4 Friend Requests, 2 event invitations, 4 cause invitations, and…an invitation to the White House? If you’ve ever wanted to be a fan of the White House, you may now do so. True to its plugged-in, connected, and relevant nature, Obama’s White House has its own Facebook app—an up-close real-time look at White House current events right on Facebook.

The app (short for application) launched earlier in June keeps up an ever-steady stream of status updates that can keep pace with any Facebook-happy teen. The updates are typically political in nature—like “Watch, discuss, and engage with Van Jones of CEQ on Green Jobs,” rather than (fictional) “Obama Eats Cheerios for Breakfast.” But, to get a more personal look at the life of the First Family in the White House, the app provides “Photos” which reveal impromptu shots of Obama jogging down the hall with the First Puppy or tipping his chair back on two legs during a meeting.

Keep up with White House happenings by clicking on the “Events” tabs. A generous stream of commentary is available on the “Notes” tab, and the “Video” box always has something interesting to display. The White House Facebook app is a one-stop-shop for all your White House news.

The app has a friendly feel to it. Not a lot of ranting and raving, although there is room for friendly discourse. So far, the White House has well over 260,000 fans, and more are joining daily. The White House fosters a strong sense of community, as members “like this,” (Facebook’s version of a thumbs-up), others comment on a status update, and more fans give feedback on every topic imaginable. For example, 3,813 people have indicated that they like Obama’s pictures. 934 people have made comments on the photos. Friendly banter like “My dog can beat up your dog” (comment posted on a photo of Bo, the Obama’s dog) lace the comment feed. Other approving remarks like “great team!! Your the best Pres ever!!! luv u Rahmbo” are posted for all the world to see.

Unlike his predecessors, Obama keeps up a rapid stream of popular-level interaction. Admittedly, social media venues were not as available to past presidents as they are today. News, networking, discussion, commentary, and information from this administration can be found on virtually any media outlet today. The new White House App rounds out the following list:

http://www.whitehouse.gov
http://flickr.com/whitehouse
http://twitter.com/whitehouse
http://myspace.com/whitehouse
http://vimeo.com/whitehouse
http://youtube.com/whitehouse
http://apps.facebook.com/whitehouselive/

Social news site hopes users and advertisers will dig new ad format, literally.

Leading social news site, Digg, is aiming to do for advertising what they’ve done for news with the introduction of Digg Ads.

Advertising on Digg will take on a new twist once the latest format is out of the pilot stage. Users of the social news site will be introduced to Digg Ads. The ads take on the guise of user-submitted content, and slot nicely into place without jarring, but are clearly marked as sponsored messages.

The twist is that Digg users can vote on the ads - choosing to Digg or Bury them - as with Digg’s usual content. Not only should this format provide site users with more relevant advertising, it can also provide advertisers with real-time feedback on the performance of their messages.

“With Digg Ads, we have two key objectives: to provide advertisers a more effective way to reach consumers, and to provide the voting community of Digg users with a more dynamic, relevant advertising experience,” wrote Mike Maser, Chief Strategy Officer for Digg, on the company blog.

Advertisers will be charged based on the popularity of the ads. The more an ad is Dugg the less the advertiser is charged and the more an ad is Buried the more the advertiser is charged until priced out of the system, explained Maser.

However, as Zee Cane of London-based marketing agency WeDoCreative points out, Digg may have a few stumbling blocks ahead. “Aside from potential competitors burying ads, they’ll need to deal with Apple fan boys who’ll instinctively bury Microsoft ads, marketing agencies who will simply give up in frustration unable to create ads Digg users are satisfied with and all that aside, each ‘ad’ is likely to have to deal with the masses of typical Digg commentary slating every aspect of it and the company behind it,” he wrote on The Next Web Blog.