Hasta La Creative!

If you’re a parent trying to make sense of this social-media-soaked world, you might feel a little bit lost and intimidated—not quite clear on how you can turn your child into an Internet phenom.

Well, according to this video promoting a (fictional) service called The Social Influence, that won’t be a problem. “With the help of trained professionals, parents can help their children build a social ecosystem that will effect millions and maybe billions of people—and hopefully make millions and maybe someday billions of dollars,” it explains.

Ever wonder how Bradley Cooper was able to fit all those celebrities in the legendary Oscars selfie from last year? His parents saw a doctor to have his arm extended by 20 percent.

“This adds a cinematic advantage over their short-armed competition—more heads equals more shares,” the video says.

Viacom’s in-house in marketing and content agency made this snark-filled gem of an video that skewers the state of social media—and the parents of the device-obsessed generation. 

“Make a plan and stick to it,” is the video’s advice. “And for God’s sake, keep posting or you’ll be forgotten faster than a one-off viral.”

Here are a couple of the best scenes edited into smaller clips:

All right, it's been done before, but not for a while: Nickelodeon is partnering with the ever-embattled U.S. Postal Service to promote its long-running children's series SpongeBob SquarePants, in which a member of the order dictyoceratida opts for business casual dress to spend time with a slow-witted echinoderm and a squirrel of incredibly advanced brain function with a penchant for scuba diving.

The show's hero will appear in mailbox form on street corners around the country, and postage-paid SpongeBob postcards will be available gratis at about 25,000 post offices. If you want to see a MailPants yourself, you'll need to travel to Atlanta; Boston; Charlotte, N.C.; Chicago; Dallas; Hollywood and Orlando, Fla.; Kirkwood, Mo.; Los Angeles; Miami; New York; Philadelphia; or Washington. So really, you have no excuse.

Nick has a series of videos on the letter-writing process that ties into the campaign as well as printable stationery; the whole shebang is in effect through the month of SpongeBob-related Lego and stuffed-animal buying, formerly known as December. So, by the time the last MailPants disappears on Jan. 5, you may actually have convinced your kid to write that thank you note to Nana.