Facebook today formally launched Deals in the US, with local offers now wooing Facebookers (and brand marketers) in five US cities at launch: Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, San Diego, and San Francisco.

Available in Europe for three months, Facebook's expansion to the US gets it closer to serving Deals directly to all 600+ million members — a move seen as serving notice to Groupon and Living Social.

Naturally, as the owner of all that user data (which Facebook calls the social graph), the social network is poised to take full advantage of consumers' zeal for local, social deals. It's also, naturally, going beyond discounts.Continue reading...

Apple and Google are pressed on tracking and privacy by House committee.

Barnes & Noble target book lovers with new campaign for Nook reader.

Coca-Cola misses profit forecasts because of Japan quake aftermath.

Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros find their music all over adland (incl. MINI Wanderlust campaign).

Electronic Arts selects a different Madden to lead digital push.

Facebook introduces Deals service to rival Groupon and LivingSocial.Continue reading...

Melissa Rivers has always fought to carve an identity apart from her comedian mother, Joan Rivers.

And even though the duo are living together again, it's Melissa who's pulling ahead, launching a business that has nothing to do with the family business — TV personality — although it does recall her days on the red carpet with mom.

Melissa this week launched a new digital brand: Shoparatti.com, centered around a website that she curates as editor-in-chief, serving up her take on the best daily deals for other social shopping junkies as she scours Gilt Groupe, Groupon and other offerings on behalf of time-pressed fashionistas.Continue reading...

Groupon’s meteoric rise is probably already a B-school case study.

The startup, with 30-year-old Andrew Mason at the helm, emails a whopping 70 million deal-of-the-day promotions to subscribers world-wide. The next stage, according to a company profile in Bloomberg Businessweek magazine: skipping email and going straight to users cellphones with Groupon Now, a new mobile app that offers deals based on time of day and the user's location at that moment.

It's a development that could define the near future of local commerce.Continue reading...

Step back and consider the collective financial power of global brands and it's easy to see how much good they could do in the world.

The fact is, many brands make donations and get involved in social and humanitarian causes on a regular basis.

But a disaster of the magnitude that struck Japan late last week offers a unique public relations and humanitarian opportunity for brands to participate in relief and recovery.

Many are not only making outright donations, but also matching employee donations, and/or making donations in kind of products and services to help with the recovery efforts.

They're also encouraging their customers and fans on Facebook, Twitter and in their retail locations or offices to contribute to Japan disaster relief.

Below, we take a look at how brands of all sizes are supporting relief efforts in Japan.  Continue reading...

Subway passes McDonald's as the world's largest restaurant chain.

Morgan Stanley may drop "Smith Barney" name.

YouTube acquires web video creators NextNewNetworks, making Google "officially" a media company.

AOL shares sink as Huffington Post deal closes.

Ben Affleck teams with Cindy McCain to raise awareness about the Congo.

Bing speeds up search results to keep pace with Google.Continue reading...

Print newspapers may be dying a slow death, but those embroiled in a fight for survival are rolling out a whole slew of new ideas designed to attract new customers and keep the old ones.

The New York Times, one of the most venerable media brands in the US (and the world), is one example of a paper that's most definitely trying to keep up with the times.

The Times recently introduced a social news iPad app, News.me, that pulls data from Twitter and Bit.ly to provide users with a personalized news experience. But that's just the latest salvo from a publication that seems to be reinventing itself on the fly.

The Times still permits free online access (to registered users) to its content, but a paywall is looming that will lock down some of its information and make it available only to paid online subscribers.Continue reading...

Facebook

... refreshes its privacy policy in plain English

... will continue to share users' phone numbers (and spark privacy concerns)

... releases new comments plug-in for other sites

... is blamed for one in five US divorces

... builds traction for Ford's "Go. Do. Adventures" campaign

... will launch Premier League interactive "show" on Friday

... runs "Show Off Your Label" game in Fair Trade apparel promotion

... adds interactive flight booking with Malaysia Airlines

... may muscle into Twitter's space with Beluga acquisitionContinue reading...