Since Facebook added the cover photo feature, creative minds have used this as a way to further personalize their profile. Johnnie Walker has taken this as a way to not only showcase brand's heritage but further integrate their official content. The "world's greatest whisky house" turned their cover photo into a live Instagram feed. The brand is allowing three influential Instagrammers to take over its official Instagram account weeks at a time. Their photos will be automatically fed through an app directly from the brand's Instagram account to it's Facebook cover photo. Simply refresh the Johnnie Walker Facebook page and new content will appear on the cover photo imagery.

Consider this a behind-the-scenes style look at the brand's heritage for their fans from storytellers. Brands who allow outside influencers to produce their official content are doing it right. This allows the brand to come to life more genuinely from an outside perspective. It will be interesting to see other ways brands make use of the cover photo as these continue to go more interactive.

Even though Facebook just shelled out a serious payday to Instagram, the development of a real-life Instagram camera looks like it's coming from an outside company called ADR Studio. The design and communication company has concepts to develop ‘Instagram Socialmatic,’ a flat touch screen camera with a built-in printer and 16GB of storage capacity. Specs on the size and shell are a perfect replica of the popular iPhone and (now) Android app.

What’s really awesome about this little gadget is the fact that it will have built in WiFi and Bluetooth, just like an iPad. Don’t want to print your pictures out? No problem, users can share their photos directly from the device.

Print outs from the camera will carry a QR code for viewers to scan and follow that user’s stream as well as an area where comments can be added. Additionally, the back of the photo will be equiped with a peelable stick surface, much like a post-it note for easy hanging. I can see my walls covered in these things already.

Considering the fact that we are all avid Instagrammers here at BFG, someone in the office will surely be one of the first to get their hands on this awesome design.

Android phone users rejoice! On today's Tech Tuesday, our Hal Thomas discusses why he believes Instagram is so popular and this week's announcement that Facebook has acquired Instagram for one billion dollars.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Tiffany & Co is promoting their “What Makes Love True” campaign featuring user-generated images and stories of love. This is available via website and a free downloadable iPhone app. Additional content featured includes exclusive love songs, helpful advice/quotes, and an interactive map where users can recap a romantic moment and share where it happened (New York City and Paris locations only).

The mobile application also features an exclusive Tiffany blue filter for users to use on their own photos (featured in center image above). Similar to the #Marcfam campaign by Marc Jacobs, this program has no direct mention of product or sales promotion but is a strategic execution to help personify the brand’s lifestyle through its consumer's interpretation.

With professional photo editing programs like Instagram available to the everyday consumer at no cost, brands now trust one’s ability to create beautifully edited images that look similar to, if not better than their own print advertising. It’ll be interesting to see if Tiffany’s repurposes some of the beautiful content living on this site for their traditional advertising.

If I were to choose my favorite mobile application of 2010, Instagram is a top contender. For those not familiar, it’s a free, fast and easy way to make and share gorgeous photos on your iPhone. (The Android app is still in development and confirmed to be coming soon.)  Users can transform an image by using vintage photo filters like Toaster and Earlybird. See a filtered example below:

Once an image is transformed, it can be shared instantly to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Tumblr, Foursquare, and Posterous. The recent version 2.0 update includes four new photo filters, larger photo size and resolution. Users also have the option to select their photo filter of choice before or after a photo is snapped.

Having no knowledge of Instagram beyond the application itself, I decided to do some research to see what else I could learn. Here’s what I found:

1. 10 Million Users: In less than a year since it’s debut, Instagram has gained more than 10 million users who are uploading an average of 26 new pictures every second.

2. Instagram is growing twice as fast as Foursquare, which is growing faster than Twitter did, which grew...