READWRITEWEB — Everyone has been talking about how this year's SXSW will be the "year of location" as Foursquare and Austin-based Gowalla go head-to-head in a location-based battle royale. Location, however, is not the only emerging technology that will be on display in Austin; American auto maker Chevrolet announced it will be debuting new augmented reality promotions at SXSW this year. Festival attendees can download the Chevy iReveal application on the iPhone which will allow them to participate in a scavenger hunt-like game that blends augmented reality with location-based functions...

MEDIAPOST — Italian fashion brand Diesel is entering the social media space with a series of initiatives designed to build a foundation for the brand online. The new digital initiative includes branded programs with Twitter, FourSquare and Facebook. The company has tapped New York-based Iced Media as its agency of record. In addition to creating a digital extension to Diesel's national "Be Stupid" campaign, which broke earlier this year, the AOR will be responsible for a number of social media aspects for Diesel, including a mix of blogger relations...

USA TODAY — Ford Motor gets a healthy share of praise for its use of social media. But consider what General Motors' Chevrolet has in store at the popular South By Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) tech show in Austin, Texas, this weekend. Chevrolet is partnering with Gowalla on location-based social networking. From their smartphones, Gowalla users can "check in" to let friends and followers know where they are at a given moment...

ADVERTISING AGE — I remember as the brand management director for Lucent Technologies we worked hard to maintain a flexible yet consistent brand identity. The work from Landor won just about every creative branding award there was and the brand management team won the APQC Best-in-Class award. In those days, if a group misused the brand we said they "went rogue." We meant they deviated from the standard. I don't think it is an exaggeration to say that corporate branding has gone rogue and the cause is social media. Here's why...

EMARKETER BLOG — We recently spoke with Jami Lawrence, associate director of mobile marketing at Publicis Modem & Dialog. Here’s a clip from the full interview on eMarketer Total Access, in which Lawrence discusses best practices for developing a mobile application strategy that can strengthen the relationship between brands and target consumers...