Social Media is more prevalent then ever in not only our everyday lives, but in the way that businesses interact with us. We’ve gathered up five real life examples of ways businesses are utilizing social media to both reach new audiences, whilst engaging their already existing ones.

1.) Emerson Salon

Emerson Salon makes extensive use of social media and the internet in their business model, and creates a very personal connection with people who are interested in coming to their hair salon. Users are able to find out more about the stylists, book appointments online and share it with friends; as well as tweet about products they like on both the website and the company blog. This all ties together for a social experience that is viral in nature and takes away alot of the guesswork that comes with finding the salon that is “right” for you.

2.) Starbucks

Starbucks is a shining example of how to do social media right. From their Free Pastry Day Event that brought in over one million people to stores in one day alone, to their also recently announced nationwide loyalty program partnership with the location based service Foursquare, one would be hard pressed to find a brand that is embracing social media more than Starbucks.

3.) South Africa World Cup

Social media has exploded around the football world. From blogs to live streams to mobile apps, new initiatives are being launched daily to help promote the World Cup, like Foursquare’s partnership with CNN to create two new World Cup Badges and over 100 global viewing parties. Social media has exploded in sports over the past couple years, and it shows no sign of slowing down.

4.) i-D Fashion Magazine

British style fashion magazine i-D launched a Facebook application and contest in an attempt to find new stylists for their magazine by allowing users to assemble outfits from E-Retailer Yoox’s online catalog which users voted on. The 10 with the most votes were sent to the editors at i-D magazine, with the winning style being used as inspiration for a shoot in the magazine’s September issue.

5.) Levi’s Friends Store

Levi’s was one of the first major brands to integrate Facebook’s social plugins into their online shop with the Levi’s Friends Store, turning it into a social shopping experience. Customers are able to share Levi’s products with their friends, view most liked products across their network, as well as like products and put them on their profile. All of these features combine to make buying jeans more fun.

“Blockquote Lorem Ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit, sed diam nonummy nibh euismod tincidunt ut laoreet dolore magna aliquam erat volutpat.”

Test Link

• Unordered List 1
• Unordered List 2
• Unordered List 3

1. Numbered List 1
2. Numbered List 2
3. Numbered List 3

Paragraph Text Hello moto et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Suspendisse sed ligula. Sed volutpat odio non turpis gravida luctus. Praesent elit pede, iaculis facilisis, vehicula mattis, tempus non, arcu.

Header 1

Header 2

Header 3

Header 4

Header 5

Header 6

Normal Strikethrough

Bold Strikethrough

Italic Strikethrough

Bold Italic Strikethrough

Normal Text

Bold Text

Italic Text

Bold Italic Text

Read More

As life becomes more data driven, from Google’s knowledge of what we’re searching for to Facebook’s gathering of data about how we interact with each other, it brings to mind the way data is being used, how it’s changing; and the impact it has on our daily life.

Centralized Data

Facebook recently unveiled the Graph API, which presents a simple view of the Facebook social graph from people, photos and events to friend relationships, shared content, and photo tags all in one place. Twitter has recently entered the fray by billing themselves as being a Public Interest Graph as well. This centralization of data makes it easier for businesses and developers to tap into into people, so it’ll be interesting to see how everything plays out.

Decentralized Access

The web is more mobile than ever, with over 1 billion mobile Internet users predicted worldwide by 2013 (up from 450 million in 2009), people are getting more options when it comes to connecting to services they use. Facebook alone has over a dozen different ways to interface with their site, from Facebook Mobile to a native iPhone App to replying to comments via email or text message. This spiderweb like approach to interacting with services can only grow as time goes by.

Personalization Of Data

Facebook is leading the personalization front with their social plugins that have been popping up all around the net, enabling users to post pages from a site to their Facebook profile with one click. Server side personalization allows for recommendations of content that is relevant to a user’s interest, and on top of all this Facebook’s targeted advertising platform allows businesses to deploy content to specific target audiences based on demographics such as age, location, interest, and much more.

With the centralization of data, mobile access to services anywhere, and personalization of data; the web is becoming more integrated with life than ever before. Which is going to change the fundamentals of how we interact not only with the web, but with life itself.

Or maybe I’m just batshit insane.