Pinterest leads the Polyvore pack, Gullov-Singh says, because the visual nature of photo-sharing platform makes it a natural for shares and click-throughs.

FORBES: What's In Store: How Polyvore's Stylish Social Commerce Is Cracking Retail 3.0

Ms. Buchanan, co-author of the bestseller "The Daring Book for Girls, " says she set out to create a multimedia story that took advantage of the protean nature of the latest e-readers, which can function as a book one moment and a photo album or movie player the next.

WSJ: Enhanced E-Books: Blowing Up the Book

Journalists are by nature a skeptical bunch, and all the more so when they've been assigned to cover a photo op. (The hotel had scheduled a dog-serenading opera singer, and puppy weddings.) But sometimes you need to set aside your attitude, not to mention your dreams of becoming the next Walter Cronkite or Edward R.

WSJ: Checking In at the Doggie Hotel

Much protection, little joy: the trade-off that justifies the zoo business (which Wiseman reveals, with its photo ops and fund-raisers) speaks as well to the blank-eyed viewers of subjugated nature.

NEWYORKER: Zoo (1993)