What better way for an artist to engage with his or her fans than by collaborating with them? Although just 10 years ago this would have been an arduous undertaking, collaborative music video projects are now possible thanks to social media and the wonders of the web

Microsoft has signed a patent agreement with HTC that covers phones running the Android mobile platform. Under the agreement, HTC will pay Microsoft royalties.

Geoff Livingston co-founded Zoetica to focus on cause-related work, and released an award-winning book on new media Now is Gone in 2007. Despite some initial flaws, Google Buzz continues to show promise as a social marketing platform

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here . The series is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark.

Brian Solis is a principal at new media agency FutureWorks , and author of the upcoming book, Engage . You can connect with him on Twitter or Facebook . The debate over measuring social media investment inspired many brands to cannonball into popular social networks and join the proverbial conversation without a plan or strategic objectives defined.

Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com . Over the past few months, we’ve talked about whether you should have a social media policy and what should be included in that policy .

Howard Greenstein is a Social Media Strategy and Marketing consultant, and President of the Harbrooke Group . He’s also a national board member of Social Media Club .

This post is part of Mashable’s Spark of Genius series, which highlights a unique feature of startups.