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.
Download the podcast here, listen with the player below, or click the iTunes logo to subscribe.
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.
If you were anywhere near the East Memphis Marriot on Friday, you probably felt it. The positivity was infectious and the enthusiasm radiated from the ballroom as the Memphis Institute for Leadership Education (MILE) program kicked off its Spirit of Memphis campaign with a good old-fashioned pep rally.
Students in the MILE program are juniors and seniors at the University of Memphis, but it’s the seniors who have spearheaded this effort, under the direction of Leadership Memphis alumnus Austin Baker. The idea, Baker said, is to turn the city’s “bashers” into ambassadors. To remind the citizens of Memphis that we have a rich, abundant and cultural place to call home. To inspire people to fall in love with the Bluff City all over again.
The main event of the campaign happens in April, as more than 90 Memphis-area businesses will be asked to host events citywide in celebration of three themes over the course of a weekend. On Thursday, April 8, the theme is favorite music; on Friday, April 9, it’s favorite food day; and on Saturday, April 10 it’s what you love about Memphis. The idea is to get your co-workers, family members and friends involved in your neighborhood or your office by hosting your own gatherings and events under the themes. Suggestions for ways to celebrate can be found at SpiritofMemphis.org.
Friday’s rally was the kick-off to the campaign, bringing out leaders from across the city to share what they love about living in Memphis. From events like Memphis in May or Live at the Garden to amenities like the zoo or intangibles like the community spirit, our philanthropic heart or our small-town feel, the list of reasons to love living here seemed endless.
Despite a slight change in schedule – the rally had to be postponed due to our blanket of ice and snow last week – the ballroom was full on Friday, of people and spirit for the movement of positivity growing throughout Memphis. One notable face was missing from the crowd, as Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton was unable to make an appearance at the rally. He did, however, send his thoughts in a letter that Austin Baker shared with the attendees. Wharton’s closing comment resonated: Let’s make the pep rally for Memphis a year-round event.
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.
Elizabeth, Beth Sanders, Matthew, and Dave
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.
Join us in a few hours for the first Core Conversation podcast of 2010 – we’re discussing mobile web technology and where it’s headed in the new year. You can call and weigh in on the topic at (646) 721-9429, or you can listen live here beginning at 11:30 a.m. CDT. As always, we’ll be keeping an eye on Twitter as well, so you can join in the chat by replying to @SMExpedition.
Here’s the consensus in our office: 2010 is pronounced “twenty-ten.”
Today we’re talking about snow days – Elizabeth apparently got out of school for rain once.
"Snow Elvis Statue" by mrbrent62 on Flickr
We’re also talking about something you might do during your day off – the Facebook’s Community Council – helping to police for offensive content on Facebook through crowdsourcing.
You might also want to drink something warm, like coffee – and Google’s new Caffeine search engine algorithm may or may not be released, but it’s certainly going to affect the way social activity reflects in your search engine rankings.
But what’s kind of lame about snow days is that they make it difficult to get out and mingle with friends – say, at tweetups like the one we had Tuesday at South of Beale, welcoming Jeremiah Owyang to Memphis for a brief stay, or to our Social Expedition Breakfasts, like the one Wednesday, where Eric Mathews presented.
Rather than drive to events like that in snowy weather, it might be safer to just call a good friend. Thom Rigsby, for example, joined us on the phone from Huntsville, Ala., where he lives and works as a blogger and social media strategist.
We talked with him about the importance of getting out and meeting people in meatspace, and what he thinks 2010 will bring to the social sphere.
Don’t forget that the Core Conversation call-in podcast will start back up on Friday – We’ll be talking about the rise of the Mobile Web.
You can download the podcast, listen by clicking the player below, or subscribe in iTunes by clicking on the logo below.
Just six days into 2010 and we’re back at it — our January Expedition breakfast kicked off the new year right yesterday morning at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn. The temperatures were frigid, but the coffee and conversation were flowing.
Eric Mathews, co-founder of Mercury Technology Labs and LaunchMemphis, introduced the Expeditionaries to what he called the new digital divide. Currently we use the term to refer to the haves and have-nots of basic web access; the “new” digital divide would refer to the split between the haves and have-nots in the social media realm. The tweeters and the non-tweeters, the Facebookers and, well, surely there’s someone out there who’s not on Facebook.
An even closer look at the divide reveals more distinctions in levels of access or activity, Mathews said, with smart phone users landing at the high end of the spectrum, non-users at the opposite end and levels of involvement in between, from the person who is always attached to social media to the person who uses social tools occasionally through other web platforms. That idea — the integration of social elements in non-social web presences — is what Mathews called “social light.” The concept, alongside location-based services and niche social networks, is where Mathews predicts the money-making will be for web entrepreneurs in the immediate future.
To illustrate the point, Mathews introduced the group to four Memphis-area start-ups: Mark’s Menus, Into Outdoors, Xtrant and NRange. Each company is using one of the tools he mentioned, whether light social, LBS or niche networks, and the results are measurable and impressive. Into Outdoors, a niche network for hunters and anglers, is just peeking out of beta and already has more than 1,200 fans on Facebook and six advertisers who want to get on board, site unseen.
Another of the start-ups, Xtrant, is a social network for the enterprise, a topic that was explored further during the core conversations following Mathew’s presentation, along with WordPress and Facebook in 2010. If you’re interested in learning more about start-ups and technology/entrepreneurship in Memphis, check out Mathews’ Mercury Tech Coffee, happening every Monday at 7:30 a.m. at Republic Coffee.
You can also hear more from Mathews later this month when he’ll be appearing on the Expedition podcast (in the meantime be sure to check out this week’s episode featuring Thom Rigsby — you can find it here later today). In other podcasting news, our first Core Conversation of the year happens tomorrow, so join us at 11:30 a.m. to talk about the mobile web in 2010. You can listen here or call and weigh in at (646) 721-9429.
And don’t forget to check out our Wave to find or post helpful links and continue on conversations you started at a breakfast or tweet-up. For now, just search “Social Expedition” in Wave or contact @SMExpedition on Twitter for an invitation — we’re working on a way to make it more easily accessible to all interested Expeditionaries soon!
Matthew Crawford Trisler, Rick Tarrant, Dave Barger
So that’s it for 2009, huh? We’re marking the end of the decade with a new face voice in your ear, some makeshift electronic repair, and a look back at the year’s trending topics on Twitter.
While it seems that social news has kind of drifted out of focus until the end of the year, with favor being given to the traditional end of the year list, there has been word about the very likely Google Phone – the Nexus One – and Google’s press event coming up on Jan. 5.
We also introduce our new intern, Shannon. She’s cool, knowledgeable, and most importantly, shares our expeditionary spirit.
We got so caught up in talking to Shannon, about the requirements for being a social media expert, the concept of 1000 true fans, and what she’s studying, that it ended up taking up almost half of the episode.
We brought in Rick Tarrant of Rick Tarrant Productions for the second half of the episode, and Rick’s trying to find his place in social media and podcasting after a career in radio – just listening to his voice, you can tell that he earned his keep as a radio guy.
He shares with us what he’s been learning, and how. There’s a great wealth of recommended reading and listening to be gleaned from Rick’s interview, from Leo Laporte to Gary Vaynerchuk.
Elizabeth Cawein, Matthew Crawford Trisler, Lorrie Jackson, Dave Barger
Welcome to the second season of the Social Expedition! Are you embarrassed that you didn’t get us a gift? Don’t worry, we didn’t warn you it was coming. We’ll still gladly accept any cards, letters or gifts of frankincense, myrrh or gold bullion you feel so inclined to send.
We’re aligning our seasons with the seasons of the earth, so the passing of the winter solstice on Monday means we’ve ventured into season two, and we’ll be here until the arrival of the equinox in March. With a new season inevitably comes change; you’ll note the absence of our usual “Tweeter of the Week,” but be on the lookout for new regular features arriving soon.
Though we wouldn’t call this our “holiday” episode, we definitely have Christmas on the brain. You might even hear some jingle bells if you listen closely. You’ll also hear us get into one-stop media shopping with a discussion of Boxee, a cross-platform freeware media center that’s designed to work with your home television set. We also share the secret to getting results from your Wii Fit (hint: it involves actually using it) and what Matthew’s dating tactics have in common with auto-play video and audio on web sites.
Our guest is Lorrie Jackson, a blogger and social media practitioner who serves as the Director of Communications and Marketing for Lausanne Collegiate School. She also speaks around the country on social media topics, and she schooled us for about 20 minutes on everything from the influence of social media on holiday shopping to the necessity of staying in the conversation when the tides turn.
The Core Conversation is on hiatus until the new year, but you can catch our first show of 2010 on January 8. And of course, the Expedition won’t miss a beat – we’ll be here next week with Rick Tarrant as our guest. Have a safe and happy holiday!
Time passes all too quickly, and we’ve reached our tenth episode. Though we weren’t sure what the traditional gift for the 10th anniversary is (turns out it’s tin or aluminum), we have always known what we’re here for – celebrating the ideas behind and progress of social media, as it expands into both our personal and business lives.
Google seems to have jumped the gun a little bit on releasing their new real time social search. It’s going to drastically affect the way businesses and marketers behave on social networks, even if it doesn’t much change the way people search.
One major risk faced by businesses who wish to optimize their social networks for the new social search is that they’ll put their customers off with their behavior – this is more critical than ever, given that Facebook’s new privacy settings make it easier than ever to make annoying business practices (and annoying relatives) disappear from your personal profile.
Shawn Danko of the Kooky Canuck
We talked with Shawn Danko from downtown Memphis’ Kooky Canuck restaurant about how he got into using social media to promote his business and build relationships with customers.
You can find Kooky Canuck’s social efforts on Twitter and Facebook.
We also give a nice shout out to the Peabody Hotel’s social networking – they are our Memphis Tweeter of the Week.
As for upcoming events, Friday will see our next Core Conversation podcast, the first of a two-part series on predictions for 2010 and what you think will happen with social media and the internet.
Lastly, if you’re a podcaster, or if you’re looking to get into podcasting, or if you’re just curious to meet other people who are addicted to listening to podcasts, we’re having MemCast – a gathering of Memphis podcasters and podcast enthusiasts – on Monday, Dec. 14. For information about that, follow MemCast on Twitter.
You can download the podcast, click the player below to listen on the page, or subscribe in iTunes.
