Every now and then the hard working social media experts at Fanscape need to take a little break. We were very excited when we were taken, via party bus, to Dodger Stadium with our friends at The Marketing Arm, Davie Brown and USMP to watch the Dodgers win 1-0 in a 14-inning game.

Lisa, Vanessa and Liza

Check out all the pictures HERE

What I won’t be doing is following anything social media, anything online or even checking my Blackberry for that matter – from early evening, until I have watched Jack & Chloe’s final scene. This holds true for the Olympics, awards shows and any other TV program that I am obsessed with that doesn’t air live or that I TiVo to watch after I get home.

Sorry social media and my Backberry, I love you, I really really do, but I learned way early on that people love to talk, text, chat and tweet the millisecond something happens – be it on TV or in real life. And I have been mad at myself for checking too many times to know that I should know better.

So with all of the chatter out there, I will be on a personal social media and Blackberry hiatus while we say goodbye to the TV version of Jack Bower.

Damn it Chloe!

New York Times Editors Choice –Free

A great way to check out the best of the best from the New York Times.

Tweetdeck –Free

This popular Twitter management system is ready and available for the iPad

STREAMING:

ABC Player - Free

Watch some of your favorite ABC shows for free using this app Streams Lost, Grey’s Anatomy, and my personal favorite Modern Family.

Netflix – Free (with unlimited membership)

If you’re a Netflix subscriber this is just one more way to stream television and movies.

GAMES:

Scrabble - $9.99

What makes this unique is its ability to pair with up to four iPhones which have downloaded the free tile rack app and “Flick tiles from your device onto the board”

N.O.V.A. – $6.99

A first person shooter you Halo fans will love.

Special iPad optimized controls:

• Curve your grenade’s trajectory with the new 2-finger-based throwing move

• Perform multiple surgical kills at once with multi-target acquisition

• More intuitive than ever, thanks to numerous multi-touch controls on-screen

More apps are on the way. I’ll keep you posted on the ones I’m all about.

About Ryan Garcia

Ryan Garcia brings his flair for marketing and promotional creation and execution to Fanscape in his position as Manager, Digital Communications. His unique marketing perspective helps him deliver strategic campaign execution that includes digital media relations, social media marketing, blogger and influencer relations as well as digital promotions.

Prior to joining Fanscape Garcia hels posts at Columbia Records, Flux.com and Tagworld.com.

Not that I look forward to taxes mind you, but I always look forward to companies that offer us some good old-fashioned discounts and freebies on this official final day to pay-the-man. What follows is a quick list of companies providing special offers. If you have any that aren’t on this list, please share.

• Cinnabon Cupcake Bites — Get 2 FREE Cinnabon Cupcake Bites at participating Cinnabon locations between 6-8pm!

• Starbucks Brewed Coffee — Take a reusable coffee mug into Starbucks to snag a FREE brewed coffee!

• MaggieMoo’s Ice Cream Pizza — Get a FREE slice of MaggieMoo’s new ice cream pizza from 3-7pm. (Thanks, Saving U Cents!)

• Taco Del Mar Taco — Get a FREE taco from Taco Del Mar when you show them your “taco 1099″!

• Smokey Bones Appetizer — Score a FREE appetizer at Smokey Bones with coupon!

• McCormick & Schmick’s Tax Relief Certificate — Every bar guest at McCormick & Schmick’s will receive a $10.40 tax relief certificate good on their next meal!

• PF Chang’s Discount — Save 15% on your meal at PF Chang’s, no coupon necessary!

• HydroMassage Massage — Relax with a FREE massage at participating HydroMassage locations 4/15-18!

• Office Depot Copies — Make copies of your tax returns for FREE at Office Max, up to 25 single-sided pages!

• Mr. Jim’s Pizza — Become a fan of Mr. Jim’s Pizza and snag a coupon for a FREE small, one-topping pizza!

• Boston Market Meal — Get a B1G1 individual plate meal at Boston Market 4/15-18!

• Whole Foods (in the South only) — Tax-free groceries. 18 locations across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee — are rewarding customers with a tax-free shopping day.

April Fool’s Day is like Christmas on the Internet. You wake up early and excited; ready to unwrap presents in the form of numerous pranks on websites.

The best present is always Google. You can always count on them to apply great minds to give you an in depth April Fools stunt that makes you ask, “is this real?” Today was no letdown. Google was officially renamed Topeka in response to Topeka’s recently renaming of their town, Google.

Next up is Funny or Die who today renamed themselves Bieber or Die after the kid sensation that has the number one album in the country this week, Justin Bieber.  Very well done.  I recommend you watch some of the videos, they are very funny.  Of course, make sure you ask your kids who Justin Bieber is first or else it will be completely lost on you.

Click HERE to read the rest of Larry’s post.

Pick Your Bracket

Everyone has their thoughts on who will win.  President Obama picked last year’s winner and this year he is going with the Kansas Jayhawks to win it all. While choosing the tournament winner requires some knowledge of college basketball, the beauty of the 64-team tournament is that there are so many unknown teams and shocking upsets.  Therefore, picking each game is a crapshoot.  Of course, there are experts who think they know the upset specials and Cinderella teams.  CBSSports.com has some upset predictions and Final Four picks, and CollegeHoops.net has plenty of news and analysis to help you out.  It’s worth doing a bit of research before filling out your own bracket.

Create a Pool

All of the major sports sites offer online brackets that you can fill in with your picks.  If you want to set up a pool for your friends or co-workers, I recommend using Yahoo! Sports or CBSSports.com.  Both make it very easy to set up free pools and offer all kinds of tools to help with filling out your bracket and tracking your march to dominance.  In addition, Yahoo! Sports is again hosting their yearly Tourney Pick’em game, where a perfect bracket will net $1 million.

Follow Online

Now that your bracket is all set, you need to watch the games to see if you made the right picks!  CBS and the NCAA have once again teamed up to offer free online streaming of all of the first round games.  Choose between Adobe Flash or Microsoft Silverlight (for higher quality) and enjoy this year’s new features, such as picture-in-picture highlights of other games that you can see without leaving your current game and the ability to pull tourney stats in real-time.

Follow on Your Phone

Last year CBS Sports Mobile debuted the NCAA March Madness On Demand iPhone app that streamed all 63 tournament games live.  This app is back this year, broadcasting every game except the opening round play-in game live via Wi-Fi and AT&T’s 3G network.  The app carries a higher price tag this year ($9.99 vs. last year’s $4.99 price) but will offer added benefits such as scores and alerts, including notifications for when a game is close or headed to overtime, or when there’s an upset in the making. You can also try out PocketBracket, an iPhone and Android app that allows you to create and track brackets, organize pools and follow the progress of the tourney, all for the cost of $1.99.  You can set up pools among friends, or compete with others on the PocketBracket network.

Relive Tourney Memories

As you patiently wait for the tournament to kick off on March 18^th, you can browse the past ten years of March Madness glory on the NCAA Vault.  Check out full games and highlights, and share with your friends via the Twitter and Facebook integration.  Make sure to share the clip of Adam Morrison’s emotional meltdown as UCLA came back to beat Gonzaga in the 2006 Regional Semifinals.  It never gets old.

Good luck and enjoy the tourney!

I am willing to bet the most common resolution is to either lose weight or get in better shape. Sure you could do a Google search to find a good diet, but is that really connecting you to the right people or places? What about looking to your Facebook friends or starting (or join) a group to keep the motivation of the resolution going? A mobile phone app maybe? Not any one particular destination is the solution for everyone, it’s really about finding what’s right for you. But, social media can definitely lend a helping hand.

Looking for more quality time with the family or friends? Be it looking for Girls/Guys weekend get away to finding what to cook for dinner with little-to-no time? Social Media to the rescue. A recent article in the Chicago Tribune went into some detail on how social media shifts the way we travel and Mashable reported back in July 15 of the top social media sites for foodies, which includes everything from where to find local farm fresh fare to user submitted recipes.  You can even visit a directory site like The Mom Blogs or Blog Catalog to find the right blog for you and your family.

Trying to save some money? Yeah, social media’s got that too.

Not quite sure what you want to resolve? Take a look at what other people’s resolutions are at 43 things. It’s a great place to set up goals or wishes year-round and to connect with people who have similar aspirations. Once you meet the criteria you’ve set forth in your resolution, you can also provide tips and tricks on how to achieve it to help make it easier for others to complete their efforts.

There are plenty of other resolutions out there that I haven’t touched upon. Suffice it to say that there’s likely a way social media can help you out.  If your resolution happens to be figuring your way into  social media, jump into the pool already, the water is warm and we’re waiting for you.

From a shoppers standpoint, retailers took the Twitter plunge this year and really stepped up their game. Nordstrom has done a good job with updating their audience as has outdoor shopping center, The Grove in Los Angeles.  Although the promotion is now closed, Sephora’s Sephora Claus campaign granted a beauty product a day wish to 30 deserving customers and even added a $1 charitable donation from every purchase in the last few days of the promotion.

Customer service is playing a big role on Twitter as well. In a previous Digitally Approved post (Customer Service in the Twitterverse), the efficiency of the @BoseService team was discussed in connection to resolving a consumer issue that wasn’t even posted on their specific page nor did it have a # tag.  Nice looking out for your customers Bose!

Massive shoe retailer Zappos.com is looking out for their customer base on Twitter by offering support and positive service, big box retailer Best Buy’s Twelpforce quickly trouble shooting and responding to product questions, and restaurant chain, California Pizza Kitchen, recently sending a follower a $30 gift certificate because of a bad dining experience. In an era of questionable customer service, big thumbs up to our Tweeting retailers for really good customer service.

As a company or a brand, want a way to track and gauge the relevance of your tweets? Give Tweeiator a go. This application is easily loaded to your site and, in real time, you can see where your tweets are going and how they are received.

Couldn’t leave our Tweet round up with out mentioning some of the best in celeb and athlete musings. Sitting at lunch today a few Fanscapers were talking about TV of all things and the Christmas episode of Always Sunny in Philadelphia came up and then turned to Danny DeVito’s Troll Foot diaries on Twitter. Will admit, didn’t really know about this, but hell if this ain’t some funny stuff. He takes pictures of his Troll Foot in various places and at various events then posts them to his Twitter.

For some time now I have been raving about the one and only @OGOchoCinco.  He can be very profound like he has been the past few days in connection to the death of his friend and teammate, Chris Henry, but he can also be ridiculously funny (and sure a little self-serving) as well.

You could be one of Ashton Kutcher’s more than FOUR MILLION followers, keep up with the Queen of all Media, Oprah and learn about the Carl’s Jr. menu from  Kim Kardashian, but you’re not going to get the non sequiturs like you could by following Rainn Wilson (of The Office fame). He can easily go from apologizing for being a downer and sharing his experienc in Hati to this:    

Like stated from the onset, 2009 was pretty darn Tweet-tastic. Way too many amazing people, brands and retailers to list, but hopefully this little Best of gave you a few more places to check out or think about.

Talk about functional: downforeveryoneorjustme is one of the most minimalistic sites you’ll ever come across, but one of the most useful. Having a problem accessing a particular Website? Just type the name of the site in the box provided and click the ‘or just me’ hyper link and in a nanosecond you’ll know whether or not it’s just you that is experiencing problems. No need to IM your co-workers or friends, this site works just fine.

Want to keep up on what people are chatting about in one fancy little destination? Check out Buzz Feed, the kind of stuff you want to send your friends. Sure it was founded in 2006, but this site never fails to deliver and 2009 was a great year for Buzz Feed. Where do you think we found some of the funny sites we’ve already brought your way?

Tumblr has been gaining traction this year, especially with it’s (pardon our French) “fuckyeah” trend. You love something “fuckyeah” it and follow. This lovely micro-blog moniker is really about people loving something enough to let everyone know. As a co-worker once told me, Tumblr is like Twitter on steroids. Indeed.

Companies like Coca-Cola and Ikea have been making moves in the social media space this year and have been pretty impressive. Coca-Cola’s Expedition 206 is off and running and the Ikea Facebook campaign has been generating much praise. Then there’s the good old scavenger hunt that has been gaining a whole lot of online attention this year. One in particular that stood out for us here at Fanscape is the Go Forth campaign brought to us by Levi’s.

One of the most creative campaigns we’ve seen this year. We were most impressed with the amazing amount of time that went into creating the back-story, hiding the $100,000 and the dig for the Grayson Ozias IV ( G.O. Forth) treasure.

Rounding out the brief  year in sites is one of the best things ever, Texts From Last Night. Not much explaining to do here, but a piece of advice, be careful what you drunk text because it could wind up right here.

Next up: Tweeters of ‘09

The Dyson Air Multiplier™

A fan with no blades? Rhetorically speaking, how crazy cool is this thing.

Motorola Droid

“With the DROID, the company has perhaps created its most attractive and intriguing piece of technology yet.” so says Joshua Topolsky of engadget. We think so as well.

Not going to be as tech-talkie as engadget or gizmodo, but suffice it to say the coolest thing about this new phone is the updated Google OS and how visually impressive it is.  It’s functionality is pretty powerful too.

Amazon Kindle / Sony Reader

True these two digital reading devices have been around a little longer than 2009, but this was the year they really took off and have become a must-have for the avid reader and the tech-loving consumer.

Amazon introduced the second-gen Kindle and Sony has its three distinct editions – all of which have the e-publishing world booming this year.

Up next: Sites of ‘09