• In spite of initial criticism, Messenger has doubled its user count in 20 months to reach one billion users and has also racked up some impressive stats along the way.
• Periscope introduces Replay Highlights, Tweet Embeds and Live Autoplay, that will help users discover easily and watch the content they are really interested in.
• Snapchat quietly added ‘suggest a friend’ feature that could help brands and users get more followers without having to manually suggest names or Snapchat handles.
• Instagram launches Stories, creating a place for content that’s "not quite good enough” for the Instagram feed.
• Facebook has reached new heights with its recent tests with floating drones. The drone will ‘beam down’ the internet in a bid to spread the worldwide web to the near 4 billion people around the world with no internet connectivity.

For more social updates or ways to enhance your user experience, head to Klick’s blog.

The world’s most exciting new fashion talents have been announced for the International Woolmark Prize global final to be held in London and Paris in January next year.

Representing Australia will be menswear finalist Exinfinitas and womenswear finalist macgraw, who presented the most innovative and forward thinking ways of working with Australian Merino wool to an expert panel of judges, including designer Jason Wu and Editor of Harper’s Bazaar Australia, Kellie Hush.

These are the emerging designers you need to know!

Some people will tell you to always say 'Yes'. To those people I say "No thank-you". What is true (in my opinion) is that you should say yes when you 'feel' it, not when you 'think' it. This played out beautifully for me recently.  I was invited to join a friend at a Leadership Gathering on Necker Island. I felt the yes come from somewhere and it was out of my mouth before I could think about it. So off I went. 

As I’m sure you’d expect to hear from me, is that it was an incredibly rewarding and entertaining experience. While this is completely true, it was also a surprising experience. I went there to learn and grow, to invest in my own personal development - something I don’t do enough of. I don’t know what I was expecting to learn but it was not what I came away with. It turns out, I went to Necker to, surprisingly, learn what I already know. I had some powerfully simple reminders that are going to never be far from my decision making ever again. I was reminded and retrained on what we all know to be true. But do we know these so well they become meaningless? During my time on Necker Island with the Virgin Unite crew, these lessons took on a powerful new meaning and I will cherish my re-learning experience.

I'll share four with you now:

1. If you are always striving, aiming, fighting (you get the gist) you will achieve success but not contentment. Your life’s work needs to pull you towards it. In a way that you can’t help but do it. If it feels like hard work, it’s not your bag.
2. If you don’t believe in what you’re selling, we won’t either. You can always tell when people are talking to you about something that deeply connects with their beliefs. They don’t need to be the best public speakers, you can’t help but be drawn to them, to want to learn more. Anything else is just selling and most of us aren’t buying.
3. My inner hospitality nerd was reminded of the true grace that is “hosting” people. Anticipating someones needs, being happy in the act of service, luxury in the abundance of small things. We all can and should do this more for those we cherish.
4. Expect Less, Enjoy More.

At the tail end of July, industry leaders across research, marketing, media and communications attended the International Advertising Association’s Leadership Event in Sydney exploring the topic of marketing to the 50+ demographic.

A panel of experts explored the idea that marketeers are focusing on millennials and missing opportunities with the over 50 segment, particularly given that in five years one in three Australians will be over fifty and they control nearly half go the nation’s wealth. Furthermore, 94% of people over 50 dislike how ads talk to them and they believe they are overlooked by brands beyond selling retirement, life insurance and funeral plan.

Panelists included Nick Richardson (Partner of Fifty Not Out), Laura Demasi (Director of Research at Ming & Mood Report Ipsos), Russell Tate (Executive Chairman of Macquarie Media Network), Rowena Newman (Head of Media ANZ RB) and Kirsty Muddle (Founding Partner, Cummins & Partners).

For information on future events visit iaa.org.au

Here are five interesting facts about Jules, that gives (a little) insight into his Euro/Aussie lifestyle:

• Jules has been to (the original) Oktoberfest in Munich for 13 consecutive years
• He has travelled to 5 of 7 continents, with South America high on his bucket list
• Jules served in the military for 12 months
• He is obsessed with soccer and would fly to Europe just to watch his club (Bayern Munich) play the Champions League final
• Bureau Of Meteorology is Jules' favourite website - "I can’t stop looking at the nice weather in AUS compared to what I was used to back in Germany".