We’re back with our weekly recap of the interesting and inspiring, with a particular eye for what shifts and ideas brands should be tracking, evaluating and acting on. This is a collection of some standout business strategy, brand-building and digital media stories catching our attention.

Discussions Shaping Strategy, Creativity & Innovation 

• Make Things People Want or Make People Want Things (hint: aim for the first)
• I’m An Article About the Internet That You Repost On the Internet (the value of questioning what and why we do it)
• Making Choices In the Age of Information Overload (on the importance of signals)
• How to Spot the Future
• The Participation Choice (on why the 1/9/90 model is outdated)
• How to Create a Million Dollar Business This Weekend
• How the Facebook IPO Impacts Social Business Space
• Why Top Innovators Make Time to Waste Time
• Why Some Startups Must Pivot to Succeed

Notable Ideas: New Products, Platforms and Projects 

• FastCompany: the 100 Most Creative People in Business
• Kismet.Io (discover your next job at a startup)
• Made In NY Digital Map (startups)
• How Three Simple Buttons Raised Tipping by $144 Million in NYC Cabs (on the value of strong UI)
• Google: Introducing the Knowledge Graph (improved search)
• Could This Dutch Idea Solve America’s Retail (Consumption) Problem?
• Parking Douche Case Study
• Ten Jobs That Didn’t Exist Ten Years Ago
• The Networked Urban Environment

Brands, Companies and Entities of Note (some more obvious than others)

• Ford Thinks It Has Better Idea About How to Handle Facebook (vs. GM)
• With Redesign, Social Shopping Becomes Fab.com‘s Main Focus 
• American Express Leverages Spending History, Location for Mobile Deals You Care About (the Spend Graph)
• James Murphy X Levi’s
• An Insider’s View on Instagram‘s True Value to Facebook
• Google: the Story of Send
• Peugot Pinterest Car Showcase

Digital & Social Media News and Resources

• Web Design Manifesto 2012
• Today’s Technologies Need An Off-the Hook Option
• Audiences Now Rarely Drawn to Live Television
• Browsers and Apps in 2012
• Facebook‘s Direction May Be Foretold By Its Shopping List
• Despite Huge Facebook User Pool, Millions Still Say ‘No Thanks’
• New Google+ Study Reveals Minimal Social Activity, Week User Engagement
• Twitter Implements Do Not Track Privacy Option
• Moving Customers From Pinning to Purchase
• Pinterest Just Raised at a $1.5 Billion Valuation
• With Smartphone-Assisted Shopping, How You Shop Depends on Where You Shop