According to Mashable, a few years apart has only increased the fondness. Just in time for Valentine’s Day – and Ken’s 50th birthday – Mattel has kicked off a large marketing campaign designed to reunite the two.

Visitors to Barbie and Ken can cast a vote on whether the two should get back together, and Ken and Barbie are all over Twitter, Foursquare and Facebook inviting you to get in on the action.

Mattel’s gone all out, creating a special web series on Hulu called “The Search for Genuine Ken,” taking out billboards in New York and LA and doing everything they can to get you involved in Ken’s efforts to woo the world’s most famous doll back to his side. The only thing missing is a (G-rated) Nikki Minaj tie-in.

You probably won’t be surprised to learn that the efforts will be successful.

A reader at Mashable shared this photo of a coupled up Barbie and Ken at Target. Whoops.

Unless there’s a second shelf with Ken hanging out with new buddies Don Draper and Roger Sterling – stiff drink, cigarettes and sad apartment accessories included, for the “She Said No” package, it looks like a few stores may not have gotten the memo on timing.

It’s doubtful that it will cause too much damage though – the campaign is pretty cute, and more original than just releasing a heart covered Barbie. Meaning it’s exactly the kind of thing that will stick with people even if they’re in on the happy ending in advance.

Of course that’s not how the tale goes, but mobile ad network AdZookie imagines what the night before Christmas would be like if Santa took advantage of Twitter, Foursquare and a Naughty/Nice iPhone app to make the job easier. Our favorite part? Santa throwing in the towel on certain houses and sending parents a Groupon. We’re not sure if Mark Zuckerberg would be waiting for Christmas gifts, but there aren’t as many Hanukkah stories to work with so we’ll have fun with the fantasy for now.

Good news! You could win one of 10,000 pairs of jeans from the Gap by going on Facebook. The social network announced Wednesday that, with the help of a forthcoming Facebook app that will be similar to Foursquare, thousands of shoppers will receive free jeans for visiting Gap stores. The first 10,000 people to “check in” on a designated day will be the winners. {Fashionista}

Privacy - increasingly difficult to find on Facebook, but look at the positive side: you'll get free jeans or 40% off in exchange!

Shoppers will have to physically be inside a Gap store to “check in,” and those who are not one of the first 10,000 but “check in” anyway will receive a 40 percent discount on a pair of Gap jeans. To put this in perspective, the Gap has just over 3,000 retail locations worldwide, so about three pairs of jeans will be given away at each store. {The Cut}

It looks like the folks at the Gap are trying to wash the logo change fiasco taste out of the publicâ€s mouth, but apparently this is just one of many forthcoming giveaways and promotions Facebook will participate in. The Web site is gearing up to launch a “deals” program, which will be very similar to Foursquareâ€s “deals” program, whereby checking in at certain businesses earns you discounts for that business.

We absolutely love hearing about all the creative ways social media is being used for business purposes, and who doesnâ€t enjoy free stuff? It is a little creepy, though, to think about people “checking in” with Facebook – much like someone would check in with their spouse or boss at various points throughout the day. Then again, it does seem as if creepy has become Facebookâ€s middle name (anyone want to create a petition to change the name to Stalkbook?).

Location based social media has also already shown security risks, with one man reporting last May that his home was burglarized when he updated Twitter while on vacation, thus announcing the vacancy of his house. {azcentral} Facebook has an insecure login process that is not helping security matters, and a new Firefox plugin has made it easy to grab user logins over insecure wi-fi connections. {Valleywag}

In short, if you’re checking into your local Gap (or anywhere else) over a free wi-fi connection, there is a good chance that the busy-looking guy sitting on the nearby bench can see your password. While it might not seem like a big deal that a stranger can access your friends list, or that you’re a fan of cheese, if you use the same password for other accounts – like your email address or online banking - it can easily become a goldmine of information for stores in addition to online criminals and pranksters.

In case you’re still too enticed by the free stuff, weâ€ll be sure to keep you updated when a date is set for the Gap giveaway.

It’s been talked about for quite some time, and now it’s finally happening.  Facebook will allow users to check-in at locations straight from Facebook.  The social network is partnering with the major location-based services–Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp, and Booya (makers of MyTown)–to bring check-ins to the masses.  Well, at least the masses that have smartphones or other touchscreen devices.

The service is called Facebook Places, and will be available via both the iPhone app and touch.facebook.com.  Android, WebOS and BlackBerry users will have to be satisfied with touch.facebook.com for the moment.  It will roll out gradually, but should be reaching all Facebook users soon.  Presumably, it should work either way for those who use the iPhone app, it would be rather senseless to have an option for an app that you can’t use yet.

Places, like the other services, will allow you to check-in to locations with friends, and allow other friends know where you are.  The updates are, by default, only shared with friends.  Users can tag their friends in check-ins, and only their friends.  Only friends will see check-ins, though users can change that setting.  Users also have the option to remove tags from check-ins or to remove a check-in at any time. {Mashable} That will come in handy for the people we know who lock down their accounts at the first sign of an embarrassing photo tag.

Places will let merchants set up specials for users who check-in, just like other networks.  What it doesn’t offer, however, is a gaming element like you’ll find in Foursquare and Gowalla.  So, no badges or mayorships to be had on Facebook.  Those badges and mayorships can be shown on Facebook, however.

Facebook has announced that with the Places app will come the read API for services {TechCrunch}.  The write and search APIs are currently in closed beta, but should be released soon.  Hopefully by that time Foursquare (or a third party developer) will create a Facebook app that will allow users to check-in on one service and have it pushed to the other.  The gaming elements of Foursquare are fun, but with only 2.5 million users it’s not likely that all your friends will be using it.  With 500 million users, it might be hard to find friends who don’t use Facebook.  Combining the two means we’ll have friends who might see what we’re doing, in addition to fun gaming elements of Foursquare.

While there’s been plenty of displeasure with Facebook’s privacy settings, hopefully the friends only feature will help with some of the safety risks of location based social media. Provided you’re not already friends with someone who’d rob you, of course, the integration could help in making sure that you’re only updating a select group of people about where you are.

On June 21, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed rumors that the site would be launching location-based features sometime in the future. Continuing rumors are swirling that Facebook’s location-based features may be a ploy to pull users of sites like Foursquare, Brightkite, and Gowalla back into the Facebook world.{Mashable}

Dubbed “check-in” sites, Foursquare, Brightkite, and Gowalla were all created with the idea of people being able to learn about the resources in their community from other people in the community. Users “check-in” when they arrive at a destination and can offer comments about the location. Users can also browse locations close to them to find a new restaurant, bar, or other attraction.

But all of these location-based network sites may not be the best thing for users. Facebook users have been robbed after posting their plans in status updates. {CNN} Meanwhile, Twitter users have been hit in a similar manner. {Social Reflections} Apparently, disclosing your location in a Tweet or status update is like hanging a banner over your front door that says, “We’re not home. Please take all of our stuff!!” Quite frankly, it seems that stalkers will have an easier time stalking with location updates.

Looking back to the unrest in Iran after their disputed elections, many protesters used Twitter to organize and communicate. Following the protests, which often turned violent, groups of hackers claiming to be an “Iranian cyber army” hacked Twitter, Baidu and a number of other large sites, which could have potentially sensitive data about anti-government activists. With the planned location based updates, spying on users could now be as simple as following or friending them – no advanced technical skills required. While the threat to most Americans may not be in the form of a cyber army or violent militia, it’s only a matter of time before a more serious crime results from location updates.

We’re not ones to wear tin-foil hats, but it’s certainly worth remembering that when it comes to announcing your plans and location, not everyone who follows is a friend.

While each of the three companies have different approaches to mobile, they all agreed that it’s definitely not going away anytime soon.  Crowley agreed the Foursquare is not the winner of location, but simply one of many options.  He disagreed that Google Latitude’s passive check-in model isn’t the way to go as making users check-in makes it more interactive.

When asked about location for Facebook, Cox pointed that that a large amount of Facebook postings are based around location.  Whether that content is status updates or photos, it usually tends to focus around things that are happening in certain locations at a certain time.  Given that, it only makes sense that Facebook would get into location, even if only for geo-tagging.

Guntroda, on the other hand, didn’t agree that geo-tagging as in Google Buzz doesn’t count as checking in to locations.  He highlighted that Google Latitude has 3 million users, and touted the privacy options like the mutual following model and that you can set just what level of location (exact location versus city-level).

In terms of Facebook privacy, Cox pointed out that on Wednesday Facebook will be rolling out new, simple privacy options.  He acknowledged that there has been a privacy issue and that the company wanted to have a solution before saying anything about it.

When asked what the cell phones of the future will be like, nobody was sure.  One thing they could all agree on was that future phones will need much bigger batteries than we have now.  The three panelists also talked about how phones will have to be smarter, will have to be able to determine your location, and who/what is around you and react accordingly.

At left, Brightkite Starbucks badges, at right, a Starbucks Mayor Offer on Foursquare

For those who don’t know Foursquare, it is a social network based around your location.  Using the Foursquare app on your smartphone of choice (native apps available for iPhone, BlackBerry, Android and Palm WebOS phones) you “check-in” to locations, and can see other people who have visited and what they say about it.  By checking in more than anyone else, you become the mayor of a location.

Mayors have typically been given special advantages, being able to cut in line, a free drink or two, and other discounts to name a few.  Now, Starbucks is offering discounts to any mayor of a specific Starbucks.  The deal is $1 and “NEW however-you-want-it Frappuccino blanded beverage.”  The deal is good until June 28.  It may not seem like much, but Starbucks isn’t exactly known for frequent discounts.

If your allegiance is with Starbucks and not a particular network, Foursquare competitor Brightkite was actually first to partner with the coffee mega-chain on Frappucino focused badges, though initially there were no special discounts. {TechCrunch} If one Frappucino isn’t enough, check in with both services though, and in the future you could find yourself with double discounts. Brightkite wouldn’t get into specifics, but hinted that there was more to come beyond the profile decoration. {Brightkite blog}

It seems that Starbucks is really going all in with location/mobile focused social networks.  It will probably be a few months before results of the programs are announced, but it serves as great publicity for both Starbucks and the networks.  As the networks start battling it out to be the mobile check-in app of choice there’s bound to be some overlap, but it will be interesting to see how they differentiate themselves going forward.

Foursquare screenshot via {Mashable}

Google Latitude: a GPS of sorts that allows obsessive lovers/ inseparable friends to not only locate each other, but get precise directions to boot (luckily these relationships have to be mutual). Have it to-go on your phone, or monitor like a switchboard on your home computer.

Foursquare: Heralded as the new Twitter, with a city guide on GPS twist. It allows users to post updates via cellphones every time they “check in” to a restaurant or bar. Frequency of usage is proportionally rewarded with “points”, “badges”, etc. that eventually translate into actual freebies from benefited establishments – motivation and addiction concurrently deepens…

With Twitter officially licensing its tweet streams from all public users (practically everyone) to both Google and Microsoft to bolster their search efforts, you can literally create your own official biography online, as fast as your thumbs can go.

And those are only the mobile/online hybrid services! SenseCam, a new neckline camera developed by Microsoft, aims to document your life automatically every 30 seconds. A pedometer called Fitbit monitors AND wirelessly updates your exercise/sleeping patterns to turn your health achievements (or failures), into a global shared endeavor.

If the real time wave of applications and devices could talk, they’d say “privacy ain’t got nothing on me.”

Read full story {CNN}