Facebook’s “Like” button is becoming much more than a thumbs-up seal of approval. Urban Outfitters is now integrating “Liking” into a social shopping experience to boost its already massive online following and growing online sales, which could also prove to be the next method of community crowdsourcing.

Here’s a story to get you up in the morning. Playboy has launched a “Miss Social” contest that gives Facebook fans the power to undress the next picture-perfect girl for an upcoming issue. Seeing naked girls? What’s not to “Like”? Right? Well, no so fast. Judging by the underwhelming early response, we’ve seen more panting over a Frappuccino.

We wonder if this has happened before – a nation has made a woman pregnant. Jane, the divorced mom in BT’s long-running TV ad campaign in the UK has been the subject of an online vote, and 72% of some 1.6 million voters want her, ahem, “expecting.” And how did Adam, her fiancé, get the news today?

With hundreds of new iPhone applications appearing every day, and with a cut-throat economy of third-party developers all competing for the top spot, how are these apps builders to stay ahead of the pack? The answer may just lie in crowdsourcing.

The verdict is still out on sponsoring the trending Tweet, that form of minimalist advertising Twitter just unleashed on the world. Here, we take a look at which companies, brands and products would be wise to splash out cash on the trending tweets, and which ought to stay well away.

Here’s something to dip into your morning’s cup-o-joe. Dunkin’ Donuts just crowdsourced their way to 12 new doughnut varieties. And the head of research and development? You.

Every day, quick bursts of highly targeted medical information are pumped into the Twitterverse, oblivious to most of us goof-offs blithely in search of the latest iPad reviews and Justin Bieber gossip.

Budgets are tight for conference attendees this year and so event planners have to build plenty of pre-event buzz to get their confab noticed. Jay Baer outlines a fascinating strategy using social media tools to get people talking about your event even before they walk in the door.

I’m typing this post from Rome, a city where most everyone heads to the bar multiple times a day to consume a shot of caffè, leaving the cup behind for the barista to wash and …

Yes, a tip from a person of authority is to be heeded, and often is. But is there an even more convincing attribute out there? Max Ventilla of Aardvark, speaking at SXSW, points out that …