Your coffee table isn’t graced by TV Guide, but there’s surely a copy of Vogue or Marie Claire there. You don’t have a signed baseball under glass, but you’ve got at least one pair of shoes you lovingly store in an embroidered drawstring bag. You know Jimmy Choo is not a restaurant, and you tune in to awards shows for every second of red carpet and very little of the actual awards.

YOUR passion is fashion.

You dream about seeing just one live runway show and hitting New York during fashion week, drooling over the latest Dolce & Gabanna.

Well dream no more my little fashionista, for social media is now in style, giving you a front row seat to live runway and a place among the privileged.

Take, for example, Oscar de la Renta’s live unveiling today of his 2011 Resort collection a la his Facebook page and Livestream.

(I had a few ooooh’s and ahhhh’s myself, captured by a navy print number that whispered my name).

Even as social media is opening a door to what for most was previously off-limits, it has also opened a channel for immediate public reaction. Here’s a smattering of Twitter excerpts posted during the live show (using the hashtag #odlrlive, proposed by Oscar’s tweeter @OscarPRGirl) – most were positive, like these:

• Really like the military green suit with the bustier ... classic with an edge
• it's almost better than sitting there because I'm getting close up views of the fab roll clutches!
• Beautiful collection - loving the bold red & pretty florals
• ruffles definitely aren't dead yet! Oscar's got 'em all over the place! (I confess this is one of mine, under @shaunamanda)
  

A couple weren't as nice:

• Not more kitten heels
• I am way too distracted by that ridiculous contest running down the bottom. shop today? for 2011? ppl get a grip!  (author note: a snipe ran throughout the broadcast, promoting an online contest for those placing website orders - a little cross-channel social media promotion)

Key benefits of social media for brands are the opportunities to share, engage, interact and listen to their consumers and loyal fans. As consumers continue to be more vocal, it will be interesting to see to what extent fashion houses and designers invite them in. And while the fashion industry may share, will they also listen?

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)

Thanks to the new ownership of our local Ukrop’s grocery stores, central Virginia Girl Scout Cookie addicts may have to look a little harder to get a cookie fix. You’ve probably heard by now the chain’s new owner, Martin's Food Markets, has a policy preventing sidewalk vending at its stores (full story at http://bit.ly/bPWVeN).

But thanks to a national Girl Scout social/online media campaign, you can still find a source to feed your need (hint: check out http://www.girlscoutcookies.org/ and plug in your zip code to find your nearest Girl Scout Council).

The campaign includes a YouTube video (http://bit.ly/brGElx) and microsite. The online video feels a bit more like a TV spot, or a multi-purposed TV spot, but it does clearly convey the idea cookies do more than just taste good. Apparently “every cookie has a mission.” And no, it’s not to satisfy that sweet tooth, though let’s agree right now that is an inherent cookie trait. It’s actually “to help girls do great things.”

At this writing, the video has just over 15,500 views. But I wonder what would happen if they targeted the promotion to Ukrop’s markets and called it something like “find Girl Scout cookies now!”

You have to admit the use of social media for cookie sales promotion is a no-brainer, though I’d have personally liked to see something with a little more humor to kick up those views. And I’d have put some dedicated Twitter and Facebook cookie-presence in the mix (all I can find are general Scout accounts). I hope they’ve plastered the microsite address all over the place – even on cookie boxes. They may have – I just haven’t snagged my own thin mints yet to find out…. Let’s see, enter zip code…..

(Shaun Amanda Herrmann)