Apple's iPhones, Instagram's ads and Jimmy Kimmel's twerking hoax dominate the week in social media

The iPhone 5S and 5C have been announced for a September 20th launch, but I’m more excited about the prospect of iOS 7. The Apple operating system hasn’t changed very much in about five years - even longer in terms of design - so I’m looking forward to seeing how the new design looks. I’m hoping for a slick, simple design, but we’ll see.

I won’t bore you with all the tech stuff, but the new, updated 5S brings us a fingerprint scanner, and it’s available in gold. Two things everyone looks for in a mobile phone.

There’s been a lot of pressure on Apple to compete with Android phones, in particular those from Samsung. It feels a bit like we’ve been waiting for something brand new, with bells and whistles, from Apple for a while now, but we’ll just have to keep waiting until the next announcement.

Instagram's adverts

After its revelation that it's topped 150 million followers, Instagram has announced that it plans to sell advertising space by 2014.

It’s not really much of a surprise though, as ever since Facebook bought the photo-sharing app at the end of last year, the rumour-mill has been a-churning with speculation as to if (when) ads would be introduced.

While it’s easy to understand why it will be introducing adverts (it has to make money after all) I hope that it doesn't end up spamming the newsfeed or profile parts with ridiculous weight loss ads and advice on which dating site I should be signing up to.

It is thought that the ads might appear within the ‘Explore’ tab, which would be less irritating, but it will be interesting to see if sponsored hashtags or promoted links rear their ugly heads as well.

YouTube hoax

‘Twerking’ is the in thing this week (so down with the kids), what with Miley Cyrus’s provocative performance at the VMAs and Harry Styles causing a Twitter meltdown with his ass-shakery.

So, when the brilliant ‘epic twerking fail’ appeared on YouTube, I (along with the rest of the internet) was duped into believing that the whole thing was real, but it was, in fact, a hoax from US talk show host Jimmy Kimmel.

If you’re thinking ‘Meh. I can take it or leave it, it’s just another twerking video’, it involves fire. Yeah, I thought so.

And here’s the big reveal…

I’m a bit sad that it wasn’t real, but also mildly relieved that the fire was safely extinguished.Vine winSpeaking of Miley Cyrus, I just wanted to share this excellent Vine with you, from Frank McDonald.Nailed it.