What motivates us to use social networking sites? 
According to a survey by Pew Internet, 66% of US online adults use social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter with a variety of motivating factors:

Chinese CEO crowdsources business decision via Sina Weibo
Lei Jun, the CEO of Xiaomi, a China-based mobile internet company, decided to turn to Sina Weibo to crowd-source a solution to Xiaomi’s dilemma of releasing a CDMA version of their latest Android handset. His weibo has since garnered 7,835 ‘retweets’ and 6,296 comments. Due to a lack of general consensus, he further set up a poll on Xiaomi’s official BBS forum. Let’s wait and see if he does indeed act on the crowd-sourced opinions.

#longreads versus short tweets
China’s biggest celebrity blogger Han Han has not jumped into microblogging despite his domination of the traditional blogging platform and his millions of followers. His issue with microblogging lies in the speed in which information is disseminated, which can be both pro and con. Especially with the levels of censorship in China, new information is spread as quickly as it disappears on Weibo. Here lies a good reminder of the importance and purpose of long-form content for deeper analysis and discussion, even as short-form content through the likes of Weibo and Twitter is great for disseminating bite-sized information.

Local merchants can now sync Chalkboard with Facebook
Chalkboard, a location-based mobile advertising service from Singapore, made recent changes to its merchant dashboard. In syncing their Chalkboard dashboard with Facebook, merchants can now post promotions to Chalkboard and their Facebook page simultaneously, and can also view statistics and interactions more easily.

Another useful addition to the revamped dashboard is the heat map that helps merchants visualize where interactions are coming from on a map. The colour spectrum indicates the number of people who have seen a merchant’s promotions, with purple signifying the least and red the most. The heat map could effectively act as an indicator that potentially guides how merchants conduct their promotions.

Social media drives sales for luxury brands
Burberry announced a 29% increase in revenue over the past six months after a successful social media marketing strategy. Angela Ahrendts, CEO, attributed Burberry’s strong first half to “our continued investment in innovative design and digital marketing”.

Busted Bloggers
47 South Korean bloggers have been penalised by the government for posting false reviews to make money. These ‘power bloggers’ did not tell readers they received commission from 2-10% of total sales in return for writing favourable reviews of products and organising group purchases. The most profitable blogger earned almost $800,000 in commission.

Malaysians can now send free SMSes via Gmail
Malaysian mobile operator DiGi, whose 8.8 million users account for 24 percent of the country’s mobile market, has partnered with Google to launch Gmail SMS as part of Google’s “Internet For All” initiative. This service allows DiGi customers to send free local and overseas SMSes without their phones by using Gmail. Replies to SMSes will appear in the Google Chat bar within Gmail, and contact phone numbers can be stored in Gmail’s address book as well.

Gmail SMS is currently active across a number of Asian markets, such as Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

‘DirtyBeijing’ mobile app warns smartphone users about air pollution levels in Beijing
Beijing-based start-up Fresh Ideas Studio has released a local air quality app for both iPhone and Android. The DirtyBeijing app displays an air quality index that determines the level of risk to one’s health based on the severity of air pollution. The index ranges between 6 indicators, the best labelled ‘Good’, and the worst ‘Hazardous’.

It’s great to see a smartphone app for social good, but it remains to be seen whether DirtyBeijing encounters the Chinese government’s wrath. It uses the stricter US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) index, and not the one mandated by the Chinese government.

Google+ continued lack of growth
Experian Hitwise have released statistics showing how Google+ recorded its third biggest week in terms of traffic last week, after a spike when accounts were opened to all. Nonetheless, data given to the LA Times shows the site has lost visitors in 11 out of 21 weeks since launch, regularly falling between 10% and 20% from one week to the next.

More to the point, Google+ has struggled to expand outside America: according to ICM Research, only 4-5% of 40 million registered users are British. Amusingly, 17% of respondents claimed to use Google+ but in reality only a third do so – with the remainder mistaking it for something else!

Meanwhile, Facebook brings people closer
Forget about six degrees of separation. A new study from Facebook and the University of Milan shows that people in the world are more interconnected than ever before. Out of Facebook’s 721 million active users, any two people on the site are on average separated by merely 4.74 intermediate connections. Facebook has brought local communities closer as the average separation gets as low as 3 degrees amongst people living within the same country.

Being polite on Twitter gains you more clicks
Hubspot’s Dan Zarrella analysed 200,000 link-containing tweets to determine which words, phrases and characters correlated with a higher or lower click-through rate (CTR). Apparently, being polite pays off. A tweet containing the word ‘please’ yielded a CTR of 3.57%, compared to 2.1% without the use of the word. Using the word ‘via’ instead of the standard ‘RT’ also produced a better overall CTR of 6.37% versus 4.19%. Time to change the way you tweet.

Google+ Brand Pages lack followers…
There is yet more speculation about the success (or failure) of Google+ from BrightEdge, whose recent study found that 61% of top brands have created Google+ pages but few people are following them. Brands like Coca Cola, McDonalds and Verizon only have dozens of fans in comparison to their millions on Facebook. In total the top 100 brands have over 300 million Facebook fans in comparison to just 148,000 followers on Google+.

Could music help Google+ whistle to a new tune?
Google launched its highly anticipated digital music hub, Google Music last week. It could breathe fresh life into Google+ as ‘once someone makes a purchase on Google Music, he or she can give Google+ friends a full listen to a track, or even an album, for free’. Neat.

Google+ Pages integrate third party tools and multi-admin access
Google have also announced that they are enabling six third-party tools (Buddy Media, Context Optional, Hearsay Social, HootSuite, Involver, and Vitrue) to test Google+ functionality in their management tools, immediately. With multi-admin access not coming within the site until Q1 2012, this is a welcome boost for brands.

There’s also a new AdWords feature, appropriately named, Social Extensions, which will enable brands to link their page to their AdWords campaigns. According to Google, this is big news:

With Social Extensions, consumers will be able to see all the recommendations your business has received, whether they are looking at an ad, a search result or your page. This means your +1’s will reach not only the 40+ million users of Google+, but all the people who come to Google every day.

Finally they’ve added trending topics. This is a list of the top 10 most popular discussion items on the social network. I wonder where they got that one from…

Facebook’s Sponsored Stories in real-time ticker
Facebook have now included their Sponsored Stories into the real-time ticker. According to Nielsen 68% of people are more likely to remember seeing them and twice as likely to remember the message than a normal ad. Although proven to be effective, the new placement will be somewhat irritating, so brands will have to be cautious in using it.

Foursquare’s expertise badges 
Are you a Mexican food lover or a devout veggie? If so you can prove your expertise in a certain area with Foursquare’s new ability to ‘level up’ with their badges. The user has to complete the levels by visiting a certain number of unique places. Some of our favourite badges include don’t stop believin’, greasy spoon and ski bum. We’ll leave it to your imagination to guess what these badges are awarded for…

Foursquare focuses on discovery
In other news from Foursquare HQ, they have launched an all new website design with a live giant map on the homepage, showing a variety of colour coded places of relevance: trending places are shown in yellow, places on your lists in green, ones with specials in orange and popular ones in blue. You can also see where your friends are and can receive recommendations. Foursquare hasn’t stopped there, as the logged out homepage has also seen a revamp, placing emphasis on the new ‘expertise’ angle.

Skype launches Facebook-to-Facebook video calls from within Skype
Last week Skype announced they had reached yet another Skype-Facebook partnership milestone: Facebook-to-Facebook video calling from within Skype. Simply connect your Facebook to your Skype account, select a friend and get calling.

Send money via the new PayPal Facebook App
PayPal just made it easier for us to send money whenever and wherever we want. 80% of active PayPal users are also actively using Facebook, so in light of this they can now send money directly via the new Send Money app, which allows users to send actual gifts instead of wall posts.

‘Share What You Wear’ with RNKD
Zappos co-founder Nick Swinmurn is reinventing loyalty programs for clothing brands and retailers. RNKD, pronounced ‘ranked’, is still in its beta version but in essence it allows users to upload photos of their clothes and then tag them by brand. It then assigns a user rank according to the contents of the virtual closet and awards badges accordingly.

Virgin tweets live flight statuses
Virgin Atlantic is now offering customers flight status updates via Twitter using the @VAAInfo account. So if you want to know the status of your flight, send a tweet and you’ll receive a response ‘within seconds’, but with Virgin’s well-known brand of customer service: the tweet might begin ‘hello gorgeous’.

Walmart’s 12 Days of Giving
It is the season of giving, and to get into the true festive spirit, Walmart has launched a charitable Facebook campaign named the 12 Days of Giving. Their 10.3 million fans are asked to nominate local good causes and non-profit organisations for a stake of their $1.5 million holiday grants.

Citroën’s Twitter race
Citroën have launched a race where the route is determined entirely by its followers’ tweets. Instead of racing against other cars, followers will compete to direct the new Citroën DS5 towards them with a chance to win it.

Renault: Ange & Demon
We Are Social’s Paris office have created a street fighter style Facebook game which allows players to choose an Angel or Demon character to fight their way through a variety of challenges and win prizes for the best performances. This is to promote the 666 limited edition Clio R.S. Ange & Demon cars.

Jeweller shares soppy love notes via Facebook

Robbins Brothers, a Californian jeweller has come up with an extremely cheesy Facebook campaign. All fans have to do is write a love note to that special someone on the brand’s Facebook page and they will upload it onto a digital billboard on a local freeway. And, if that isn’t enough they will also take a photo of it so you can share it with your loved one. Whoever said that romance is dead is clearly mistaken…

Samsung turn tweets into art
To promote their new Galaxy Note handset through Twitter, Samsung are turning tweets into artwork using some of the phone’s digital pen and memo service. To see your tweet created into art simply tweet Samsung with the hashtag #createmytweet.

Divorcing couple ordered to swap Facebook passwords
A Connecticut judge recently ordered a divorcing couple to swap their log-in details for their Facebook and dating website accounts so that their lawyers could conduct ‘discovery’ through them. The power of social appears to have no bounds as both our online behaviour and how we communicate are even having an effect on our legal systems.

Chinese location-based app Jiepang, partners with Starbucks
Jiepang users who visit one of the 200+ Starbucks outlets across Shanghai and Eastern China can now check in with near-field communication-enabled mobile devices. If 20,000 users check in by 17th December, each of those patrons will receive a free size upgrade on a drink during the following week.

With nearly 1.5 million users and over 300 brand partnerships in China since its launch in May 2010, Jiepang is a location-based app to watch.

Coca-Cola ‘gamifies’ vending machines in Japan
As part of its Happiness campaign, Coca-Cola is encouraging Japanese consumers to ‘check-in’ and interact with its 820,000 vending machines across Japan via QR codes affixed to the machines. As part of the ‘Happiness Quest’, users can create virtual identities for, and customise their favourite vending machines, as well as earn badges. Will the Japanese take to this quirky campaign?

Sina Weibo has over 2 million users in Hong Kong
More than one in four Hong Kong citizens now use Sina Weibo, prompting more than 1,000 brands in the city to set up enterprise accounts on the microblogging platform. Considering that Internet users in the SAR have access to international platforms like Facebook and Twitter (in contrast to their mainland counterparts), Sina Weibo’s growth of over 1 million users since March is doubly impressive.

Korea’s Cyworld goes global (again)
Korean social network Cyworld will once again attempt to enter the international market, with the launch of Global Cyworld. This new international version of its service will include content in English, Chinese, German, Japanese and Spanish, in addition to Korean, and allow users around the world to connect with one another (a feature that was previously unavailable). Let’s see whether Cyworld will succeed this time around.

US guidelines on Facebook ‘Like-gating’
Facebook’s ad revenue is projected to hit $7 billion in 2012, but this figure might be hit by the recent guidelines put in place by the Better Business Bureau’s National Advertising Division (NAD). Marketers need to be careful when requesting users ‘Like’ a page in order to receive some sort of reward in order to ensure they are not utilising “misleading or artificial means to inflate the number of Facebook ‘likes’.”

This move has come about after a case was made against eyewear supplier Coastal Contacts for deceptively offering free and discounted products to Facebook users who ‘liked’ the company’s page, and that the number of ‘likes’ presented to investors had been fraudulently obtained.

The NAD cannot itself enforce decisions, but it can refer cases to the Federal Trade Commission if a marketer does not comply with one of its decisions.

New European guidelines on paid for promotion in social media
Meanwhile, in the UK, the IAB and ISBA jointly released guidelines on the payment for editorial content to specifically promote a brand, product or service within social media, which have been developed in consultation with both the Office of Fair Trading and the ASA’s Committee for Advertising Practice.

Facebook gives up on China (for now)
It might have the most faces out of any country in the world, but China will still not have Facebook for a while yet. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Sandberg revealed how government policies were the main reason why expansion into China was not yet possible for Facebook; “it’s not really our choice. It’s the government’s choice, you know. We’re not available because they’ve chosen to make us not available.”

CheWen is Renren’s niche social network for car fanatics
China’s CheWen.com is a social network for car lovers, and has already amassed a user base of 4 million in the span of six months. It encompasses functions of a microblog in being able to ‘follow’ users and brands, has crowdsourcing elements similar to Quora, and also provides automotive news. In particular, the potential for advertisers to reach wealthy netizens is significant, even though the social network is mostly free of ads at the moment.

Read and Listen from the Ticker
Another Facebook baby birthed at f8, the Ticker has undergone a few changes recently. Now news articles and songs in the Ticker include buttons that allow users to begin reading or listening as soon as they click on them.

Facebook also announced their decision to turn off automatic RSS feed syndication within Facebook Notes from 22 November.

Small, mid-sized music businesses have greatest Facebook reach
Social marketing platform Roost set out to understand how small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs) can use Facebook effectively, and determined that businesses operating in music, entertainment and luxury goods have the highest reach (number of fans). Interestingly enough, SMBs in the music industry have the third lowest activity level amongst 28 industries, even though they have the greatest social audience. On the flipside, SMBs in the medical industry have the lowest reach, but are generally the most active in their Facebook efforts.

LinkedIn announce Group Statistics and improve Events
Taking a leaf out of Facebook’s success with Insights, LinkedIn have launched statistics for Groups through an easy-to-use dashboard, focusing on three areas: demographics, growth, and activity.

In the past year there have been over a million RSVPs to hundreds of thousands of professional events on LinkedIn. LinkedIn are now taking Events a step further, making it easier to find the right events to attend and connect with others attending those events.

Budweiser’s Man of the Match to be picked by fans
It’s never been done before, as the decision of who will be the Budweiser Man of the Match has always been reserved for broadcast commentating teams. But now Budweiser are handing over responsibility to their fans, and for every FA cup game this season the Budweiser Man of the Match will be chosen by fans via the Budweiser UK Facebook page or through the free Budweiser Man of the Match app for smartphones. Knowing how football fans love a joke, this may lead to some interesting results…

When a bird leaves the nest, can it take the flock with it?
As a court picks over PhoneDog’s complaint that one of its former journalists, Noah Kravitz, failed to surrender the password and thus the fans to a Twitter account originally tied to the company name, it’s left everyone debating the rights to digital possessions. In an era where journalists are encouraged to brand themselves, this type of dispute is becoming more frequent. Is leaving a job becoming more like a social media divorce?

Buzzword alert! The proliferation of ‘social television’ 
From X Factor to Glee, TV programmes are utilising social networks to improve engagement with and among fans. Studies have discovered that up to 80% of television viewers now incorporate a ‘second screen’ into their viewing habits, and apps such as Zeebox – of which Channel 4 have become the first broadcaster to trial – are facilitating this new intersected experience. Media analysts believe that this development will continue to grow. Why? As our very own Robin Grant points out, stories are social:

We’ve moved on from a temporary aberration where, through the invention of the printing press all the way through to the invention of TV, communication became one-way for a few hundred years. That’s not the natural human state. Social media has brought us all back around the campfire and allowed us to talk to each other and to take part in the stories people are telling.

Branded hangouts on Google+
With brand pages recently enabled on Google +, it will be interesting to see how brands make use of the social network for marketing purposes. UK Opticians Specsavers are staking a claim to the first celebrity ‘hangout’ on the platform, with fashion bloggers invited to video chat with brand ambassador Gok Wan. The event will be integrated with other social sites – Specsavers’ YouTube channel will broadcast the event and Facebook will have corresponding live status updates.

Two-thirds of Brits support silencing social media during social unrest
A poll has revealed that two-thirds of UK adults believe that shutting down social networks such as Twitter and BlackBerry Messenger during times of social unrest would help prevent it spreading and worsening. Unsurprisingly, support for action against social networks was strongest among over-65s and weakest among 18 to 24-year-olds, who are the heaviest users of these services.

But as news editor of Index of Censorship, Padraig Reidy, argues:

It’s very worrying that people would believe shutting down social networks would be in any way desirable. The vast majority of social network use during the unrest was people spreading information and helping each other get home safely.

New research shows that more and more brands in Asia are using social media, but few have adopted a strategic approach. In particular, brands in Asia still seem to view social media as advertising channels, using them sporadically as one-way supports for conventional campaigns, rather than as longer-term relationship channels.

The study, conducted by PR firm Burson Marsteller, found that more than 80% of leading Asian companies now have a branded social media presence, compared to just half that number a year ago. 45% of brands active in social media are present in 3 or more channels – a startling five-fold increase from the previous year:

Worryingly, however, the report also finds that 62% of brands’ social accounts are dormant, with many having been set up for tactical, campaign-based activities. Many show a sudden burst of activity around a specific topic for a short period of time, before turning totally silent. Meanwhile, the majority of the content shared by brands using this approach follows a ‘push’ approach, with many brands simply posting the same content they broadcast through traditional advertising channels.

While it’s important to acknowledge that social media can play an important role in improving the success rate of broader, integrated marketing activities, this purely tactical approach fails to take advantage of the huge opportunities presented by social media. This approach is reminiscent of the mid-90s, when brands rushed to set up an internet presence by sticking print ads onto websites, without taking time to understand the unique potential of the new channel.

As part of a shift to more strategic adoption of social media, it’s important for firms to understand why their audiences use different social media, and identify ways their brands can become a meaningful part of those audiences’ social experiences. Similarly, brands must also set specific objectives social media, mapping out the ways in which activities will deliver value to their business over time.

Tailoring your brand’s approach for different countries is also important, as different cultures use social media to differing degrees and in different ways. Reassuringly, the BM study found that brands in South Korea and China were the most active in social channels, mirroring audience adoption of social media in those markets. They found 90% of South Korean firms have adopted micro-blogging, paralleling Koreans’ accelerating uptake of services like Twitter. A similar number of Korean brands maintain more traditional corporate blogs too, in line with North Asia’s continuing love affair with longer-form social content.

80% of Chinese firms use micro-blogs too, with Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo attracting the lion’s share of attention. However, social networks still dominate Chinese brands’ approach to social media, with 90% having a social networking presence on sites like Renren. Despite Chinese netizens’ prolific consumption of online video though, the report suggests that merely 3 brands out of every 10 engage in video-sharing activities:

Across Asia in general, Social networks are the preferred social channel for branded activity. The ability to share longer-form content, create customisable tabs, and post photo galleries mean they offer a greater degree of flexibility to brands wishing to create multifaceted relationships with their audiences.

However, we’re noticing that an increasing number of brands supplement these activities with micro-blogging, taking advantage of opportunities to share smaller, more focused updates in real-time with their followers – especially those on the go.

Despite this surge of activity within social media, however, the level of integration back to corporate websites remains disappointing. BM speculates that this may be the result of residual concerns around public ‘loss of face’ – a fear that any mistakes they make will be visible to the world at large.

The limited use of video was another finding that stood out for us. More so than tweets or status updates, videos offer a way to share engaging and compelling stories in easily consumed servings. Our understanding is that the need to create regular video content is likely the main reason brands fail to make more use of video in their activities:

Perhaps surprisingly, the study also indicates that relatively fewer Asian companies use blogs to communicate with corporate audiences, preferring to focus the majority of their social activities on more consumer-oriented audiences:

However, brands are making use of other social channels for corporate marketing initiatives. Top of the list are activities focused on establishing and maintaining media and influencer relations:

We predict that Asian brands will make increasing use of social channels for B2B activities in 2012, harnessing a growing number of professionally oriented platforms and networks in the region.

As this momentum accelerates, however, it’s important for brands to avoid approaching social platforms in silos. Brands need to harness social networks for what they are – webs of interconnected relationships – and adapt their use of each channel according to the needs of different audiences and objectives.

See the full Burson Marsteller report here.

CMOs to increase spend in social media
Online marketing strategies are ever changing and keeping on top of it can be a difficult task. In light of this, findings in a recent study in eMarketer conducted by IBM show that 82% of the CMOs surveyed plan to increase their investments in social media in the next 3-5 years.

Google+ adds brand pages, direct connect and focuses on Google elements
In a blog post this afternoon, Google launched brand pages on Google+, amongst a slew of other features – check our separate post for the lowdown.

Chinese government targets ‘harmful’ information in social media
China’s leading Internet companies, including e-commerce firm Alibaba, search giant Baidu, and dominant microblogging platform owner Sina, are supporting the Chinese government in new censorship measures that aim to “conscientiously safeguard the broadcasting of positive messages online”.

Indian startup Socialblood leverages Facebook to help find blood donors
Although still in its infancy, Socialblood aims to connect people to others who need their blood via Facebook Groups. It has already seen participation from 1,500 people across all the various blood types listed, and has even saved the life of a three-year-old child.

Groupon stock sees impressive debut while shares of LinkedIn flounder
Daily deal site Groupon made their debut on the Nasdaq on Friday morning for $20 a share and by mid afternoon had climbed more than 40% to about $28. This IPO offering values the company at almost $18 billion, and makes the $980 million raised the biggest IPO by a US web company since Google.

Speaking of blockbuster IPOs the business social network LinkedIn, who famously doubled their stock prices on the first day of trading, is failing to keep up investor confidence. Although both revenue and site membership grew over the past 6 months, shares in the site dropped by 9% after releasing their latest results.

Despite the company’s reported net loss of $1.6 million, LinkedIn has seen a strong fourth quarter, acquiring two new companies and opening two new European offices, so the future may be bright. And as for Groupon, only time will tell if they will be able to sustain their initial stock market success, but it’s certainly one to watch.

adidas launch the world’s first social football boots
Football boots have come a long way in the last few years, from being lucky to receive a choice of colour to the new addition of an on-board computer. However, adidas’ new boots may usher in a ‘whole new level of tactical analysis’.

The boots measure speed, distance travelled and top speed. As soon as a game is over, the data is wirelessly transmitted to your phone, computer or tablet. adidas hope it will see a rise in sports stars sharing their stats to the community, letting fans compete and discuss their own or their favourite athletes’ efforts in a new light.

Twitter reaches 3 million tweets per day in South Korea
Twitter is gaining momentum in a country where local social networks and content still dominate the Internet with an estimated user base of 3.34 million people. Like in many other Asian countries, politics is cited as a key factor driving South Koreans to its service, and it is particularly popular with young audiences in the country, with over half of all surveyed users aged between 20 and 40 actively using Twitter. Let’s see how local social network Cyworld and its minihompy service fare in the coming months.

YouTube to launch dedicated K-Pop streaming service
K-Pop is taking the world by storm, and even Google is jumping on board the K-Pop bandwagon. This collaboration is still in the works, but it is assumed that a dedicated platform through which K-Pop stars’ music can be accessed across the world will be available on YouTube, much like a regular YouTube channel.

Google is also focused on further developing its Android mobile operating system in South Korea, following Eric Schmidt’s visit to the country. It will unveil plans to help support Internet entrepreneurs in Korea through a mentoring and investment program as part of the ”Korea Go Global” plan as well.

South-East Asia’s mobile revolution on track
Research from Nielsen suggests that Internet-capable phones rival laptops, desktop computers and tablets as the primary Internet access point for many households across the region. The increased use of multiple platforms, be it separately or simultaneously, is also changing how Southeast Asians use the web, especially towards social networking. Facebook is identified as the clear favourite in all markets except Vietnam, where local platform Zing still reigns as the most popular social network.

Facebook is most popular social network for all ages
Across all social networks, Facebook is the only one that knows no generational limits. A recent study by Forrester showed that 96 percent of U.S. adults using social networking sites are on Facebook, with no age group falling below the 95 percent mark. Your grandpa might just be Facebook-stalking you right this moment. LinkedIn holds the second spot:

Oscar de la Renta sells perfume ring as Facebook exclusive
More and more luxury brands are attempting to convert their social communities into paying customers. Oscar de la Renta has become the latest brand to experiment with F-commerce, and CEO Alex Bolen says he expects Facebook “will become a major channel of commerce” for many brands. Time to start shopping on Facebook?

Burberry attempts ‘Mass Customisation’
Talking of luxury, Burberry has launched an attempt at ‘mass customisation’ with their Burberry Bespoke programme. The website allows people to design their own version of the company’s iconic trench coat. Prices for this piece of personalised luxury start at $1,800 and extend to $8,800, but, according to Burberry, this offers customers 12 million different combinations of jacket, ensuring no two are the same. If the price is a little steep, fans can still show off their creativity and customise a jacket to share with their friends on Twitter and Facebook.

Glamour gets 50,000 ‘Likes’ by combining Facebook and 2D barcodes
The September issue of the UK’s Glamour magazine generated over 50,000 Facebook ‘Likes’ for advertisers by including 2D barcodes with adverts. Glamour ran the codes, which were activated by over 100,000 users in total, in response to advertisers wishing to spur more readers to action. The results show a strong uptake, proving that users are looking for a more interactive magazine experience. Glamour plan to repeat the approach in a later issue but say they will expand it to include e-commerce options.

Volkswagen giving away the world’s first Facebook vehicle
Volkswagen once again push the boundaries of social media with their new campaign that lets a fan win the world’s first Facebook car or van – the Fanwagen.

The campaign surrounds two of their classic models where fans are asked to vote on the one they want to be converted to the social-mobile. Once the winner is selected, they will win the vehicle, which has unusual features such as that ability to change your relationship status on the licence place and a ‘Like’ shaped gearstick.

The car certainly includes more gimmicks than you could shake a gear stick at, but we must admit we ‘Like’ it.

Kim Kardashian’s divorce sparks 9 trending topics on Twitter
And finally, after Kim Kardashian announced her divorce after just 72 days of marriage, it immediately became hot topic across the Internet, sparking a total of 9 trending topics on Twitter. At the very peak of the conversation, as many as 1.75% of all tweets were about the Kardashian split. Trending Topics ranged from whimsical topics such as “#ThingsLongerThanKimsMarriage” to “72 Days”. Whether you love or hate the Kardashians, people sure like talking about them.