When Mike Burns posts on his Facebook in the morning that he’s wearing plaid, the company stands by his decision.

Fancy taking a step back into a simpler time, where men were men, woman were women, and chocolates didn’t come pre-wrapped? Our latest Facebook game, developed for PlayFirst’s hit Chocolatier series, takes you there and puts you in charge of your own Facebook factory, churning out some of the finest cocoa treats this side of the Mediterranean.

The game includes features such as an expandable and fully customizable shop, dozens of chocolates to make, and  success tied to how many friends you add as neighbors.

Start your own chocolate shop right now–you’ll be conching before you know it.  Play Chocolatier: Sweet Society.

Our designers love designers.  So we built a site for them.  .toolbox is a new community experience for creatives and developers in the digital media space to learn and share as they create rich web experiences.

Microsoft’s Expression Studio is making waves in the creative professional crowd, and Microsoft wanted a hub where these communities could gather to learn more an explore the possibilities of Silverlight development.  If you’re new to the suite of products, this is absolutely the best way to check it out.

The site features free online video tutorials, customizable avatars, and a competitive badge system of achievements, so that designers can track their progress as they learn — watch the video below, and it’ll make a lot more sense.  And don’t be shy to dive in–all the project files and assets for the tutorials are available straight from within the site.  Enjoy!

Is it the Internet’s answer to the Emmy Awards?  I’d like to think so.  While Electric Farm and MTV’s groundbreaking Verizon-branded series is up for its own collection of Streamy Awards, we’re honored to have our interactive component at ValemontU called out as a nominee as well for the “Best Interactive Experience in a Web Series.”  You can follow all the info leading up to the event on their Twitter account: @streamyawards.

Interesting success stories in the social media space are far from difficult to come by.  But every now and then a really unique example of the spontaneity of social channels comes through and manages to surprise even us hardened folks in the industry.

That’s why the re-emergence of a 12-year old letter from Ren & Stimpy creator John Kricfalusi is especially refreshing.  Yesterday, the folks at LettersofNote dug up an encouraging letter from John K to at-the-time aspiring child Amir Avni.  The simple and supportive nature of the letter, along with scans of John’s handwritten letter (which, in the age of computer fonts, brings a touching legitimacy) have been enough to skyrocket John K from his quietly steady blogging into a new stratosphere of social media excellence, with Twitter and blogs like Boing Boing waking up to the story in a big way.

The subsequent buzz at Reddit just sweetens the story, with John K himself hopping on the link-sharing site with a brief “IAmA” and diligently answering fan questions, right down to “what is your favorite sandwich?” (Salami, Bacon, Smoked Meat and onions, by the way)  At the time of this post, the discussion has garnered 1157 comments and 2341 votes up.  Oh, and did I mention Reddit changed their logo to honor the cartooning legend?

Perhaps it’s because in the age when so many social media campaigns are strategized and planned to the hilt, it’s nice to see online communities still continuing to still deliver these natural gems, in this case on a private letter written over a decade ago.