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The Swahili people thought of it as a soul-stealing machine, but we just call it a camera, the magical tool that captures life as it happens. Nowadays, everyone has one in some shape or form, and in the digital age we all have a favorite way to share our photos with each other. With such great accessibility to the technology, it seems we are all photographers, by habit, and by no means are we all good at it. We even use filtering apps that make our technically-deficient pictures interesting and “cool”. Photo albums we grew up with are now kitsch and old-timey. Social streams and photo feeds are now the timeline and portals to our memories. But, when it comes to making memories, has technology taken the soul out of photographs?

Mitsubishi and Grey Poupon are at war, and Facebook users are taking sides.  No, liking cars and mustard are not mutually exclusive, but it seems that their respective Facebook apps are.  Mitsubishi recently released the campaign for the 2013 Outlander Sport.  Fans of the carmaker can run the Facebook app to select their most pretentious friend and then watch as that friend’s profile picture gets smashed to smithereens.  The goal?  To promote Mitsubishi as a down-to-earth, affordable car company.

Taking a completely different approach to brand promotion, Grey Poupon has created the , playing perfectly into the mustard’s “Spread good taste” campaign.  Extra points for pretentiousness as fans of the page are audited for their worthiness via an algorithm that takes a range of content into account.  Only Facebook users with “good taste” and a “discerning palate” shall be admitted to this private society.

So which will you choose?  If you’re siding with Mitsubishi you better think twice before checking in at that Zagat-rated rooftop bar.  But, if you’re siding with Grey Poupon, remember, pinkies up!

As autumn approaches, we’re getting ready for the change in leaves and cooler weather…well, except for us in LA where we’re still at 90-degrees on a daily basis. But hey, can’t win them all. As I bear through this heat, we’re excited to bring you our first fall edition of PLAYED. This month, we take a look at how indie games are utilizing social networks in a different way to find great traction and interaction with their fan base; how can brands learn how to create this dialogue and trust in the same manner? We also explore the overlap between game development and user generated content and its impact not only on the games, but on the connections with the communities of players themselves, as well as future revenue streams.

Download PLAYED now!

Startup Sōsh (pronounced like the first part of the word “social”) is planning to take on new cities after a successful Series A round of funding. Thank goodness because their current tagline, “Life’s too short to be bored,” has thus far only applied to San Francisco, leaving the rest of the US, well, bored. This “personal concierge” curates activities, events, and happenings for each user based on his or her specified interests and favorite spots. The team promises that unlike other social recommendation sites, Sōsh delivers worthwhile suggestions weeding out the over-advertised and the under-attended. Curate seems to be the buzzword of the year as more and more startups cash in on our love for all things customized. Remember Ness, the restaurant curator? Well if Ness is your foodie friend, then Sōsh is your super informed, hipster friend. I’m hoping to put the days of unused Living Social vouchers and “weird crowds” behind me—here’s hoping that Sōsh comes to Chicago.

We live in our digital streams. More and more of our lives are spent scrolling through endless feeds of pretty pictures, flashing gifs and smart articles we wish we had time to read.  We’ve got Google Reader accounts packed to the gills, Tumblr dashboards that never seem to quit and Twitter feeds that often move faster than we can comprehend. I am both enamored with the perfectly curated content that bubbles up to the surface of my feeds and crippled by their constant bombardment. I even made a site that tracks nearly everything I consume in an attempt to quantify the ridiculous rate at which we now take in. No matter how much I scroll, read, watch, like and tweet, the “work” is never done. And that’s the biggest issue, why does this feel like work?!