Congratulations to this week's Perks winners. You guys do all you can to give back, and it feels good to be able to give back to you as well.

And here are the NEW PERKS for the drawing on August 8, 2008!

-SocialVibe

Living in Hollywood I’ve noticed that no matter where you go, the chances of running into one of the cast members from 'The Hills' is pretty high. At the grocery store, your favorite lunch spot, a club... it seems you can't go anywhere without having one of their pretty faces poking into the picture. I’m not passing any judgment here, but frankly I just don’t quite get it.

A couple years ago, my girlfriend forced me to watch this show she called, “The Best Reality Show Ever…”, I didn't have much of a choice, so I gave it a shot. After 30 minutes of my life goes by, I had to ask myself, "What the heck did I just witness?" Oddly enough, a few days later I found myself wondering what was going to happen next on the show. Not to proud to say it, but I was hooked!

So take 'The Hills' for example. The show is obviously entertaining, and the people are attractive, but what makes this show the huge hit that it is? Is it the clothes? The relationships? The jobs? Just the Hollywood lifestyle in general?

I will be attending the DoSomething Teen Choice Awards Pre-Party this Saturday and cast from The Hills is supposed to be there. I’m going to hunt them down for some pink ball pics!

Regardless your opinions of the show, I am sure a lot of us will be joining millions of others on August 19th for the premiere of Season 4. Will you be one of them?

-SocialVibe

Sarah Townsend here, blogging to you LIVE from the epicenter of Earthquake Hollywood 2008. As the smoke clears, we begin to get a better picture of the damage and chaos that has engulfed the city.

One of the bobble heads on my desk is still shaking.

Ok, I'm just kidding, I don't have a bobble head and there is no damage (thankfully). But we DID just have a humongous earthquake here.

Wow. I've felt a few (small) earthquakes since living in LA, but that was my first one while working in a HIGH RISE!!! SocialVibe is on the 11th floor of the tallest building on the Sunset Strip. Alex and I were sitting here discussing our next Vibe post and I was preparing your fabulous newsletter, and all of a sudden - the entire building starts swaying back and forth and there is a crazy rumbling. My first instinct was that our neighbors were bowling upstairs, but then I quickly realized it was an earthquake. Maybe it was our coworkers shouting out "EARTHQUAKE!!!!!" that gave it away. Sitting next to floor-to-ceiling windows - so that you could see the building actually moving... was crazy.

The aftermath was the most entertaining part, though. No sooner than we could look up the magnitude (5.8 on Richter scale, btw) did our Twitters, Facebook, text messages, MySpace, AIM, iChat, GoogleTalk, etc, all start lighting up with "earthquake" status updates. Perez immediately updated his blog. And now here we are immediately updating The Vibe.

Is this the future of real-time news??? I read my friend's status updates and instant messages before even hearing that it was on CNN.

Haha! Fortunately, nobody was hurt.

-SocialVibe

Let's start the day off with a very positive note, shall we?

SocialVibe was featured in a really awesome article in Boosh Magazine yesterday! The article, featured here, is titled "Pimping Your Profile For a Cause" - don't you just love that? The article explains a little bit about what SocialVibe is and how easy it makes using your online presence for something good.

This just goes to show you the huge impact SocialVibe makes on a daily basis, and how we really are making a difference!

My favorite quote from the article, in reference to using SV on Facebook: "So instead of adding the "What Drink Are You" app, maybe deck your profile out with something that'll do some good."

As if that wasn't enough, Sports Illustrated online also linked to the article! Sports Illustrated! That's pretty huge.

Hope this brightened up your day

-SocialVibe

Who doesn't love Hayden Panettiere? She is hot, she is a great actress, and, she is an active supporter of the Whaleman Foundation. She is consistently in the media acting as spokesperson for the foundation, which aims to minimize the threats facing whales, dolphins and the ocean habitat, including toxic pollution, over-fishing and global warming.

Now you can help too! Whaleman Foundation has teamed up with Melinda Maria Jewelry to produce a beautiful collection of limited-edition necklaces. The hand-crafted pieces feature an engraved whale on the front of a circular charm that reads "I Am Change." It's a GREAT cause with a really positive message.

The “I Am Change” Whaleman necklace comes in two versions. One retails for $550 and is made of 14k yellow gold with a diamond. The other version retails for $150 and has a charm made of silver with a blue topaz stone, and comes with either a silver or leather chain. 25% of the proceeds will benefit the Whaleman Foundation to help protect our oceans and marine life. The Whaleman Charity Necklace is available exclusively at www.melindamariajewelry.com as of July 9th.

On August 10th, Hayden Panettiere will host a charity event in Los Angeles to officially launch this piece for the Whaleman Foundation. Celebrity attendees will include Eva Longoria, Adrien Grenier and the cast of “Heroes,” among others.

Isn't it purdy? Just like Hayden. Do you love it or do you love it? Just think... we could help save the whales, one necklace at a time.

-SocialVibe

Congratulations to Azzy, one of our three talented winners of the Pink Ball Photo Contest. She won a new Canon PowerShot 10.0 Megapixel Digital ELPH camera and Adobe Photoshop Elements to amp up her picture taking and editing. We loved the way she used the Pink Ball with the tree growing out of it to symbolize the difference we are all making.

And may we not forget 2 of our 6 Honorable Mentions....

What do you think??

Don't forget to keep sending us your pink ball photos to pinkballphotos@socialvibe.com.

-SocialVibe

Congratulations to Jelani O., one of our three talented winners of the Pink Ball Photo Contest. He won a new Canon PowerShot 10.0 Megapixel Digital ELPH camera and Adope Photoshop Elements to amp up his picture taking and editing. He must be a gymnast, because that pose looks like it takes some serious flexibility...

And may we not forget 2 of our 6 Honorable Mentions....

What do you think??

Stay tuned for the final post of the winning entries coming later today..... and don't forget to keep sending us your pink ball photos to pinkballphotos@socialvibe.com.

-SocialVibe

So Long Beach had yet another sewage spill this weekend, therefore they had to shut down one of their beaches. 12,000 gallons! How disgusting is that? That is not the image I want to see when I think of a Southern Cali beach. Or any beach, for that matter.

One of our causes, Surfrider Foundation, whose mission is to preserve our beaches and prevent these gnarly sewage spills from happening, has announced a pretty cool opportunity. I'm sure you are all familiar with the Teen Choice Awards. The theme for the awards this year is "Teens Go Green," in an effort to promote environmental responsibility in younger children. In honor of this, Surfrider has teamed up with FOX and is giving 40 lucky supporters the chance to attend the Teen Choice Awards in Los Angeles, CA on August 26th at Gibson Amphitheater.

In order to win tickets to the 2008 Teen Choice Awards, you have to be one of the first 40 volunteers to arrive at Surfrider's official Beach Clean Up day in Santa Monica, CA. But even if you aren't one of the first ones to arrive, you will still get a Teen Choice t-shirt AND you'll be helping clean up one of our favorite beaches! Sure you might get dirty, but it's for a good cause, and they'll give you trash bags and gloves. Good Day L.A. and KIIS FM will also be broadcasting live from the event.

Here are the details:

"Teen Choice 2008: A Beach Clean Up"
Wednesday, July 30, 2008 from 8a.m. - 10a.m.
Santa Monica Pier
380 Santa Monica Pier
Santa Monica, CA 90401
Park in lot 1N and look for the Surfrider tent just north of the Pier.

This year, teen queen Miley Cyrus is set to host the 10th annual edition of TEEN CHOICE, celebrating the hottest teen icons in film, television, music, sports and fashion. The show will air August 4th at 8p.m. The coolest stars will receive coveted Teen Choice surfboard awards in categories such as Choice Breakout TV Show, Choice Sidekick, Choice Bromantic Comedy, Choice Rock Track, Choice Athlete and Choice Chemistry on TEEN CHOICE 2008.

I'm sure there will be many many more celebs in attendance... so if you live in the LA area and you care about our beaches - this is your chance to give back AND win tickets to one of the hottest events around.

To make Surfrider YOUR cause, visit their homepage on SocialVibe.

-SocialVibe

EDIT: Surfrider just posted a blog on their official MySpace page saying that the Beach Clean Up has been canceled. Boo hoo! But you still have a chance to win tickets... to find out how read this!