At this point, it doesn’t seem to matter which is the chicken and which is the egg — whether content drives the relentless development of mobile technology in smartphones and tablets or vice versa. The only constant is change, which is faster than ever.

It’s about what you see virtually. Companies in North America put video at the very top of their list of formats in 2012 for branded content marketing, according to the Custom Content Council:

• 54% are doing more with video, while only 1% will do less.

• 35% are doing more with virtual events, and no one is doing less.

• 35% are doing more website updates, and just 1% will do less.

• 31% are doing more with podcasts/other audio, and 3% plan to do less.

It’s about being seen everywhere. IBM’s The State of Marketing 2012 reported that between 40 and 50 percent of companies worldwide will use or plan to use these mobile marketing tactics in 2012: mobile versions of websites, mobile applications, mobile versions of e-mail, mobile messaging campaigns, location-based targeting and mobile ads.

It’s about immediacy. More than 28 million iPad users in 2011 will almost double to 53 million by the end of this year, according to eMarketer. While the growth will slow down, more than 90 million users are predicted by the close of 2015. Ditto smartphone adoption, which will increase from 93 million users in 2011 to 192 million in 2016.

It’s even more about content. Marketing professionals are flocking to content curation — the process of finding, organizing and sharing online content — for three reasons, noted data from Curata:

• Establish thought leadership (up from 79% in 2011 to 85% in 2012).

• Elevate brand visibility and buzz (up from 76% in 2011 to 80% in 2012).

• Boost search engine optimization (up from 48% in 2011 to 65% in 2012).