C-SPAN is bringing its mandate as a conduit to American politics and debate to the people via Foursquare. Its user base can now tap into C-SPAN content that's been geotagged as relevant to their physical location.

The partnership marks another milestone for Foursquare as it evolves beyond community and social check-ins to curated content. Bravo, the New York Times, A&E’s History Channel and MTV have already gone mobile ‘geosocial’, and tapping into C-SPAN could help make Foursquare a vital part of the political debate ahead of the next U.S. election cycle.

Far from stodgy public access programming, C-SPAN has been embracing social media (and taking its shows on the road) as it pushes for greater public access through media coverage of the House and Senate and the Supreme Court.Continue reading...

We love to get your feedback and thoughts, and will be adding more community features to elevate the exchange of ideas between our readers. Check out a cross-section of recent thought-provoking comments after the jump — of course, add your own! If you have ideas on nurturing conversations on brandchannel, please share them via our reader survey. We're also looking for members of the brandchannel community to help shape what we do on an ongoing basis via a readers advisory panel, which you can sign up for as part of the survey. Thanks!

Brandchannel debate: Is BP doing enough to clean up and contain the oil spill?

"No! First of all, they should have had a 'worst case scenario' plan in advance that they would simply execute. Clearly they were nowhere near that. Second, they didn't even have a start on how to contain the oil so spent precious early days scratching their heads. Third, no one has forced them to meet higher expectations - and clearly they aren't on their own." — Lisa HaysContinue reading...

As we recently reported, crowdsourcing is becoming an accepted way of doing business, even for major companies. Big brands looking for breakthrough ideas are turning to the open market and finding that consumers are only too happy to oblige.

Crowdsourcing can be an even more powerful concept when two complementary brands collaborate to encourage creative input. Such is the case with youth media brand MTV and splashy watch brand Swatch, who've combined forces in something they call the Swatch MTV Playground.

The Swatch MTV Playground is both a design competition and a destination.Continue reading...

Starbucks will offer free, one-click, no registration Wi-Fi to all app-happy, wireless users at U.S. stores via AT&T, starting July 1st.

AT&T and Apple will sell iPhone 4 at Best Buy, Radio Shack and Wal-Mart. (Separately: was AT&T's iPad breach enabled by layoffs?)

BP hires financial advisers and details oil capture plans ahead of CEO Tony Hayward's meeting with President Obama on Wednesday.

News Corp. buys Skiff e-reader platform (but not device) from Hearst, and takes a stake in Steve Brill's Journalism Online startup.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg dissed his pre-release iPhone 4 (via Facebook's iPhone app).Continue reading...

Apple faces FTC probe over mobile ads, while its "secrecy irks Congress," says Politico. Apple also buys Siri, a voice tech startup, to compete with Google Voice.

AT&T sent a letter last night to iPad owners, explaining last week's security breach.

Cablevision is buying smaller U.S. cable operator Bresnan Communications.

Cambio, an MTV-style website, launches tomorrow from AOL and the Jonas Brothers.

Polo Ralph Lauren extends Wimbledon sponsorship.Continue reading...

World Cup marketing means ambush marketing, whereby (adjusts monocle) "one brand pays to become an official sponsor of an event (most often athletic) and another competing brand attempts to cleverly connect itself with the event, without paying the sponsorship fee and, more frustratingly, without breaking any laws."

While many brands have paid good money to be official FIFA 2010 partners and sponsors, many more have not. That, of course, isn't stopping them from releasing campaigns that cleverly connect their brands to the world's most popular event.

Brandchannel took a look at ten ambush marketing campaigns and graded them (from 1-10) based on overall brand positioning and "World Cup-ocity." (Click here for our scorecard of official 2010 World Cup sponsors' campaigns.)

Brand: Nationwide
Campaign: Nationwide highlights its sponsorship of England's World Cup team by recruiting some colorful characters from the hit TV series Little Britain to put a little laugh next to the brand. Funny, yes, but where's the brand message?
World Cup-ocity Grade: 7 (Actually mentions "World Cup")
Branding Grade: 2Continue reading...

Hulk Hogan is suing Post Foods over "Hulk Boulder," a lookalike wrestler "humiliated" in a Cocoa Pebbles commercial.

AT&T could see 40% of U.S. iPhone subs decamp to Verizon; offers free Wi-Fi in NYC's Times Square.

P&G's emerging market opportunity downplayed by Citi analyst.

Disney calls off Miramax buyback talks with Weinstein Bros.

Gilllette Fusion rolls out Ultimate Summer Job campaign.

New Jersey loves MTV's Jersey Shore now it's making the state rich.Continue reading...

Buoyed by the success of MTV's Jersey Shore franchise, cable networks are gearing up for the summer shore season, Joisey style. Not only Viacom's MTV, but its reality-touting competitors at Oxygen, Style and Bravo all have their fists in the air pumping to promote their Garden State shows during the TV upfront events now taking place in New York.

At its upfront event yesterday at at a midtown Manhattan hotel, MTV touted its new shows by wooing media buyers and brand advertisers with a raucous party themed around the looming return of its now-iconic Jersey Shore, which is currently taping its next season far from Jersey on a different shore, in Miami.

Partiers filled their plates with meatballs and spaghetti, and washed it down with Ron Ron Juice (vodka and watermelon juice), named after cast member Ronnie Magro. Cast members busted out their signature dance moves and female servers “poofed” their hair in salute to Snooki, aka Nicole Polizzi.Continue reading...