Social Expedition Podcast #18: Password security, the feel of your tweets, Joe Spake

Posted on 04 February 2010

If you’ve ever wondered how to make your passwords more secure, needed the answer for a random question or pondered the sentiments of the Twitterverse on one topic or another, this week’s podcast is for you.

In light of the recent Twitter phishing attack, we talk torrents as well as plug-ins and features of different browsers that will help you create and keep track of multiple safe passwords. Dave introduces us to Aardvark, a site that allows a user to enter areas of expertise (as well as physical location) to make themselves a resource to other users looking for answers to questions.

We also talked a lot of Memphis in this episode, including a trip over to TweetFeel, where we found that 52 percent of recent tweets about our beloved city were, in fact, positive. Hopefully that number will skyrocket tomorrow with the Spirit of Memphis kick-off pep rally; we’ll be there and blogging!

Our guest this week, Memphis’ most web-savvy Realtor Joe Spake, gave us some hope for the home-buying market but also shared with us his social experiences with the Center for Southern Folklore and his thoughts on the demise of Memphis landmark the Zippin’ Pippin.

We’ll be podcasting live tomorrow as usual for the Core Conversation, so be sure to join us at 11:30 a.m. CDT by calling in to 646-721-9429 or listening along here. The topic this week is social tools for the enterprise.

Download the podcast here, listen with the player below, or click the iTunes logo to subscribe.

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February Expedition Breakfast: Dave Barger on Social Tools for the Enterprise

Posted on 03 February 2010

Whether we like it (or believe it) or not, February arrived this week and brought with it our second Expedition breakfast of 2010, featuring Dave Barger of LunaWeb speaking on social tools for the enterprise.

Dave made reference to one of the phrases that has been a staple of the Expedition for some time: “Social” is a philosophy and a shape-shifter– not just a marketing tool. When it comes to the enterprise, Dave said, “social business’ is the philosophy, and it’s not just about bringing your workplace online.

He talked first about determining the health of your business’s ecosphere. By mapping out all the important nodes of your business — from customer service to clients to providers to marketing — and looking at the connections between them, you can see the ideal version of your business ecosphere and identify current weak points to achieve that ideal.

No doubt several of the nodes in your ecosphere, no matter your business, will be internal. Creating transparency and enhancing communication within the enterprise are just as critical to the social business philosophy as those actions taken outwardly like a Facebook fan page or Twitter handle. Dave ran through a laundry list of platforms and methods businesses may use to achieve this, from wikis to discussion boards to presentation tools like SlideShare or traditional social networks.

Dave then introduced the Expeditionaries to a handful of sites specifically designed for enterprise social, talking most extensively about SocialCast, which was recently adopted by LunaWeb. You can find out  more about SocialCast and others like Yammer and SocialText on this week’s Core Conversation podcast, where we’ll be continuing the conversation on social in the enterprise. You can call in at 11:30 a.m. CDT (646-721-9429) or listen live here.

More essential than the introduction to the tools, though, was the underlying philosophy and benefits of use: creating peripheral vision across the enterprise, sharing knowledge, allowing executives to offer praise and set the tone and pace of business and allowing employees to get help and access data easily are just a few examples.

If you missed out, you’ll definitely want to join us for the Core Conversation this Friday.

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UPDATE: Showing your Memphis spirit: campaign kicks off Friday

Posted on 03 February 2010

Update: With all the snow and ice blanketing our city last week, the kick-off pep rally event for Spirit of Memphis was rescheduled for this Friday, Feb. 5 at 1 p.m. at the Marriott Hotel at Perkins and American Way. Head here to RSVP!

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With such a rich, vivid cultural tradition both past and present, there are millions of reasons to love living in Memphis. It’s easy for any of us to forget that — we get bogged down in the day to day, in our little frustrations and don’t appreciate the treasures we have right here in our hometown. Sometimes, we all need reminding. And that’s what Spirit of Memphis aims to do.

This Friday they’re kicking off their efforts with a pep rally at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn (RSVP to the event by dropping them an e-mail). The idea of the campaign is to inspire Memphians to take ownership of the city and be proud ambassadors of everything Memphis has to offer. Friday’s pep rally is only the beginning — events will be happening all over the city in April during three themed days of celebration. Thursday, April 8 will be favorite Memphis music; Friday, April 9 will be favorite Memphis food; and Saturday, April 10 will be what you love about Memphis. On those days, Memphians will be encouraged to create their own brand of “pep rally,” whether it’s a potluck lunch at work, a Memphis music swap or simply organizing contributions to a local charity.

Between now and then, more details will be available about specific events. Spirit of Memphis will be hosting several throughout the city on the final day of the April celebration. You can keep up with the plans as they develop by following @SpiritofMemphis on Twitter or checking in regularly at SpiritOfMemphis.org. We’re going to be covering Friday’s rally, so check back here or on Facebook for photos of the festivities.

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Social Expedition Podcast #17: More iPad jokes, karma points, Beth Sanders

Posted on 28 January 2010

We’re not typically ones for the bandwagon, but when it comes to iPad jokes, we just couldn’t help ourselves. We touch on its utilities, dip our toe in the iPod Touch v. iPad debate and skim through some of its features, sure. But mostly? Like the classic Seinfeld line, we’re left wondering about the marketing geniuses who came  up with that one.

It’s not all jokes this week, though, as we talk about the inundation of the White House Facebook fan page in advance of last night’s State of the Union address and the Edelman Trust Barometer. Dave explains that the folks at Edelman release a study every year around the concept of consumer trust. Apparently Chinese consumers have more trust in American corporations than Americans do (ouch), and in 2010 a high-earning company does not necessarily earn automatic high marks. In the past, success has been fairly easily equated with trust; this year’s study reveals that our attitudes on that are changing.

And as corporations look to enhance trust in their brands, no doubt they’ll be looking to social media for solutions this year — a recent study shows that social is the top priority for marketers in 2010. It feels like a “duh!” moment for Elizabeth, but Dave notes that this shift is something to be wary of, as more megaphones are likely to appear and begin broadcasting messages on these channels.

And of course, if you haven’t heard about Google Xistence, it might just be the next best thing in virtual living.

This week our guest was Beth Sanders, a communications guru and self-proclaimed geek. As Dave points out, she’s the uber-early adopter, so we picked her brain about what she’s been into lately. What we got back was a laundry list of location-based services to check out: GoWalla, CauseWorld (which allows you to earn “karma points” that translate to real dollars for charity), Whrrl, Loopt and of course, FourSquare. We also opined a little bit about the possibilities awaiting us with the upcoming tablet announcement since we sat down with Beth prior to the unveiling of the iPad. (Giggle.)

We wrap things up with some very intellectual discussion on the virtues and pitfalls of cupcakes, but mostly about a cool local kid who’s selling them to raise money for Haiti. You can find him on Facebook. We also touch on our upcoming events, like next week’s breakfast (featuring our own Dave Barger speaking on social tools for the enterprise) plus this week’s Core Conversation, which goes down at 11:30 CDT on Friday as usual. We’ll be talking about what to do if you get hacked, and you can join us by calling 646-721-9429, or you can listen live here.

Download the podcast here, listen with the player below, or click the iTunes logo to subscribe.

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