• TONIGHT! The Wordpress Memphis Kickoff!! – 6pm at the LunaWeb offices, 5180 Park, Suite 305
  (FREE)
• LaunchMemphis presents After Hours with Larry Farrell – Sept. 13^th, 5:00 –7:00pm at LaunchMemphis (FREE)
• LaunchMemphis presents a Book Signing with Larry Farrell and Bridget DiCello– Sept. 14^th, 6:30 –8:00pm at Davis Kidd (Also FREE)
• WordCamp Birmingham, Sept. 18 & 19 – http://wordcampbirmingham.org/
  
• BarCamp Jonesboro, Sept 25 – http://www.barcampjonesboro.com/
• Ignite Memphis, Oct. 20, 7:30 pm at Playhouse on the Square
• BarCamp Memphis – November

So go! Jonesboro is only an hour or so away, and we’re trying to put together a caravan to go to Birmingham for WordCamp.

But besides our raves about BarCamps, the podcast also includes a great interview with Michael Synk: the business man, the consultant, the book club organizer. In one of his many roles, Michael coordinates the In-Synk Executive Huddle, a peer group for entrepreneurs and CEOs. In the same vein, he has also formed a Business Book Club, which he describes as “the book club for people who don’t have time to read the book.” RSVP here for the next meeting, which is tomorrow, September 3, 8 am at Davis Kidd, when they’ll be reviewing Blue Ocean Strategy.

After you listen in, find Michael on the web at www.in-synk.com, or on LinkedIn, Twitter, or Facebook!

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

In our social media news, you’ll hear a little of this, a little of that, a little of Twitter, and, as always, a lot of Facebook. In this case, Facebook Questions, which the Social Expedition hopes will eventually become a great compendium of knowledge, and not a forum for silly questions. And don’t be too disturbed if that link takes you to a page that says “We’re not ready for you yet.” The feature is being rolled out slowly.

Android has viruses, Google has multiple account sign-in, and Rdio sounds cool but simply isn’t as free as Pandora. Companies and brands who are having trouble keeping up with all their location-based presences (on the ever-growing number of platforms) will be excited for Geotoko.

Don’t miss the chance to ask questions or have lengthy app-filled conversations on these topics at our Twilight Camp on August 19th! It’s 5:30 at Davis Kidd in the Bronte Bistro. Come chat with us and enjoy a cup of something iced!

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

Elizabeth Cawein, long-time friend of the Social Expedition, loaned us some of her time from Memphis Music Foundation to speak at our August Breakfast. She shared with us some of the ways in which social media is helping Memphis musicians grow and thrive. Besides the usual Facebook and Twitter, Elizabeth also recommends artists utilize sites like bandcamp.com and the old-standby MySpace to connect with their audiences, build relationships, and expand their fan-base.

Plus, Elizabeth issued a challenge to everyone present at the breakfast, and we in turn are extending it to you and everyone in Memphis – Support just one Memphis musician. It can be as simple as signing up for their email list or going to a show. Every bit helps keep Memphis’s rich musical heritage going!

Find the Memphis Music Foundation on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or check out the blog!

Plus, Dave filled us in on some upcoming BarCamp events within driving distance:

• BarCamp Conway – Aug. 20
• BarCamp Birmingham – Aug. 28
• WordCamp Birmingham – Sept. 18 & 19
• BarCamp Jonesboro – Sept. 25

Let’s put together a caravan? And be sure to RSVP for Twilight Camp on the 19th!

In the remainder of the podcast, the Social Expedition grants ‘Yays’ to the new Bump application for iPhone and Android, Amazon and Facebook’s integration,*** and (of all things) MySpace. Emphatic ‘Boos’ must be given however, including to Google’s backlash at Yelp and Facebook’s deletion of the “Most Recent” news feed option for some accounts. Check out the other Yay’s and Boo’s by downloading the podcast below!

Then join us next Wednesday (August 4) for our monthly breakfast at the U of M Holiday Inn to hear more from Elizabeth! It’s at 7:30 in the morning, and we promise the delicious buffet is so worth getting up a little early! RSVP here.

***At the time of this posting, this feature seems to have disappeared. Boo.

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

Wait, Organizational Development and Change? What what? What does that mean? Well, the hint is that it has a lot to how social media has changed not only business, but the customer and how they choose to interact with a business. To learn more about it, check out the podcast. Andy seriously has some interesting observations to share.

He promised to send us some resources for those who want to look further into the ideas he’s exploring in his doctoral program. When he gets that over to me, it will replace this very sentence. Then, go find Andy on Twitter and at his blog!

For the rest of the show, we present to you the “illions.” 500 million Facebook users. 100 million Foursquare check-ins a day. We’ve got the statistics.

Then, aggregation tools are so in. The iPad app Flipboard is pretty, but overwhelmed by their traffic. Yet another location-based service (LBS), Scvngr makes us long for check-in aggregation. Enter FourWhere and Check.in, and they’re just two of the many that are popping up. Ping.fm is kind of the opposite of an aggregation tool- it will take a post and shoot it to your Twitter, Facebook, blog, and any other networks you hook it up to. It’s a great idea to set it up to be an emergency broadcast system, but we definitely discourage using this method for your regular posting. After all, Twitter and Facebook are different for a reason.

Lastly, we didn’t have time to cover this in the podcast, but we definitely want to encourage people to participate in YouTube’s Life in a Day project. Take some video on Saturday, July 24 that reflects your daily life, and send it in. The most compelling video will be compiled into a feature film that will be shown at the Sundance Film Festival. So pull out your cameras and take part, folks!

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

Ash's funky fresh iPad bag.

This week, the Social Expedition sat down with local artist Ash Burns to talk about how she and her husband Paul are utilizing social media to jump-start their new business, AshBDesign.

Right now, www.ashbdesign.com points right to their very active Facebook profile, but this whimsical artist can also be found on Twitter at @ashbdesign, as well as on Tumbler, YouTube, and Flickr. Check out the interview to see how these platforms have been an integral part of expanding the sales of her handmade bags and calligraphy.

A sample of Ash's modern calligraphy.

In the remainder of our time, we touch on news from the usual suspects. A study shows Facebook has addicts (no surprise), LG is launching an Android tablet to rival the iPad, and meanwhile, Apple is dealing with an iTunes hacker that cracked over 400 accounts during the 4th of July weekend. They don’t seem to be too worried about it, though.

Thursday the 15th is our next Twilight Camp. Don’t miss the app talk, the Twitter news, or Bronte’s delicious chicken salad sandwich!

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

Today in our weekly social media expedition, we discover Social Media Day. This holiday, apparently backed by Mashable.com, went unobserved in Memphis, but maybe we’ll catch the next one. Honestly, we didn’t even hear about it until a few days ago. Then, MIT has some exciting news about lightning-fast optical internet connections, but have we heard this before?

Facebook actually takes a step forward in privacy, and we discuss why Facebook applications never took off (except, of course, Farmville). Then, we project that Facebook will go after Google’s lunch with a search engine, but Google might be getting even by launching a whole new social network soon. And an iPhone on Verizon? Let’s not get too excited just yet.

Lastly, our local listeners might be interested in this: A Memphis Marketers and Social Media Tweetup! It’s next Thursday (July 8), from 6:30 to 9pm at Dan McGuinness on Spottswood.

And don’t forget about the Social Expedition’s own July Meetup on the 15th, 5:30pm at Davis Kidd’s Bronte Bistro!

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

We’ve got news in FourSquare, FourWhere (for what?), and the anticipated Facebook-location integration that is “coming.”

We have a short interview with Jeremy Kendall, founder of a new group for PHP developers and open source enthusiasts in the Memphis, TN area. Memphis PHP will have their kick-off event tonight at 6:30 at Cleveland and Eastmoreland. For more information, contact Memphis pHp at @MemphisPHP.

It’s a big night for Memphis growth and development, since the Launch Memphis Reunion is tonight, too! If you can make it downtown to EmergeMemphis/Mercury Launchpad at 6:30, there will be drinks, free food, and lots of opportunity to connect with Memphis entrepreneurs and start-ups. Check out the event on Facebook!

Dave’s getting ready for PII 2010 and heading straight from there to Gnomedex. PII is all about privacy, so if you’ve got any burning questions or ideas you’d like Dave to bring up at that conference, leave us a comment, and we’ll get an answer to you when he gets back in August!

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

Wordpress 3 is out, and all the Expeditioners are enthusiastic. We just haven’t gotten a chance to play with it yet.

In Twitter news, anyone who tweets (or “writes on Twitter,” if you’re at The New York Times) should check out Paper.li. You put in your Twitter name, or anyone else’s for that matter, and it picks up any links shared by the people that the selected user follows. It then sorts the targets of those links by category into a newspaper. Like this…

The links that were retweeted the most, or posted by the most people, will show up at the top. Further down the page, is a section showing all the videos, another for photos, and different sections for technology, health, arts, etc. It’s pretty nifty.

Facebook and privacy made a short appearance in the conversation, as did the recent Intuit breakdown. We oo’d and ah’d over iPad and iPhone cases, and lamented the late arrival of a certain Expeditioner’s HTC Droid Incredible. It’s on the way.

We learned that social media has broken new ground – multi-level marketing. The social network Yournight.com has discovered how a social network can function as a layered, profiting system. It’s hard to get details without signing up, and it’s invite only.

Lastly, the Expeditioners offered an interesting perspective on speeches and mobile phones. In social media land, it is customary, and in no way considered rude, to be constantly looking at one’s mobile phone during a convention or workshop. It is presumed (or hoped) that you are tweeting about the event. Yet, in lands other than social media, this may not be so accepted. So if you find yourself in a conference, make sure to observe the general mobile vibe of the room, since looking down at a mobile device is still considered inappropriate in some settings.

Thanks for a great conversation, everyone. We hope to see you at the next one in July!

Today’s Core Conversation was something a little different, but exceptionally cool.  We “Tribe Sourced.” For anyone who attended TribeCamp in April and sat in on Dave Barger’s roundtable discussion, this isn’t the first time you’ve heard the term, but to most people, the term and the whole concept will be unfamiliar. “Tribe Sourcing” is a new business model that turns the traditional ideas of competition on its head. For a detailed description, you can see the post “What is Tribe Sourcing?” at the LunaWeb blog.

To quickly break down the concept of Tribe Sourcing, though – it is the collaboration of many specialists on one problem to achieve a richer solution. Today, the Expeditioners joined forces for two non-profits, Women of Style, Spirit and Success, Inc. and  Forever Young Senior Wish Organization. This second charitable group works to grant wishes for senior citizens, 65 and older, with a special focus on WWII veterans. Most recently, they organized a trip to the World War II Memorial in Washington D.C. for veterans who had never seen the monument erected in their honor. The group is now hoping to finance another trip. At the breakfast, Expeditioners brainstormed with the founder and president, Diane Hight, on how she might be able to use social media to gain sponsors and help bring more veterans to the memorial.

Not only did the group collaboration bring forth new ideas, but it also raised everyone’s spirits to be working together for two great causes. The Social Expedition certainly wishes both Women of Style, Spirit and Success and Forever Young the best of luck!