Archive | March, 2010
SxSW Interactive may have ended a few weeks ago, but Dave came back with enough new information, ideas and interview clips to fill up podcasts from now until 2011. We (probably) won’t subject you to all of it, but this week we’re featuring what seemed to be one of the hottest topics in Austin: privacy.
In the episode you’ll hear a sampling of remarks from Danah Boyd, social media researcher at Microsoft Research New England, who gave the keynote address. Boyd argues against the idea that privacy is dead; it is our understanding of what privacy is that’s skewed. (If your interest is sparked, you can also listen to her entire speech below.)
You’ll also hear an interview Dave conducted with Natalie Fonseca of PII. PII stands for Privacy, Identity and Innovation, a conference in the works for late this year in Seattle on privacy and Government access to information. You can also follow @TechPolicy on Twitter to learn more.
Next you’ll hear Dave’s conversation with Chris Conley of the ACLU, who talked about work the ACLU is currently doing to raise awareness about out-of-date privacy laws. We found it particularly interesting, for example, that the Fourth Amendment protects an individual’s right to privacy in situations where privacy is a reasonable expectation; this does not include situations where a third party is involved. Every time you send an e-mail, though, your e-mail provider is a third party. So does that remove your right to privacy? It might be easy to say no, but outdated laws say otherwise. You can find out more about the ACLU’s campaign, how you can get involved and take quizzes that reveal your true privacy settings at DotRights.
We’ll be back next week with our regular format with guest Justin McGregor, and of course don’t forget to RSVP for the April Social Expedition breakfast which will be here before we know it with guest Rod Kirby.
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Two dozen weeks in, and we’re still struggling to keep up with all the news, updates, and research that keeps pouring out of the world of social tech. Here, we call that the good life.
There’s a study out there showing that people who follow brands on social sites are around 60-70% more likely to be customers of those brands. We express a little skepticism about whether there’s much actual conversion there, but we don’t have any doubt that building relationships – even with current customers – has a great value to your company.
On a related tangent, we talk about how the omnipresence of the Internet has affected our shopping decisions – if reviews, sales, and other information looked up on smartphones have affected our decisions about purchases – whether we shop online or in the store.
Privacy is an ever larger issue in this connected world, and Dave’s experience in Austin, Texas at the South By Southwest Interactive conference bears that out. But one of the more interesting trends that Dave spotted was a move away from attempts to be the “Next Twitter,” but rather a rush of new tools to integrate and aggregate all of our social accounts and posts.
"Patients lining up in the triage area," from LeBonheur's Picasa album.
We speak with Amanda Mauck from LeBonheur Children’s Hospital about her recent trip to Haiti with a group from the hospital aiding in earthquake relief. From their arrival in Haiti, she kept a blog of her experiences. She shared a few of her favorite posts from the trip and talked with us about how she kept the blog updated.
If you want to connect with LeBonheur and ask a few more questions, you can find them at their Web site, on Facebook, and on Twitter.
If you’re trying to download the Social Expedition Podcast right now, and you’re frustrated with how long it’s taking – get involved with the effort to compel Google to bring their high-speed fiber optic network to Memphis. Find out how at the LunaWeb blog.
Don’t forget, Thursday is March’s Twilight Camp, and the speaker at next month’s Social Expedition breakfast is Rod Kirby, who appeared on last week’s podcast.
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It’s show No. 23 and we’re sans Dave — at the time of recording he was en route to Texas for SxSW Interactive and the preceding unconference on social media and health care, SXSH. (You can hear more about all both on this week’s Core Conversation podcast, Friday at 11:30 a.m.
In Dave’s absence, we kept our sights on the pressing issues of technological importance, like comedian Betty White‘s upcoming appearance on Saturday Night Live, thanks in some part to a Facebook fan page demanding such an event. We like Betty White, but mostly we’re impressed at the idea that a fan page (and its almost 500,000 fans) could impact the decisions of a major network. It’s not exactly social change, but it’s proof that even giants like GE are paying attention.
We also talk about Launch Memphis‘ 48 Hour Launch, which went down this weekend and has Matthew still recovering. Eight teams worked tirelessly throughout the weekend to go from pitch and concept to functional business. Some of the start-ups launched are already on Twitter – Tourney Caddy, TippJar, One Song Concerts, and Matthew’s The List of Bands. Keep an eye out for these startups’ Facebook pages, too – and don’t forget that they have real Web sites, as well.
Our guest this week was Rod Kirby, success coach and editor in chief of The Success Center. We met Rod back in September at Social Camp, where he gave two presentations on blogging topics. One of those was “Treating Your Blog Like A Magazine,” which we explored with Rod a little further, delving into advertising, readership surveys and building community. You can check out the full presentation on SlideShare.
We also picked Rod’s brain about keeping content fresh, his forays into video blogging and his recent Ebook release. If you want to hear more, be sure to join us in April for the Social Expedition breakfast. Rod will be joining us as our speaker; check back to the MeetUp site soon for full details on his presentation.
Don’t forget Friday’s SxSW Core Conversation, and of course check back here next week for podcast No. 24, featuring guest Amanda Mauck of LeBonheur. Amanda was one of the team who headed to Haiti following the earthquake to administer medical aid — you won’t want to miss this one.
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It’s show number 22, and we’re starting to show our age around here — we spent at least the first few minutes of this episode debating the ins and outs of daylight saving time. We never quite landed on whether we’re currently in daylight saving time or if we’ll be in daylight saving time in a few weeks, but we did agree that the object of the game always seems to be to save a little daylight.
visit IntoOutdoors.com
Our guest this week is Josh Bell, the founder of IntoOutdoors.com, a specialized social network for hunters and anglers. The site has only been live for about a month, and already it has 300 active members. Josh talked to us about the goals and plans for the site in the next year, what it’s been like trying (for four long years) to bring his idea to fruition and, to that end, his relationship with LaunchMemphis. (Particularly topical, of course, with 48 Hour Launch happening this weekend.)
Aside from our time with Josh, we also offer some highlights from the Core Conversations at this week’s March Social Expedition breakfast, which focused on social metrics and blogging.
In the social metrics conversation, the talk went across the board from how to start and install Google Analytics to measuring Twitter impact (check out oneforty.com) and tracking shortened URL clicks (through sites like bit.ly, 3.ly, tr.im and bud.url).
The blogging discussion centered more around the creation of unique and fresh content — Matthew said much of it was spurred on by a comment made by our speaker, the Memphis CVB’s Kerry Crawford Trisler, that it takes her two hours to do a typical blog post. The bloggers talked about the time constraints they face while still trying to keep things as updated and content-rich as possible. A possible solution offered up was the idea of guest blogging, which can also be an excellent tool in promoting your blog and your brand to a new audience of readers.
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Many of the Expeditionaries who came hungry to this month’s meet-up might have left hungry, too — but it’s not for lack of breakfast. Any stomach would’ve been growling after Kerry Crawford Trisler (of the Memphis Convention and Visitors’ Bureau) took us on a walk through the I Love Memphis blog, a guided tour through the city’s happenings, hang-outs and seriously good eats.
Kerry walked us through all the facets of the I Love Memphis social presence, from the blog to Facebook to Twitter, as well as talking about her full process for each blog post. Every piece of content that goes up on I Love Memphis will also post to Twitter, Facebook, Yelp, UrbanSpoon, Mark’s Menus and FourSquare, not to mention photos hosted on Flickr and videos on YouTube.
In talking about how she measures successes and failures, Kerry first noted that she had no real job description or expectations when she set out on this project, other than to start a blog. Being able to learn through trial and error has been the greatest asset to maximizing the success of the campaign, she said. Now, managing a Facebook fan page that boasts more than 5,000 fans and a Twitter handle with more than 1,800 followers, Kerry says those numbers are the ones that matter the least. What she’s more concerned with is the number of actual interactions she has with the humans behind those social profiles, because that is more telling of true engagement.
She also shared with the group plans she has in the pipeline for FourSquare, including creating several FourSquare tours of Memphis (a foodie tour included, don’t you fear) and working with local businesses to try to create and implement unique FourSquare promotions, like deals or discounts for mayors and other tie-ins.
While Kerry said a lot of her work with FourSquare is focused on out-of-towners — they use the platform to explore the city most, she said — the spike in readership of the I Love Memphis blog on Thursday and Friday suggests locals are becoming a huge chunk of her dedicated audience, even if just to scout out what’s happening this weekend.
In looking at the Google analytics overview for the blog, Kerry noted a few stats she’s particularly proud of, like the average one minute and forty seconds being spent on the page by visitors. With an average that high, it’s safe to assume that most people who visit the site are taking the time to consume at least one post.
Following a little Q-and-A, the room separated as it typically does into two groups for our monthly Core Conversations. This month the topics were social metrics/measuring success and blogging, both of which were particularly topical given Kerry’s presentation. You can hear a brief rundown of those discussions on this week’s podcast, which you’ll find here later this week.
If you missed this breakfast, definitely mark your calendar to join us in April, and take a listen to last week’s Expedition podcast featuring Kerry Crawford Trisler.
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