Social media’s luster got scuffed up a tad today amidst a new report from Monetate.

The company, which promotes itself as a “customer experience engine that leverages big data to create personalized online experiences,” published its latest Ecommerce Quarterly (EQ1 2013) report.

This quarter’s report takes a deep look at social commerce trends. And the news isn’t all that good for social media.

According to the report’s findings, social media is lagging as direct traffic source to eCommerce websites and for online purchases, despite brand investment.

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Gibu Thomas, head of mobile for Walmart, says the concept of “smart shopping” will be driven by mobile technology.

“The future of retail is the history of retailing,” Thomas said during a keynote address at the CTIA Wireless trade show today. “It’s about a personalized experience for each shopper delivered through the smartphone.”

Thomas explained Wednesday that half the base of Walmart customers now own smartphones.

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Pandora and Facebook are doing bigger business together for the purpose of giving social media junkies new personalized music sharing and listening options.

The leading internet radio service announced Tuesday that it is making it easier than ever for millions of registered users to discover and share the music they love with friends.

It’s all made possible through a new Timeline App on Facebook.

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On Tuesday, Acision published new research indicating that 8 in 10 US consumers now use multi-service messaging.

Acision, finds that 79% of Smartphone users are today using multiple messaging services, including SMS, MMS and IM/Over-the-top (OTT) applications, to fulfill their messaging needs.

“Despite dramatized media headlines indicating the death of SMS, our research confirms that while OTT messaging service usage is on the rise, SMS is still regarded as a key service by many consumers in the US,” explains Russell Grahame, SVP and General Manager of Acision North America.

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Although one hardly needs a good reason to head to Las Vegas, there is definitely a good reason why hundreds of prominent executives and leaders from across the mobile, marketing, retail, social, gaming, and hospitality industries are preparing to converge on Las Vegas.

On Thursday, Mobile Host: The Most Summit for Hospitality and Retail will kick off at the Mirage Hotel & Casino.

Fittingly, Darren Withers, Head of Marketing & Casino Client Services at mobileStorm, will be among the presenters.

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What happens in Las Vegas is supposed to stay in Las Vegas.

But this week, as the Mobile Host Summit for Hospitality and Retail gets underway in Sin City, there’s a good chance that plenty of announcements, insight, and news will leave Las Vegas and better educate marketers and industry professionals all over the world.

The Mobile Host Summit for Hospitality and Retail is a leading event dedicated to mobile strategies for the hospitality and retail industries. The one-day event brings experts from around the world together in order to discuss how to develop and deploy effective mobile applications and mobile web strategies to grow business in today’s always-connected world.

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Jim Keenan, a social sales specialist, observes in the The Rise of Social Salespeople that social media use is key to selling, increasing profits, and besting the competition in today’s market.

In 2012, 72.6% of sales people using social media to sell out performed those who weren’t using social media, the report shows according to coverage Monday from Forbes.

Keenan found that when it came to exceeding sales quota (exceeding quota by more than 10%), social media users were 23% more successful than their non-social media peers. Keenan told me that no matter how you sliced the data, social media users came out on top.

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