Welcome back to the work week! I hope everyone that was affected by Hurricane Irene is making a speedy recovery. Let’s get started with this week’s round-up.

In an effort to enhance the live experience, Ticketmaster recently integrated Facebook into its interactive seat maps. What does that mean exactly? It means that you can tag your friends and let them know where you’re sitting for an event.  I’m pretty excited about this new feature. It will make coordinating group concert outings with friends 100 times easier!

It would appear that the social network that just won’t quit is making a comeback. MySpace has some pretty big plans for its renewed positioning as a music hub. It’s got its sights set on competing with iTunes, Spotify and Vevo. Best of luck MySpace, I’m rooting for you!

For those of you who didn’t know, Blink182 is also making a comeback after nearly 8 years without a album release. In an effort to re-engage its fans, the band released a unique video for a new single. Blink scoured YouTube for videos that were uploaded using their music without permission, and then they cut it into their very own music video. It’s such a great idea that turns fans into the stars!

Finally, enjoy a laugh this morning, compliments of comedian Nick Kroll. He offers his wisdom on social media etiquette. My favorite is #9, because it’s oh so true, “When you comment on a current event, please make sure it’s accurate, because at this point I get more than half of my news from piecing together the story from people’s Twitter jokes about it.”

Some of the biggest names in blogging and social media are the biggest names because they have been working at it for awhile. Success didn’t happen overnight. The common threads among these top bloggers are structure and discipline. In What the Top 10 Blogs in Content Marketing Are Doing That You Probably Aren’t, we’re told to “Do as I Do and Not as I Say.” Instead of focusing on all the advice these top 10 blogs are giving us, we should focus more on the example they’re setting. For instance, one example this post gives is that “Readers have short attention spans. (The top blogs don’t care.)” These top blogs don’t follow conventional wisdom about keeping blogs short and to the point. The average word count in a top 10 blog post is 1,300 words.

How Many Experts are Required for a Successful Online Marketing Strategy? It’s actually a lot more than you may think. “Marketers seeking maximum results from online marketing require a full team with diverse skill sets.” Some of these skills are:

• Ad and PPC Manager
• Communicator
• Content Manager
• Designer
• Editor
• Programmer
• SEO Specialist
• Social Media Specialist
• And more!

Should you ask for re-tweets? Research shows that if you ask for a re-tweet, you’re much more likely to get one than if you don’t. Dan Zarella and David Meerman Scott recently filmed a conversation about this ongoing debate. Both sides of this debate bring up some great points, but can you really argue with research? Personally, I’m on the fence. I don’t do it. I find it to be, well, kind of lame. But I should probably give it a shot though.

What do you think? I’d love to hear our readers’ opinions on this.

I’d like to start off this week’s round-up with a personal story about my love affair with Dunkin’ Donuts’ customer service and social media.

On Wednesday of last week, I made my usual morning stop at Dunkies (that’s what I call it) for my medium iced Hazelnut coffee. My first sip was awful. I’m a creature of habit and this gross coffee threw off my entire morning routine, thus ruining my entire day. I immediately knew what was wrong with it, though. They used a sugar substitute instead of real sugar. I despise sugar substitutes. I couldn’t even choke it down and pretend it wasn’t disgusting.  Dramatic? Perhaps. But that’s just how I felt. I’m sure it was an honest mistake that the Dunkies employee made, but I was so annoyed. So, I took to Twitter to complain.

Within a few minutes of my tweet I received a DM response from @DunkinDonuts.

I responded. A few hours later, I received a voicemail from their corporate office, providing me with my case number. I was already shocked that they responded to me, I was even more shocked that my tweet turned into a “case.” So, I called back and spoke with a very lovely representative, Lina. I gave Lina all the details she requested. I let her know that I was just complaining and that I didn’t want to get anyone in trouble. She assured me I wasn’t going to get anyone in trouble and they simply wanted my feedback to pass along to the store manager, in an effort to improve store performance and service. Lina then informed me she was going to send me a little something to thank me for my feedback.

I was (and still am) impressed. That’s some damn good customer service. Special shout out to my girl, Lina!

I offer this story to you as an example of how social media, specifically Twitter, can be used as a customer service platform. It can be a serious asset if you understand how to use it appropriately. It allows brands to provide instant support to its customers, it can help build a more positive image and it offers a more personal interaction for your customers. Best of all, it’s free!

There are a few brands out there that use Twitter as a customer service platform. JetBlue and Starbucks are the first that come to my mind, after Dunkin’ Donuts of course.

Now, let’s hear it for the girls! More specifically: The 25 Women Who Rock Social Media in 2011.

In similar news, this post from Verndale offers up some facts, tips and strategies for creating a more personal customer interaction with your brand, like harnessing the power of tools such as Twitter.

It’s not as simple and just creating a Twitter account and posting some tweets. It’s important to have a strategy. This post from Blue Kite Marketing asks readers, “Do you have a strategy or are you simply ‘doing’ social media?” The point I take away from this post is that you need to have a very clear picture of what you want to get out of social media before you can dive into the nitty-gritty of tactics.

Lastly, I would like to congratulate the Boston Bruins on their Stanley Cup victory. On Thursday, the ideaLaunch team had the pleasure of watching some of the Bruins players walk the Stanley Cup through the neighborhood on their way to Tia’s on the Waterfront. The entire office was giddy with excitement. Here’s a very amateur video I took to document this awesome occasion.