Welcome to What We’re Reading, a weekly rundown of news stories, marketing columns, and specific B2B industry news that caught our eye.

Not-so-farfetched tech predictions for 2018

In 2017, technology companies saw some massive gains in the stock market, as well as huge boosts in revenue and profits across the board. But you wouldn’t know it based on last year’s conversations around technology, many of which presented a bleak outlook for the future of society. Keeping in mind the clash between tech successes and industry doomsayers, The Atlantic makes 8 big predictions about the fate of tech in 2018.

On flooding the content market when no one is looking

Thanks to ever-evolving digital tech and endless online resources, the barriers to content creation are almost nonexistent. Given the explosion of new content and the finite amount of time we have to consume it on a daily basis, is content marketing a sustainable practice? According to a theory called Content Shock, spun back in 2014, it will only get more difficult to make your content stand out in the never-ending torrent of production.

Since that prediction was made, new research has shown how flooded content markets see a decline in average social shares over time — some of the time. It depends on the platform and the topic. Steve Rayson of BuzzSumo explains how you can find your place in the content market, respond accordingly, and even use Content Shock to your advantage.

B2B CMOs gearing up to invest in tech

As digital advertising takes the B2B world by storm, marketers are shelling out more dollars to stay ahead of the game. New tools and systems are making it increasingly easy for brands to gain insights, drive engagement, and generate leads, all with a measurable impact on ROI. AdWeek discusses the “technological revolution” in B2B marketing and how it’s inspiring CMOs to push for more ad spend in the digital space.

3 data lessons we can learn from last year’s research

How much do you know about your buyers? In many cases, your intel is only as good as the data you use to collect it. eMarketer analyzes some 2017 research to encapsulate the key takeaways for data — including data sources, analysis, and applications — for B2B businesses in the new year.

Recuse my English

“After recusing herself from the company of a federalist dotard, refusing to be complicit in his hurricane-level gaffe, the feminist enjoyed a gyro while waiting for syzygy.”

Okay, it kind of fell apart at the end, but that’s Merriam-Webster’s top 10 words of 2017 used together in one sentence. “Feminism” took the top spot as the year’s number one lookup, owing to several search spikes following events like the Women’s March on Washington, controversial comments by Kellyanne Conway, and the release of Wonder Woman.

Whether or not you’re a word nerd, we highly recommend reading the full breakdown on the Merriam-Webster website. We think it’s an excellent example of a site that stands apart from the horde of me-too content with a regular stream of unique, high-quality articles — and makes it surprisingly fun to read the dictionary.