It goes by a few different names: “branded content,” “branded publishing,” and, more recently, “social media branded content.” What is it? It’s company-produced content – not just blog posts and Twitter updates, but long-form narratives, games, video and crowdsourced initiatives, to name a few – that pulls in the public. New studies say it could be the biggest marketing and corporate communications trend of 2011.

If you thought Fifa, football’s governing body, may incorporate a social will-of-the-people twist to its secretive nomination process in announcing the host countries for its 2018 World Cup choice… think again.

We’ve entered the month of the great holiday season, and more apps are coming out for your social shopping convenience. We review the best (and the worst) so you can make the most of your Christmas ham.

The online sales tallies coming in look better and better, even while sales remain flat at actual stores. The latest indication that e-Christmas sales will come in above forecast comes courtesy of robust Cyber Monday sales figures.

Nearly two months after its debut, Twitter’s “Promoted Account” marketing scheme has provided companies with newer ways of upping their follower numbers. But is investing in a place on the “Suggestions for you” listing worth it? We look at three brands who’ve taken the early plunge. If time has taught us anything about this new program it’s that money can’t buy you followers.

And they look pretty impressive, particularly with so many doubts lingering over the overall Christmas 2010 sales outlook. Maybe the trick is major retailers’ heavy reliance on social media marketing, which we weren’t all that impressed with in the run-up to the last Friday.

Thanksgiving may be over, but the real fuss is just beginning. It looks like Christmas 2010 will go down as the first truly social media Christmas. How are big-name retailers using social media to beat out competitors today, Black Friday? We take a peek and give out the grades.

A recent study sponsored by the Social Media Success Summit suggested that 88% of businesses were using social media networks for marketing with the most commonly used platforms being Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.

It’s never too early to roll out Christmas retail figures, and comScore is not disappointing with its first update of the season arriving three days before Black Friday. The latest comScore audit shows an impressive 13% year-on-year increase in online sales for the first three weeks of November… You mean you haven’t started your shopping yet?

Don’t mess with It Girls. We’re talking of course about the massively popular Facebook game that now counts close to 5.5 million style-savvy gamers. The aim of It Girl is to build a confidence-boosting virtual wardrobe that leads inevitably to a state of unquestioned “Hotness.” This holiday season, via a novel real-meets-virtual alliance, It Girl gamers can add Old Navy duds to their wardrobe.