Yesterday we launched the 2012 SMI-Wizness Social Media Sustainability Index. Here is the presentation deck that we shared with attendees of the launch.

CharityBids, creators of the world’s most advanced auction platform specifically for non-profits, has launched an auction app for charities to use exclusively on Facebook.

One year ago, we published the inaugural Social Media Sustainability Index, a trawl through 287 major companies in North America and Europe to identify who was using social media tools and thinking to communicate sustainability. …

In 2012, corporate communicators will continue to grapple with the impact of social media – especially in the realm of crisis communications. How can they tailor and adapt plans to take into account a rapidly changing world that expects them to provide information almost instantly, Neil Chapman writes.

From a crisis communications perspective, Carnival Cruises, parent company of the stricken Costa Concordia Italian cruise ship, is in a precarious position. The company’s safety record is taking a tarring daily in the press and we may not yet have seen the worst: the ship could still sink further into the sea, creating an environmental hazard and adding further shock to the families of the missing. How then does the company respond to this? By offering survivors a 30% discount on future cruises! Cue: the hammering on Twitter.

With the New Year very much in swing, the chances that you’re still hitting the gym every day, or forsaking that chocolate biscuit with your afternoon cuppa, have likely dropped dramatically, despite your best intentions. But don’t beat yourself up about it, because a new Facebook campaign has got your back.

Of course, the value of that depends on the user’s ability to delete it quickly: the traditional Facebook/Spotify collab saw many a timeline marred by embarrassing musical revelations. Listening to Justin Bieber is one thing, but telling the world you’ve bought tickets to one of his shows? To the embarrassment hub!

Security concerns and trust worries are playing a big role in a general apprehension towards Facebook shopping, a new survey by the Ponemon Institute and ThreatMetrix suggests.

In short, this is a neat, well thought-out campaign that utilizes Facebook as a ‘hub’ in its truest sense: real-time figures and numbers instil confidence in the donator; Facebook’s page functions and features give access to a wealth of knowledge in an interactive and engaging way; and the social aspect of liking and sharing helps to spread awareness of the cause.

There’s no end of cool and quirky cover examples that have gone viral, with some sites offering Photoshop templates to allow users to create something truly unique, so it was inevitable that ad agencies would leap on the opportunity to use Facebook in a more creative way in order to have their message heard.