This morning’s breakfast was overwhelming, in the most awesome way, to say the least. Topics covered? Collaborative consumption, neuromarketing, and QR codes (we can’t get enough) – yes, all of them. Why go to SxSW when you can come to Social Expedition Breakfast?  These topics are climbing the hype curve, so we’ve got a recap of resources that you can continue to check out. That said, we hope you like lists:

Neuromarketing:
Practical Definition: Basing marketing direction on knowledge of the above without the actual measure of specific “subjects”.  Think “high-tech profiling”. See Definition of NeuroMarketing.
Resources:
- Hunch.com
- MindTimeMaps.com/new
- F Score Personality Test

Why it’s important: Advances in multiple technologies is enabling neuromarketing. As the marketing industry wakes-up to its benefits, the demand for more neuromarketing will drive additional innovation and data. It will become part of the marketing vernacular. Consumers and businesspeople alike will need to understand these concepts and how they might also make effective use to connect to their best-fit customers & clients.

Collaborative Consumption:
“Access is better than ownership.”
Definition: Traditional sharing, lending, trading, renting and swapping reinvented through network technologies.   Opposite of Hyper Consumption

Click to enlarge.

Mother of all Resources:
- Meshing.it

Why it’s important: The aggregation of stuff that spends most of it’s “owned” life unused is a waste of money and trashes the environment far more aggressively than when shared. Did you know that an average power drill is only used for 8 minutes during it’s owned lifetime?

QR Codes:
Definition: A specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by dedicated QR barcode readers and camera phones. The code consists of black modules arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can be text, URL or other data.
Resources:
- ScanLife.com
- 2DBarcodeStrategy.com
- Jagtag.com
- BeQRious.com

Why it’s important: QR codes narrow the gap between the physical display world and online down to a click. In essence no further than one website is from another.

Best QR Code Practices:
- Don’t just throw it out there.
- Keep it simple
- URL shorteners (bit.ly, goo.gl)
- Codes should link to relevant, mobile optimized content
- Use analytics to gage effectiveness, refine approach and justify further implementation
- Video compression: mpeg4 (best for phones) .mp4

Today’s breakfast had a great crowd, which was fantastic because we crowd-sourced our topic! To kick off the year, we decided to ask Expeditioners for their Predictions for 2011 in social media and technology. It seems many of the members are placing their bets on QR codes and mobile devices. Of course it’s all speculation, but it’s fun. We know the Next Big Thing could come from a completely unpredictable source, but here are a few of the developments we’re looking forward to…

2010 saw mass migration to social media, but 2011 could be a different story. Expeditioner Lorrie predicts that the rate of new adopters will drop in 2011, but that previous adopters will get even more savvy, increasing the quality of their engagement and conversations.

Mary anticipates that (like we did with our topic today) more brands will crowd-source ideas, and then award those who contribute. They won’t have to send out surveys or call for customer feedback, they can just ask for suggestions on their Facebook page. Doritos, Pepsi, Dominoes, and Starbucks are already experimenting with crowd-sourcing their product advertising, and we’re thinking it’s about to boom.

Then, Aaron thinks 2011 will see the rise of mobile. The Verizon iPhone, affordable Android phones, the new iPad, and new tablets will put mobile devices in more hands than ever.

Ansley’s prediction goes hand-in-hand with the popularity of mobile – the decline of the app. In 2010, there was “an app for that.” In 2011, we’re likely to see “a mobile site for that,” where brands turn to HTML5 to create a beautiful, interactive, touch-screen compatible site instead of spending time on a stand-alone application.

Tim thinks there will be no white iPhone in 2011. Joe says Google will dominate the world. Or at least dominate the cloud with their new operating system, Chrome OS. It’s in beta now, but this OS stores all your data from photos to music to documents online (in “the cloud”), so you can access them from anywhere.

On a serious note, net neutrality will become a major issue. It will also be the topic of one of our upcoming breakfasts. We will begin to explore what it means for the Internet to be a truly global community, and we will face censorship conflicts. Privacy will deteriorate even further as what walled gardens are left become translucent, and (we believe) people will continue to share online despite the risks.

Most Expeditioners peg 2011 as “The Year of the QR Code.” These (so far) under-utilized bar codes could be everywhere pretty soon, as more people have the smartphones to read them. Make your own QR code with BeQRious or ScanLife, or with a URL shortener like Goo.gl, Bit.ly, or Budurl. Then, get an app on your smartphone to read them! The ScanLife app is good one.

Once we’ve got all these QR codes, and people are scanning everything, we’re also likely to see a rise in push notifications for coupons. Someday soon, your phone may know you’re on the grocery store aisle with the tomato sauce, and send you a coupon! Read up on this new trend on Dave’s blog.

A few other resources (not really predictions, per se) that were mentioned during the breakfast:

• Quora – a Question/Answer site that hasn’t been loaded up with a lot of junk (like Yahoo Answers).
• New Facebook Messages – Get the new Facebook messaging system that will integrate your texts and email.

Our final predictions come from Dave, who anticipates a rise in apps geared towards cutting down on technological distractions. For instance, there could be an app to collect your new message notifications and consolidate them into a single digest that comes to you ever hour, or every five. More vitally, perhaps we’ll see better apps to cut down on texting while driving, an issue AT&T takes up in a compelling ad. Find more of Dave’s predictions here.

Don’t forget about Twilight Camp on the 20th. Plus, get ready for the 48 Hour Launch – a great chance for any entrepreneurs and skilled collaborators to give life to the Next Big Idea!

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.

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.

Coates spoke to the Expeditionaries this morning not just about the app, but also about how ArtsMemphis is using social media at large to reach the next generation of arts supporters. They’ve got a group for arts fans under 40, but it doesn’t stop there: ArtsMemphis also has a separate Facebook presence for the group, called ‘Bravo,’ and communicates with its members in an entirely different way. Their e-mails are quick, bulleted and digestible, for example, because they’re young, busy professionals who need to get their info quickly.

Lindsey Coates laughs with the Social Expedition Breakfast

Coates said that the strategy for Bravo and for ArtsMemphis’s online presence as a whole is identical to their offline strategy. Connect, embrace, engage, interact. It’s the philosophy that guides them on Facebook and face-to-face. She said a major key to their success in social media has been embracing the learning process, and taking lessons from their own mistakes. For example, when they launched ArtsMemphisTV, the first episodes were 15 minutes long. They quickly realized that short and sweet would be far more likely to keep people coming back for more.

“We’ve learned a lot,” Coates said. “Make mistakes, make more notes and move forward with what you’ve learned. I didn’t want to over-promise and underachieve, but I had to get over that — this was unknown territory. We had to try new things and be willing to make mistakes.”

That learning curve has gone a long way for ArtsMemphis, leading them to their latest innovation: the iPhone app. It’s an interactive arts calendar with events from arts organizations city-wide. You can buy tickets, map locations and read and post reviews all from your iPhone. The app is a free download.

Not only has the feedback already been overwhelmingly positive on the application, Coates said ArtsMemphis is working toward selling the model to other cities. “We haven’t found anything as comprehensive that allows for so much engagement in any other city,” she said. “We’re excited to have Memphis on the forefront of that.” The app is sponsored by Iberia Bank, and it’s already gotten 14 reviews in the iTunes store — Coates said the entire office is pretty excited with the results in just two weeks.

As the app begins to gain traction, Coates and ArtsMemphis aren’t resting on their laurels. She said the Web site will be undergoing what she calls “Web site Botox” soon — not a total redesign, but a tightening-up, so to speak. New colors and new pictures should help to keep things fresh, she said.

After Coates’ presentation, the Expeditionaries broke into core conversation groups on LinkedIn, blogging and WordPress design. And of course, much like Jell-O there’s always room for a little more networking and connecting. If you missed this month’s breakfast, be on the lookout for more information about our evening meet-up, TwilightCamp, coming Oct. 21, or our next breakfast on Nov. 4.

After our usual announcements (which, by the way, included SocialCamp), we were treated to a special welcome from Shelby County Commissioner / founder and CEO of Flinn Broadcasting / radiologist Dr. George Flinn who had some kind, generous, and flattering words to everyone who takes part in the Social Media Expedition – and that includes attendees.

It’s easy to get so deep into what you’re passionate about that you lose perspective on how what you do affects the community around you. To be reminded that the relationships and communities we build bring noticeable good into Memphis was a powerful and empowering way to start the morning.

To have Dr. Flinn come and remind us of the good that we are all building is nice. But what would be nicer would be to pass on the good will – and to pass on his closing sentence, “Thank you for making Memphis and Shelby County great.” Seriously. Thank you.

What really made the September breakfast something special was the structure. Rather than have a single speaker, as usual, we embraced a show-and-tell format.

Each presenter shared a single topic, service, program, or idea for about seven minutes. One of the greatest things about gathering people together for is the wide range of experience, knowledge and curiosity that everyone brings to the breakfasts.

Our presenters were, in order, Blake Palmer, Beth Sanders, Matthew Crawford-Trisler, Jonathan Lyons, Dave Barger, and Robert Staub.

Palmer and Crawford-Trisler are both social media specialists at LunaWeb, though Blake will leave at the end of this week for CommercialAppeal.com. Sanders is a freelance design and social consultant. Lyons manages social media in the marketing and PR department for the Peabody Hotel. Barger is President and CEO of LunaWeb. Robert Staub is a small business success coach and host of the weekly Small Biz Show.

Blake Palmer Presenting the Yelp iPhone app

Between Blake Palmer’s talk about the emerging trend of augmented reality applications for smartphones and Beth Sanders’ run through of Evernote, the online/real world service that works as an augmented memory application, we were handed a very interesting view of the future in which technology will aid and combine human tasks and knowledge in ever more helpful, present, and intuitive ways.

Matthew Crawford-Trisler delivered an in-depth presentation about the need for and use of the Free Music Archive, a curated cache of Creative Commons-licensed music which, because it is free – as in both beer and speech – is a great resource for music to use in videos, podcasts, presentations, or to load up your iPod.

Jonathan Lyons talked about how he uses Social Media on behalf of the Peabody to build and expand upon existing relationships in the community, and to positively impact the image of the hotel among Memphians. He had to figure out how to promote the hotel without being spammy, create personal content, and navigate photography rights when covering events. He shared his experience with the blurring line between Returns on Investment and Returns on Engagement.

Dave Barger spoke about the trouble in looking at social media as a way to expand your business’ audience. While it’s possible, he notes that it is a big time commitment. If you’re just stepping foot in for the first time, it’s likely going to be best to focus on existing relationships. Facebook and Twitter are important, but are not the only answer.

Barger recommended the simplified blogging service, Posterous, to communicate with employees and clients alike, along with internal tools, such as Yammer or Socialcast. When it’s time to turn outwards, there’s always services like Ning, which are quite useful, but, Barger warned, only if you’re going to put the time and effort into making it a good resource before the doors are ever even opened.

Robert Staub has put a tremendous amount of effort into his latest venture, Small Biz Memphis, which launches Sept. 18th. The site, built on Ning, promises to be a valuable resource for small business information and for online business networking in a city where most networking is done face-to-face. By gathering as much information as possible about small businesses and events in one place, it promises to be a one-stop shop for small businesses in Memphis.

Each presentation went off without a hitch, and we felt honored to host such a stellar series of presentations. Dr. Flinn had it right when he thanked everyone who came this morning for making Memphis and Shelby County a great place. And once again, we’ll pass that thanks along. Thank you.

Tomorrow, we’re looking forward to the TwilightCamp for August at Bronte Bistro inside of Davis Kidd. The main topic of conversation is going to be the upcoming SocialCamp on September 19. If you want to get involved, this is a great chance to find out more, ask questions and make your opinion heard.

We’re also very excited to announce the speaker for September’s Social Media Expedition breakfast… you. Next month’s breakfast is an old-fashioned show and tell for anything and everything Social Media related that you’d like to share. We accept shiny new toy demonstrations, rants, tutorials and ideas. The only things we don’t accept are mean people and sales pitches.

We’ll be having 7 presentations by 7 people on whatever your able to share with the rest of us. We only ask that you email or call us (888-5862) beforehand, and arrive early enough that we can load your pc-friendly PowerPoint (if you have one) on our projector.

So show us what you’ve got! Whatever get’s you excited about Social Media is fair game, and we can’t wait to see what you have to offer.

The smaller room had two benefits in this regard: the panelists were easier to hear, even from the back of the room, and those who attended were eager to ask their own questions.

Lindsay Coates from Arts Memphis Chats with Kat Gordon from Muddy’s Bake Shop before the Social Media Expedition Breakfast. Media by LunaWeb.

The panelists themselves were gracious in sharing their information and ideas, as well as being quick to answer a question as fully as possible.

The panel, consisting of Lindsay Coates from ArtsMemphis; Beth Sanders, a local design and social media freelancer specializing in churches and non-profits; Kerry Crawford-Trisler from the Commercial Appeal‘s online department; Lori Jackson from Lausanne Collegiate School; and Joe Spake, a local real estate agent.

They weren’t the only local social media elite contributing to today’s breakfast, either; Kat Gordon, proprietor of Muddy’s Bake Shop (5801 Sanderlin, if you must know – and yes, you must), donated a couple boxes of cupcakes, just to fill us up a little bit more.

The discussion about how the panelists use social media to promote their businesses stretched longer than expected, and ate up the time normally reserved for core conversations. Ultimately, though, the discussion proved valuable, as the panelists shared not only the tools they use, but how they measure their return on investment (ROI).

The goal of using social media in a business setting is always to make or raise money. The exception is Beth Sanders, whose work for churches usually entails her following their mission to go out and meet people where they are. Ultimately, though, the other non-profits and commercial ventures are doing the same thing.

Most of these businesses are using social networking to reach people where they are. Twitter alone, according to Kerry Crawford-Trisler, earns CommercialAppeal.com 20,000 page views a month. That’s not counting their Facebook presence and other social efforts.

So how do these businesses measure their ROI? It seems pretty universal that they don’t measure it in the number of followers – though they don’t mind having their message in front of a large and growing number of eyes. From larger companies to smaller efforts, the panelists all agreed that it’s a matter of quality over quantity. Joe Spake mentioned how he uses Twitter and Facebook, along with Yelp and LinkedIn, but prefers Twitter and Facebook for the way it allows him to engage and become engaged with his audiences.

The panelists all agreed that even if the purpose of being in social media is more prosaic – to drive page views and ad prices or to seek purchases or donations, that building relationships with the audience makes people care more about where they spend their time or money. That right there is the ROI.

In more immediate terms, counting Facebook fans or Twitter followers is always secondary to measuring community involvement via @replies or wall posts. Lori Jackson notes that when Lausanne alumni comment on video from a school play, something that wouldn’t be possible without social media, that is the central reason for her participation in social media.

And if page views must be measured, said Lori Jackson, Google Analytics is a great tool. That statement was verified once it was established that Analytics was nearly universally used among the panelists. But, as Joe Spake noted, SEO – search engine optimization – is being slowly but surely being supplanted by YEO – you, engaging others.

And so we dispersed from that room back out into the world, keeping the thought in our heads that the purpose of social media in business is to engage others.

"The long line to get in" by Brian Caldwell on Flickr.

June’s Social Media Expedition Breakfast is coming up Wednesday, June 3. It’ll be at familiar stomping grounds – the University of Memphis Holiday Inn. As always, it’ll be a great opportunity for good food, good conversation, and some pre-lunch networking.

As usual, admission will be $20 ($15 if you bring along someone new), and you can RSVP at Meetup.

There’s a catch, though: This time, seating is limited to the first 30 people. So act fast, and don’t get left out.

You may be wondering when Web 3.0 will come around. You’re not alone. We’ve been wondering, too. Which is why we’re hosting a panel about the Semantic Web, what many see to be the foundation upon which Web 3.0 will be built.

"I don’t know what you mean.." by Dullhunk on Flickr

The concepts are a little fuzzy around the edges, but the basic idea is that the Semantic Web makes it easier for users to interact with information. Instead of using a search engine to find places to look for the lowest price on a DVD, the new standards will make it possible – even easy – for a search engine to do that comparison shopping for you.

There’s more to it than that, and even Wikipedia’s best explanation is in the first half of the first sentence, where they say "The Semantic Web is an evolving extension of the World Wide Web."

The goal is, essentially, to make Web 2.0 more machine-readable, to make searching, updating, and even creating information easier. This is similar to the goals behind the new "computational knowledge engine," Wolfram|Alpha – but interesting as it is to see the way Wolfram|Alpha interacts with raw data, it’s not quite ready for primetime use. It, along with most of the rest of the semantic web, is mostly conceptual and nebulous at this point.

The Semantic Web is still in the proof-of-concept stage, and it seems that the concepts being proven could still use some explanation.

The difficulty behind defining the Semantic Web is why we’ve assembled a team of people knowledgable about the ideas behind it to present a panel discussion at a future Social Media Expedition Breakfast.

In the meantime, we’ll be keeping an eye on developments, and we’ll keep you updated on how the coming of Web 3.0 is going to affect you.

"I know what you mean.." by Dullhunk on Flickr