At 1 p.m. ET Monday, June 7, American fashion designer Oscar de la Renta will unveil his Resort 2011 collection before a select coterie of fashion critics, buyers, celebrities and other industry professionals on a runway in New York — as well as thousands of fans watching the show live on Livestream and Facebook.

A number of fashion blogs will also be hosting the Livestream, and users can use the platform’s chat features to discuss the collection with other viewers on Facebook and Twitter during the show. A few minutes before the show starts, the designer will address the online audience about the collection and the company’s social media efforts.

The event is part of a broader shift in the attitude of the fashion industry, which has been frequently criticized for its hyper-exclusivity and the slow rate at which it has embraced certain technologies, like sustainable manufacturing and online platforms.

It wasn’t until this February that a small number of fashion houses, including Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabanna, began streaming their runway shows for the first time on their websites and mobile applications, and even then only a few of those shared their videos on Facebook and Livestream as well. Now, fashion enthusiasts can see entire collections at the same time as the buyers and press, and begin sharing their opinions about each look as it comes down the runway.

“The audience of [our] shows has evolved over the last 50 years,” explained Alex Bolen, the CEO of Oscar de la Renta. “Previously it was the buyers who were sitting in the first and foremost seats and while they are an extremely important constituency for our show, there’s a broader constituency we want to know about our brand.”

Oscar de la Renta has ramped up its social media efforts as of late, leveraging Facebook to share behind-the-scenes footage with its more than 30,000 fans and to drive sales at its online store. The brand is also very engaged with followers on Twitter via the whimsical and personable @OscarPRGirl.

“We’re a family-owned, relatively small business competing against big players,” Bolen said. “We have to constantly be looking for ways to get an edge, to punch above our weight. It’s my belief that some people are moving slowly in the e-commerce space. We embrace the fact that things are rapidly changing, understand the fact that we’ll have some missteps, but we want to be in the game and figure out which direction things are moving.”

Although Oscar de la Renta has been relatively quick to appropriate social media resources, there are several reasons why the industry as a whole has been hesitant to do so. For one thing, the fashion industry has always thrived on the aura of exclusivity it creates around the unveiling of its collections; invitations for major fashion shows are generally reserved for celebrities and the industry elite.

Now, thanks to the livestream, anyone with an Internet connection can watch the runway show live. As Natalie Massenet, founder and chairman of Net-a-porter.com explained, “Buyers and the press have been privileged and blessed to be in this little club, but now the consumer is in the room with us, and everything has changed.”

Timing is a larger issue. Collections are generally unveiled six months before they are purchased and worn by consumers; fall clothes are shown in February, just before spring weather arrives, and spring previews occur in September, just as consumers are stocking up on chunky knits and leggings for the cooler months. The clothes that Oscar de la Renta shows today will not appear in stores until the holiday season.

“What’s the point of showing these clothes so early on… when you’re promoting a product that’s not even available to buy?” Lazaro Hernandez, the co-founder of fashion label Proenza Schouler, asked in an interview with Portfolio.

Bolen acknowledged the general fear that the event will be “overexposed and the clothes will be tired in six months.” The only solution, he said, was to get the clothes into stores more quickly, although production, especially work by hand, takes a certain amount of time. “But there’s no stopping it,” he said. “The information is going to be out there. It’s not as if we’re going to be able to prevent people from looking at our clothes…We [just need] to get quicker.”

What do you think of Oscar de la Renta’s decision to stream the show live online? Should the fashion industry continue to embrace social media, or is there a risk that certain brands may lose their luster? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Tags: facebook, fashion, livestream, oscar de la renta, social media

Disney has created a new Facebook app that will let users buy tickets to see Toy Story 3 right on the site, while also inviting their friends along. The application is called Disney Tickets Together and is a brilliant example of social media synergy.

The app, which works in partnership with ticket-buying websites like Fandango.com, lets users pre-order tickets for the show and then invite others to join them. Users can also post what showing they are going to on their Facebook news feed.

This is the type of campaign that is a perfect fit for social media. Not only does the ability to buy tickets without leaving Facebook make impulse ticket buys more likely, but the social aspect makes group planning that much easier.

The nice thing about the Facebook app is that you can view what types of theaters are showing the film in your area (meaning 3D, stadium seating, IMAX 3D, etc.) and you can also invite along non-Facebook friends by entering in their e-mail address.

Tickets aren’t available for pre-order at all theaters but many more will be added next week.

As we noted yesterday, movie studios are increasingly using social media — and especially Facebook — in the promotional campaigns for feature films.

Toy Story 3 has already used social media, setting up a college tour using Facebook and uploading faux-vintage toy commercials to YouTube. What is different about this campaign is that it has a direct monetary link. This is a way that the studios can use social media to directly increase and promote ticket sales.

We hope that Disney employs this app for more of its films and that other studios take notice. What do you think about how Disney is using Facebook to sell movie tickets? Let us know!

Tags: facebook, movie tickets, Movies, toy story 3

Is your website experiencing problems with Facebook’s Like buttons? Don’t worry, it’s not just you and Facebook is working on a solution.

The problem that seems to be impacting potentially thousands of sites is that clicking on a Like button results in an error stating “The page [page URL] cannot be reached.” A bug has been filed with Facebook and the developers status page indicates that the company is actively working on a solution.

This bug seems to be occurring at random — everything from small sites to some pages on CNN.com are reporting problems. When users click on a button, a red “error” link appears and a pop-up is then displayed saying the site cannot be reached.

Users and web developers are understandably upset that their Like buttons not working properly. In just a few weeks, Facebook’s Open Graph API has been installed onto hundreds of thousands of websites and is being used increasingly by publishers as a way to measure and increase traffic.

Incidentally, an error that was occurring on a few CNN.com posts was seemingly fixed by changing the button text from “Like” to “Recommend.” That may be purely coincidental, but we did notice that upon making that change, the buttons that previously didn’t function now work. Developers might want to give that a shot and see if the change in preference yields any improved results.

We’ll keep you updated with any new information as it is released.

Tags: facebook, like buttons, Open Graph

Location-based social service Loopt is launching a new mobile rewards game called Loopt Star. Loopt Star will let users check in to different locales to not only compete with friends (a la Foursquare and Gowalla), but to also earn rewards from retailers and organizations. Loopt Star is basically a virtual loyalty card with a built-in social game.

Using the free iPhone app (other platforms are being evaluated, but Loopt Star will be for the iPhone only at first), users can check in at participating organizations and earn rewards, points or discounts, based on a set of factors designated by the establishments. That means that rewards and reward amounts can be altered depending on time of day, day of the week and how frequently the person has checked in in the past.

While other location-based services like Foursquare have offered discounts and loyalty rewards to users based on where they check in and how often, the focus hasn’t been specifically on earning and offering rewards. With Loopt Star, that’s the focus.

What Is Loopt Star

Loopt Star does borrow a lot of its social game elements from Foursquare — there are badges, leaderboards and the ability to become the “Boss” of a location — however, it also differs significantly from the other location-based services already available.

• Loopt Star is based entirely on Facebook Connect. Instead of having to build or import your social graph, Loopt Star simply uses Facebook. We think this is pretty brilliant because it lets users get started immediately. Users can then share their current location in real time with their Facebook friends and alert them about special Loopt Star offers via newsfeed.
• Brands can customize campaigns based on location, the number of visits, how many people are in a group, time of day or day of the week.
• Wi-Fi location technology is used to limit cheating.
• Users can view “Nearby Rewards” in the app and also get updates of rewards for places they have been before or that their friends share with them.

Loopt has already signed more than 20 sponsors and will launch with several large companies including The Gap, Universal Records, Burger King, Starbucks and Stanford University. New brands will be rolled out each week in the application.

What rewards users get depends on the brand. For instance, if you visit The Gap twice, you’ll earn a 25% discount. Meanwhile, Burger King customers in New York City who want to “have it [their] way” three times will get a free coffee or soda alongside a qualifying sandwich.

Universal Music will be giving away MP3s to users who check in at certain bars and Starbucks will offer special badges and discounts for the most frequent customers, much like it does with Foursquare and Brightkite.

Simplicity = Smart

What we like best about Loopt Star is that it’s extremely simple. The app plugs into your Facebook social graph and then makes it easy to share location info and check in to places to earn points and rewards.

In a recent editorial post about why location hasn’t gone mainstream, Leah Betancourt argued that its value to advertisers was questionable. Loopt Star isn’t designed to be its own social network; Facebook and Twitter and other services can do that better. Instead, it can be a location guide and a virtual loyalty card. The coupons and the simplicity offer the user value, while the ability to set parameters around offers and to better target existing users offers businesses and advertisers value.

When I spoke with Loopt CEO and Founder Sam Altman about the new product, he stressed that even if Facebook does get into location on its own terms, that doesn’t cannibalize what Loopt Star is doing. On the contrary, it makes the overall service even more valuable as Facebook better integrates with location. If everything is coming in from the same stream and everything is based on the same social graph, Loopt Star can offer its sponsors and users a certain experience while still tying into the core Facebook ecosystem.

We think that’s extremely shrewd. We also think that giving advertisers and business owners more options and granular control over their campaigns will lead to more creative and expansive uses. We’ve been waiting for a location-based service to eschew the pretense of being a social network and instead embrace the advertising opportunities

A Competitive Space

Loopt was at the forefront of the location-based space, but despite having a diverse suite of mobile apps and support for lots of platforms, the service has taken a backseat as social gaming services Gowalla and Foursquare have moved to center stage.

With Loopt Star, Loopt is getting into the social gaming space but with a very clear purpose. From the offset, Loopt Star wants to offer value to users and offer value to advertisers. The value for advertisers is crucial because the companies that will end up leading this space are those that are most able to sell a cost-per-visit strategy to business owners and retailers.

To be sure, Foursquare and Gowalla have crazy momentum right now, with Foursquare reporting nearly 1 million checkins a day. However, this is a space that has yet to truly explode and there are still plenty of opportunities for other companies and services to get a shot at claiming some of this virtual (and physical) space.

By using Facebook as the basis for the Loopt Star social graph, we think that Loopt is on the right track to building a service that users will actively use. Now it will just be up to the company to secure the sponsorships and partnerships to ensure that the rewards are valuable.

What do you think of the idea behind Loopt Star? Let us know!

Tags: facebook, foursquare, geolocation, iphone apps, loopt, loopt star, social gaming

Universal Studios has just released the second trailer for Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World on its Facebook page. The trailer was originally going to premiere in front of the comedy, Get Him to the Greek, but the studio offered to release it online first if the film could get 100,000 Facebook fans.

Social networks like Facebook and Twitter are becoming increasingly integrated into promotional campaigns for feature films. For instance, Disney premiered the first trailer for Alice in Wonderland on Facebook and also used the social network to serve up exclusive character posters.

For the upcoming release of Toy Story 3, Disney/Pixar has gone all out, even creating faux-vintage toy commercials for YouTube.

Universal’s strategy with Scott Pilgrim is unique in that it asked users to become fans of the film before it launched the trailer. The director of the film, Edgar Wright, announced this incentive on his Twitter account.

You can check out the second trailer for the film below:

What do you think about how movie studios are using social networks to promote films and to build buzz? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: facebook, Film, Movies, scott pilgrim vs the world, trailers

Today is a day of reckoning for potentially millions of Facebook users — it’s Quit Facebook Day. The formal Facebook revolt was announced about two weeks ago amidst the growing debate over how Facebook uses and protects its users’ private information.

So far, just over 27,000 users have “committed to quit” Facebook, a figure that is statistically insignificant when compared with Facebook’s more than 400 million users. In response to the growing outcry over privacy concerns, Facebook made extensive updates to user privacy controls last week. But is this enough for the Howard Beales of the world?

When we last asked Mashable readers about their reasons for planning to quit Facebook, there was almost an equal split between users who claimed that they didn’t trust Facebook with their personal information and with users who said they had no intention of leaving the social network.

Now that the new Facebook privacy controls have been announced (and are slowly being rolled out), we figured we would ask again. Will you participate in Quit Facebook Day?

Let us know by voting in our poll and then expand on your answer in the comments.

[img credit: Network]

Tags: facebook, quit facebook, quit facebook day

Facebook and game creator Zynga, recently valued at $4 billion, have signed a five-year “strategic partnership” to maintain the symbiotic relationship between the social network and games like FarmVille, Mafia Wars and Treasure Island.

Facebook Credits, Facebook’s virtual currency system, will be an important part of the partnership between the two companies and its use will be expanded within Zynga games in the future. The announcement issued by the two companies doesn’t say exactly how, though.

Further incorporation of Facebook Credits solidifies Zynga’s commitment to the Facebook Platform because players wouldn’t likely be able to transfer those credits should Zynga go off on its own.

In the days preceding this announcement, some bloggers speculated that Zynga’s departure from Facebook was a sincere possibility. The concern was that Facebook’s decision to deploy Facebook Credits (from which it takes a 30% cut of all revenues) and remove or lessen the number of notifications in users’ newsfeeds from games could inspire Zynga to seek an alternative platform.

GamesBeat noted that Zynga started using in-game features to fetch players’ e-mail addresses — a potential sign that the company was making sure it would be able to stay in touch with its customers outside of Facebook should the relationship go south. And let’s not forget that Zynga revealed plans to launch FarmVille for iPhone and other mobile devices.

Maybe bloggers were reading too much into the situation, or maybe Zynga was doing all of that to secure a better bargaining position with Facebook. Either way, everything seems fine and dandy for the virtual farming and mafia warring communities on Facebook for now.

Tags: café world, facebook, facebook credits, facebook platform, farmville, games, Mafia Wars, microtransactions, online games, social gaming, social networking, treasure island, Zynga

The a newly revealed patent hints at some of Apple’s plans for better iPhone-Facebook integration at the device level. We’ve heard rumblings about certain Facebook features being built directly into the iPhone OS and this newly-released patent — first uncovered by Patently Apple — illustrates just how this type of integration might work.

Although it wasn’t approved until April 1, 2010, the patent was actually filed in September 2008. The patent is about creating device-to-device workflows, as its name suggests.

Apple has essentially patented the ability to sync actions between two or more devices. This could be something as simple as adding a to-do to my calendar on my Mac and having it automatically sent to my phone. Or I could create a list on my phone and, based on the parameters, have that list shared with my fiancé on his device.

There are even provisions in the patent for device proximity. For instance, if I have my iPhone and iMac set to synchronize my schedule, when I enter my office with my phone, the Bluetooth connections on both devices will automatically initiate a calendar synchronization. Likewise, I could have my iPhone set to automatically transfer all the new photos from my phone to iPhoto on my Mac using either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

The Facebook element of the patent comes into play with contact syncing. For example, say you meet a colleague or friend out somewhere and realize you haven’t friended her or him on Facebook. When you initiate an “add contact” on your phone, it can first pull in all the vCard information from your friend’s phone, send your info back (if you are exchanging information), offer to take a photo of your friend to add to your address book and then, if you so choose, add your friend to Facebook.

Your friend will then get a notification on her device of the pending friend request and can then approve or ignore it.

Basically, the idea is to take a series of separate actions and allow them to unfold autonomously with one command.

There are some third-party solutions available for the iPhone (like Bump) and for Android and BlackBerry devices that can do similar things, but having a scripting workflow engine built into the device itself is pretty unique.

Would you like the ability to perform tasks like grabbing contact information or sharing lists based on category more easily? Let us know!

Tags: apple, facebook, iphone, patents

Lucky magazine and e-retailer HSN have teamed up to offer Facebook Fans exclusive early access to their Summer Designer Capsule Collection. The full series, which features apparel and accessories by designers Anna Foley, Gerard Yosca, Pour La Victoire, PadeVavra and Thread made especially for the partnership, will be available on HSN.com on May 19 and 20.

At noon EST today, a selection of items from the collection became available early to Facebook Fans of Lucky and HSN via the “Pop-Up Shop” tabs on each one’s Facebook Page. You can browse and select the items you’d like to purchase on the tab, which will automatically fill your shopping cart on HSN. Once you’re done shopping, you can finish the checkout process at HSN’s website.

Lucky will receive a portion of all sales made via HSN’s website. Although the partnership is a bit unusual for a magazine — whose relationships with advertisers are primarily confined to publishing print advertisements — the promotion is very in-line with others Lucky has done with retailers. Lucky recently teamed up with Foursquare to offer reviews and discounts at various retailers to users of the service.

The promotion is part of a larger attitudinal shift in the publishing world. Previously, publishers focused entirely on driving traffic from platforms like Facebook to their sites. Now, publishers are trying to better integrate their content onto Facebook. We learned earlier this week, for instance, that several major magazine publishers plan to make their articles available entirely in users’ newsfeeds in an effort to increase subscription sales.

What do you think of the Facebook promotion and the app’s design? Let us know in the comments.

Tags: e-commerce, facebook, lucky, shopping

Today, Vanity Fair for the iPad appeared in Apple’s App Store. This summer, the title — and many others — may be available directly in your Facebook newsfeed.

Synapse, a subscription marketing agency that works with major magazine publishers like Condé Nast, Hachette Filipacchi and Hearst, is working with with Alvenda, a company that specializes in Facebook shopping applications, to enable publishers to sell subscriptions directly on Facebook Pages and even in users’ newsfeeds beginning in July or August.

AdAge reports that the tools will allow users to share articles with friends that can then be expanded into dynamic pop-ups on their newsfeeds, complete with ads and directions to subscribe to the magazine elsewhere on Facebook.

“Consumers don’t want to leave where they are on the web, wherever they are,” Alix Hart, VP for online marketing at Synapse, told AdAge. “Facebook is a place where we think that over the coming year there are going to be more and more opportunities to present magazine offers in a really relevant way to consumers, as they’re starting to share magazine content in a much deeper way than ever before.”

Notably, Facebook will not be taking a cut of the revenue generated by subscriptions via the app. What’s unclear, however, is how much information Facebook will reveal to the publishers — an issue companies like Condé Nast have had with Apple, who will not reveal the names and addresses of those who purchase iPhone and iPad apps of magazines. It’s also currently unknown how Facebook will be incorporated into the digital newsstand publishers announced last December.

Either way, this is a smart marketing move for magazines, and one I suspect will have much more success monetizing digital magazine content than simply developing versions for the iPad. I’m also interested to see how publishers of other types of media, like traditional books and news, will emulate this model.

Tags: e-commerce, facebook, magazines, shopping, subscriptions