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Do influencers really exist? Way back in 2000, when Facebook was but a twinkle in Mark Zuckerberg’s eye, Malcolm Gladwell’s The Tipping Point introduced the concept of “mavens”, the so-called super-consumers brands hungrily pursue as the Holy Grail of engagement. We all knew then that word of mouth was a powerful tool – but really, how influential could an individual be? The Future Foundation’s Karen Canty investigates.

Monday’s prime time slot brought a deluge of social extremes, representing a wide variety of British life. And for once, last night’s ratings proved to be just as fragmented as real life.

In place of the usual Sunday evening fare (child killers, dusty detectives, gray tinged anti-nostalgia etc) was a flurry of snapping cameras and giant white smiles as the British Academy Television Awards (BBC One, 9pm) kicked off from London’s Royal Festival Hall.

In the wake of ‘soda taxes’ – in which governments are seeking to address the huge rise in global obesity – the implications for the likes of Coke are huge – which is why it has launched a new charm offensive. But Coke’s latest campaign is yuck; pure corporate hokum says Dominic Mills, and the idea of it sponsoring a government health campaign is just as ridiculous.

Starcom MediaVest’s Steve Smith takes a look at the union between out-of-home and mobile and explains why it’s so important that brands optimise their mobile platforms.

The latest ABC National Newspaper results for April show that not much has changed over the month, with just the Sunday titles seeing a marginal -0.3% period on period decline.

In the all-important 9pm slot last night, BBC One decided to mimic its rival channels and gave us the first episode in a new series about hoarding – the silent killer.

Quaint and twee country soap Emmerdale (ITV, 7pm) signalled the start of Wednesday night’s top shelf content as the poor man’s Robert Downey Jr, Cameron, escaped another bullet in the nick of time.

As Sir Alex Ferguson announces he is to retire as manager of Manchester United, Raymond Snoddy argues there are lessons business leaders can learn. Indeed, it is not even too fanciful to see comparisons in the way that Peter Fincham, ITV’s director of television, has built up an improving roster of programmes and executives. And after poaching BBC Four controller Richard Klein this week, his team is only getting stronger…

Despite the fact that recent legal actions confirmed the show to be as transparently vacant as we all suspected, Tuesday night brought the brand new series of Lord Sugar’s desperate hunt for cringe inducing sound bites.