Facebook Gifts - Facebook made a big announcement recently with the launch of Gifts, providing a platform where users can purchase real physical gifts for their friends through the network. Expect to see them push this heavily when friends have birthdays, since they’re taking a cut off the top of every order processed through the site.

LinkedIn Endorsements - LinkedIn now allows you to give your connections Endorsements, essentially verifying the skills they share on the network. It’s a little like Klout, but with the backing of LinkedIn’s credibility, and should be interesting to watch to see if LinkedIn can use this to increase traffic to the site.

Marissa Mayer is proving to be a social CEO over at Yahoo, using Instagram to help announce that Yahoo is removing the ® from the end of their logo.

Samsung on Facebook - Samsung asked their Facebook fans what phone they would take with them to a deserted island. They received 19,000+ responses! Unfortunately, most of those responses said the iPhone.

Kickstarter Is Not A Store - In response to its growing popularity, Kickstarter made some big changes recently to the way that products can display themselves on the site. Products must be shown in their current state as actual photos, not renderings, and founders must be much more open about potential risks once products get funded and have to figure out how to actually make it to market.

Gangnam Style vs Call Me Maybe - Gangnam Style is a huge hit on YouTube lately, giving Call Me Maybe a run for its money as the most viral song on the social network. What’s interesting is that the growth of the two videos is drastically different, with Call Me Maybe growing slowly over time, while Gangnam Style saw the exponential growth spike typically associated with a viral sensation.

Pittsburge Hostage Drama Plays Out On Facebook - A young man decides to take a hostage in Pittsburgh. The police respond. So far, it’s a typical hostage situation. What makes this one unusual though is that while the drama was unfolding, the suspect was updating his Facebook profile in real time. Even the criminals have discovered the power of social media.

Ad Tracking Blocker Comes To iOS 6 - Apple’s new iOS 6 operating system includes a small preference with big implications: Users will be able to prevent ad tracking with a single switch. Since ad networks are forced to use a device’s Advertising Identifier Number to track and serve targeted ads, this could signal a shift in the way that networks serve ads to mobile users.

@msjconnolly @lostremote @realtracymorgan Ended up getting over 60k after 3minutes. 25k was the immediate hit!

— Twitter TV (@twittertv) September 24, 2012

Jimmy Kimmel and Tracy Morgan decided to ‘prank’ the Emmys by asking the audience to Tweet that Tracy Morgan had passed out onstage. In response, 25k people sent a Tweet immediately, with 60k total Tweets sent within just 3 minutes. That’s one effective CTA!

Got fucked by the refs.. Embarrassing. Thanks nfl

— TJ Lang (@TJLang70) September 25, 2012

NFL Week 3: #OnlyOnTwitter Edition - It’s hard to argue that the NFL replacement refs were without fault, but when they managed to reverse the outcome of a Monday Night Football game, people were understandably upset. Perhaps no one more so than TJ Lang of the Green Bay Packers, whose F-bomb filled Tweets were retreated more than 150,000 times!

Kellogg’s Tweet Shop Lets You Pay For Food With Social Currency - Kellogs created a pop-up store in London where visitors could pay for a free box of cereal by Tweeting to a special hashtag. It’s a simple idea, but one that’s sure to generate quite a bit of buzz from folks in the area.

Reddit User Attempts to Shame Sikh Woman, Get Righteously Schooled - Reddit just continues to impress, as one racist user was rightfully set straight by a response from the person he thought he was going to make fun of.

The Business Cards of the Future – NFC - Moo Cards is testing the waters of NFC by including an NFC enabled business card in the next 150,000 sets that they ship out. Apple might not be supporting NFC just yet, but that doesn’t mean it’s time to call the technology dead.

The CW Embeds a Live Twitter Feed Inside Its ‘EW’ Print Ad - Print meets digital with this ad from the CW, which has embedded a tiny LCD in its print ad int he latest issue of EW, which will display the latest Tweets about their upcoming lineup.