This time on [a]listdaily Weekly, we take a look at marketing based on birthdays, what your audience says behind your back and Snapchat calls out Facebook. Fight!

Know Your Audience, Be Yourself

Don’t you love generation categorization? Well, marketers do! But is this exercise of grabbing an arbitrary slice of say 11-15 birth years any more useful than astrological signs? No generation has been studied as extensively as the current batch of teen-through-early-30’s-aged humans. They are now the largest living generation in the United States, which is why every night in the throes of stress dreams, marketing directors toss and turn, mumbling the word, “millennials” over and over.

While (in most cases) you can’t summarize a human being by their demographic template, knowing the generations helps. Insights like these provide a starting point and smart marketers know that targeting niche audiences within a cohort and working your way out is often the most effective way to see what works. If you’re sick and tired of being lumped into categories defined by when you happened to be born—a word of advice: stop posting the same five monthly hashtags as everyone else. Nothing throws the bots for a loop like an outlier. So, whether it’s right up the middle or completely off the chart, find your true, unique self and just be that. #popsiclepants

Come To The Dark Side (Of Mobile Sharing)

Dark social—it sounds like a coffee klatch for evil sorcerers but for advertisers, it represents something far more sinister: elusive data. And as no one once said, “what you cannot see . . . cannot be factored into a comprehensive marketing strategy.”

In a report titled “The Dark Side of Mobile Sharing,” enterprise advertising platform, RadiumOne says that worldwide, a whopping 84 percent of shares are dark. Stateside, the stats are only slightly less speakeasy, with 79 percent of total shares on American social networks being this sort of off-the-record jabber. Basically, for every bit of consumer chit-chat you overhear, there are four secret conversations you didn’t even know you didn’t know you were missing.

In Your FACE(book)

Is mobile video audio-friendly? That’s the big question this week after we were treated to reports that indicate 85 percent of Facebook video is watched without sound, which might make you wary of Facebook’s stats. Don’t throw any of that kinda shade at Snapchat, or you’re liable to get told.

The image messaging app is putting the world on notice: two-thirds of Snapchat videos are viewed with audio. Bam! The platform is so adamant that we recognize that claim, they’re partnering up with analytics company Moat to back it up with hard data. Quoth the Snapchat: “Advertisers are asking for a clear definition of a video view.”

Oh Snap(chat)!