, exploring relative sizes by taking us in and out by factors of 10: