Social Networking

Take Famous Footwear, which worked with Buddy Media to build a "Back to School" tab on its official Facebook Page. So far, more than 50,000 people have joined the Famous Footwear Facebook community.

Bidmyway is a newly launched local deals app operating in the Chicago market. As opposed to being a deals aggregator for more popular brands like Groupon or Living Social, the app offers exclusive deals made with local merchants.

Actress/comedian Molly Shannon is helping Nestlé USA build awareness of its recently launched Skinny Cow Candy line via a new Facebook promotion.

Starbucks will use its more than 24 million fans on Facebook to help usher in the fall holiday season and announce the anticipated return of its popular Pumpkin Spice Latte.

Fashion - especially luxury fashion - came slowly to social media and related ad technologies. However as the industry quickly catches up, gaming appears to be the next format it will adopt.

For the next six months, the coffee and pastries sold by Dunkin' Donuts will be featured in the Sims Social Facebook game to be introduced on facebook.com by Electronic Arts. Financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed.

There's no shortage of companies claiming to help businesses navigate the world of social networking. But Jon Fahrner, CEO of a new startup called BumeBox, argued that what those businesses really need isn't just another sharing widget-it's a way to hold events and promotional parties on Twitter.

The annual conference, hosted by the women-focused blog and advertising network of the same name, was held at the San Diego Convention Center last weekend. In the same venue that Hollywood took over a few weeks ago to court the geek crowd at Comic Con International, companies like Jimmy Dean, Twizzlers, and HTC erected large booths, held cook offs and other events, and handed out schwag by the bagful.

Sanjeev Agrawal, newly appointed president of SocialTwist, believes in creating brand advocates for companies such as Barnes & Noble, ConAgra Foods, Gap, Procter & Gamble, Sara Lee, and Intel, rather than sharing ads, coupons and discounts on social sites.

When you check-in at a business with other mobile apps like Foursquare, you don't actually have to be in the store. That's because the GPS technology in most phones is not very accurate. You can just be driving by a business when you check-in, for example.