You can create a badge from a drop down lists of pages that you are a fan of. Badges are currently only available for single pages – I assume that you will eventually be able to share multiple fan pages and customize the widget’s size, layout, etc.

As you can tell by the below graphic, Facebook is heavily promoting the badges on Facebook fan pages… dedicating significant real estate:

You can find all Facebook widgets here.

You can view everything live on Facebook or on Modelinia starting at 6:30pm est. The live stream will be shown here as well:

Here are the Victoria’s Secret models themselves asking you to tune in to Modelinia’s life stream:

See more videos on modelinia.com

Sherwin Williams: Color Snap

A paint company going mobile… and making it fun and useful? I wouldn’t have guessed – but this application is simple and provides clear, immediate utility. Whereas most applications struggle to be more than their .com experience on a mobile screen – Sherwin Williams allows you to snap a photo, select the interior / exterior to be painted, and receive a matching color palette. Like other commercial applications, it also includes a store locator which is location-aware.

Gucci

Gucci is brand that oozes exclusivity and style… and the application embodies that terrificly. From the photos to the user interface – everything is beautifully done, highly visual and quite innovative: rather than the standard three or four button footer, navigation is controlled through horizontal swipes.

The application also features exclusive products, deals and content – in effect, this is how Gucci attempts to provide utility to the end-user. For instance, the below pair of shoes are an iPhone exclusive style. Additionally, Gucci provides an interactive store locator.

Showtime: TV at its Best

More digital media than e-commerce, but Showtime’s application is good looking, useful (has scheduling and reminders) and unique (exclusive content about their top shows and episodes):

Walmart

Another innovation from a big brand. The application lets you take a photo of your wall or available space and Walmart determines how large of a television you can accommodate. Walmart of course then suggests the best televisions to fit in that space. Clever, useful and unique:

Starbucks

Easily the brand application that I use most frequently: Starbucks “Mobile Card” app allows you to pay via your iPhone, manage your account balance, find the nearest store, etc. Starbucks also has a more social and informational application called “Starbucks” which allows users to find stores, create custom concoctions, access nutritional information and – most importantly – share the experience with friends (your favorite drinks, location, Starbucks meeting times, etc). The UI is terrific and consistent with the Starbucks brand and environment.

Starbucks Mobile Card

Starbucks App

Nike ID

I love Nike ID and have ordered a couple custom sneakers in the past… my major critique when it first launched, however, was that it was not social. You could share your creations by email – but when creating unique shoes, collecting feedback is as fun / important as sharing the finished product.

Nike solves that with the Nike ID app – sharing is inherently easier and you can view public creations (which can be starting points for your own shoe style).

Furthermore, there is something more natural and enjoyable about being able to design through finger swipes, color palettes, etc:

Amazon

Any surprise that Amazon’s application is simple to use, innovative (take photos of products and they email matching suggestions) and highly useful (I have bought food, books and music directly through the app). Furthermore, it is the ultimate price checker – before checking out at Best Buy, run a product search on Amazon and you’ll realize that you’re probably overpaying (by a lot!).

Flip Video, who is approaching 100,000 Facebook fans, has started a Facebook Ad campaign that offers fans a savings of $15.00 (officially called the “Flip Facebook $15 Coupon”). The offer runs through November 30th and is promoted aggressively in the Facebook ad unit:

If you arrive on the Flip fan page and are not a fan, you see a unit promoting a “secret link” to the right which is only revealed to Facebook fans:

Become a fan, and the secret offer appears:

It’s not the most elegant implementation, but it seems to work. And we know that:

- users love coupons and expect special offers

- Flip can market aggressively to the connections of their 100,000 fans

- New offers and promotions can be pushed to the fans beyond November 30th and across new products… in other words, the $15.00 is as much a user acquisition cost as it is a direct sales generator

Anyhow, via email, I was pointed to The New York Times’ article Are You a Tigger, or an Eeyore? It is part of the NYT’s Corner Office section (always good reading) and is an interview with Mindy Grossman, the chief executive of HSN Inc. Lots of good nuggets on management, building culture, etc – but the Q&A about hiring is great… dead-on perspective that is as valuable to job seekers and hirers:

Q. Let’s talk about hiring.

A. There are a number of things that are really important to me. One — and people laugh that I have this philosophy — is that you only hire Tiggers. You don’t hire Eeyores. It doesn’t mean they have to be loud, but I need energy-givers and I have to get a feeling that this person is going to be able to inspire people. Are they going to be optimistic about where they’re going? Are they going to attract people who are like that?

No. 2 is, will they be able to stand up to me when they believe in something? I’m very passionate. I need people who are going to be able to make me look at things in a different way. So, I have to ask those questions, like, “Give me an instance where you really believed in something and you were able to change the course and it was successful, whatever that was.” That’s really important, because you don’t want people telling you what you already know, or not telling you what you need to know.

All things being equal, on-demand streaming certainly provides a better experience than mail rentals (which is why Comcast On-Demand is so great). So I was interested in three things about the Netflix / PS3 integration:

1. Activation and Netflix.com integration
2. User experience on the PS3 system
3. Picture quality

#1 and #3 were terrific – Netflix walked subscribers through the activation process clearly and easily. And the picture quality and movie controls are excellent. For starters, a disc arrives that has thorough instructions on the envelope, sleeve and disc:

Once you insert the disc into the system, you are asked to activate the unique code on Netflix.com. When you visit the site, you are immediately prompted to do the same:

A couple seconds later, the system activates and you arrive at a slick UI with movies from your online queue (which seems to be the best way to manage content):

The picture quality is crisp and the streaming was quick, uninterrupted and only required a slight delay before the movie started. A few hours after the movie’s competition, Netflix follows up via email to ask about the picture quality and experience – a surprising but welcome email (excellent customer communication):

So what needs improvement? The finding experience (recognize a theme in usability issues across the web? iTunes, eBay, Facebook, etc all suffer these issues) is nearly unusable. The best way to find (search isn’t even an option) and manage content is through Netflix.com – which historically is a leader in UI.

With full online support clearly available on the PS3, there is an opportunity to merge the two experiences with a Netflix-lite module that users can opt to browse through.

Very promising start that certainly makes my subscription more valuable / productive.

If you are unfamiliar with LOLapps, you have probably used one of their applications on Facebook: over 44 million people use LOLapps apps each month:

- Quizzes (hundreds of thoussd of personally created quiz applications)
- Gifts (user generated gift creator)
- Diva Life
- Band of Heroes
- Yakuza Lords

Yakuza Lords and Band of Heroes are both new games and are growing very quickly on Facebook. From InsideFacebook’s Top Gainers of the Week:

“Two other role-playing games are also growing fast, and although neither lists a developer, both appear to be made by LOLapps. While both have the same underlying interface components (more on that over on ISG), each one has surprisingly striking, unique-looking graphics. One, Asian mafia-themed Yakuza Lords, grew by 155,000 users to reach 930,000 monthly actives. It is on its way to graduating from this list. The other app, World War II RPG Band of Heroes, is smaller but growing relatively more quickly. It gained 161,000 to reach 269,000 monthly actives.”

Diva City, Yakuza Lords and Band of Heroes are just the first for LOLapps: “[we] will be launching a new game every few weeks to address the huge demand and niches that our users care about.”

If you are interested in partnering with LOLapps, you can contact them and learn more here.

“How do you find more fans for your Facebook Page, more people to interact with your Application, or more people to engage with your business? Target friends!

‘Friends of connection’ targeting is now available for Facebook Ads. Expand your audience reach by delivering your ads to the friends of people already connected with your Page, Application, Group or Event.”

As brands and marketers focus energy, product and budgets on increasing their Facebook presence (fan pages, ads, etc), this is a very powerful lever…. particularly for brands with already-popular fan pages.

Consider that the average Facebook user has 150 friends (this is across all 350million users – so it is probably much higher for active users… who are most likely the people being targeted here. Let’s say the average for a highly engaged user is 300 friends).

A fan page with 10,000 fans then has the potential to reach 150,000 – 300,000 fans. For a brand like starbucks that has 5,000,000 fans, this allows them to reach a hug percentage of active users… and in a socially relevant way.

Here is a screenshot of the targeting in action from AllFacebook. Notice that the social context of the ad (Your friend Rolland Lawrenz is also a fan).

Facebook describes the unit further:

“Let’s take a look at an example. Annie is a fan of the Etsy Page. When Etsy wants to promote their Facebook Page, they can choose to target an ad to Annie’s friends by selecting the ‘Friends of connection’ filter. Annie’s friends will receive the Etsy ad with the following sentence: ‘Annie Ta is a fan of this Page.’ Annie’s friends are naturally more interested because Annie’s interaction with Etsy is showcased directly in the ad. ”

Targeted, relevant and dynamic – it’s a terrific ad unit and another example of how Facebook’s social graph is changing advertising.

With no direct branding other than the red / white dog – I do wonder how many people (even in Silicon Valley realize this is Zynga’s logo. And worth noting, there is no direct call to action particularly considering that Zynga’s activity is within its games’ brands.

- eBay (several billboards featuring their new ad campaign)
- Zazzle (see below, clearly in time for the holiday gift giving season)
- Zynga (which was simply a red sign with their white dog – not text whatsoever)
- Droid (featuring the handset and prominent Verizon / Google logos)
- Yahoo (a pink billboard featuring their new ad campaign)

When did advertising on 101 become so fashionable? I understand that Droid advertisement (it is time sensitive and a consumer product play) but since 2003, I have not seen such a flurry of branding-based billboard ads… Perhaps the prices have plummeted!