For “Yay’s,” folks tossed up…

• The new Twitter platform
• A virtual meeting site called TalkShoe
• The just-announced Mac app store
• Flavors.me, which aggregates your social presences
• Seth Godin’s What Matters Now free ebook
• Foursquare excluding homes from searches
• Facebook groups
• The new networking Unsocial app for iPhone and Android
• Hashable.com (or @hashable) – a great way to introduce people on Twitter
• Ravenwood Fair – a new Facebook game by the maker of Doom.

And a “Yay!” for all the happenings in Memphis in October! For the “Boos,” we heard…

• Windows 7 mobile
• Foursquare + the Chicago Mayoral election (and, in all fairness, this got a Yay too…)
• Facebook Docs. If you can call them Docs.
• Facebook takeover of all civilization.
• Foxmarks going out of business. Appears to have resurfaced as Xmarks, tho!

In the general mingling, talk could be heard of the new MacBook Airs, Angry Birds, the attractiveness of Pete Cashmore of Mashable.com, and The Social Network movie.

We were so happy to have many new faces, and loved the opportunity to discuss the pros and cons of starting a webpage on Weebly, SquareSpace, or WordPress. Or, as a fourth option, using a Facebook page as a webpage.

Lastly, we made our fond farewell to long-time Expeditioner, Mark, and wish him the best of luck in Austin! Hope to see you at SXSW.

If I left anything out, please put it in the comments!

We were delighted to have some new-comers, and of course, always great to see some of our regulars. Once again, we did not get kicked out of Davis Kidd, which is really a shame because…

The next Twilight Camp will be at the LunaWeb office! Though I suppose it still wouldn’t be wise to get ourselves barred from Bronte Bistro. After all, there is that yummy chicken salad.

Now for the recap. The conversation kicked off with the news of the hour (of the literal hour), Facebook Places launched in Memphis at approximately 4:30 yesterday afternoon. As of the meeting, only one of us had gotten to use it at all, but what information we did have:

• There aren’t any prizes, badges, or any other “game” element to it.
• You can push check-ins from Foursquare to Facebook Places, but not vice-versa.
• You can tag your friends in your check-ins to let people know they are with you. This could be potentially problematic.*

*If you do not want friends to be able to check you into Places, go to “Account” in the Facebook toolbar, then “Privacy Settings.” Look for “Customize Settings,” then scroll down to the second section, “Things others share.” Find “Friends can check me into Places.” Change the setting to Disabled, and you’re done!

A matter of hours impacted some of the arguments from last night’s discussion of Foursquare vs. Facebook Places. Today, Mashable featured an article on the travel rewards program that will now be affiliated with Facebook Places. Topguest, the service that’s tapping into Facebook’s API, is fresh off the market, rendering its partnerships limited. So limited that, for now, rewards only come in the form of discounted hotel stays, watering down our argument just a bit, but it’s not null and void just yet – and we don’t expect it to be so any time soon… if ever. As for the privacy issues, well, they are still there. All this in mind, it seemed we all agreed that Foursquare is our preferred check-in app/game/stalking mechanism. It seems that it’s becoming that way for many others too. While we were Twilighting, Foursquare CEO Dennis Crowley (@dens) was tweeting: “Just heard from The @HarryH that today was @foursquare‘s biggest day ever in terms of new user signups. #dball4life.” Because Rachel isn’t giving up anytime soon, stay tuned for http://www.foursquarememphis.com/ (not yet live).

Also in Location-Based news, did you know there are different levels of editors in Foursquare? Well, I know at least one of you did. When you’ve checked in enough, it seems you can become a “Level 2 Editor,” which enables you to combine locations. So, if two people created two different check-in locations for Davis Kidd, say “Davis Kidd” and “Davis Kidd Booksellers,” a Level 2 Editor could merge the two locations into one. Who knew? Andy Glover did!

In iPad news (and there’s always iPad news, isn’t there?), Andy has an awesome new case with a very clever strap on the back to slip your hand through so you can easily hold the device with one hand. So simple, yet so brilliant. Then, our iPad scholars sang the praises of the Academic research sharing application, Mendeley (also available for desktop!).

Is the iPhone coming to Verizon? Well, of course, none of us know for sure, but signs point to… maybe. Verizon customers thinking about switching to a smartphone might want to wait a bit longer to see if any more evidence leaks (and we all know Apple has some trouble keeping their announcements under wraps these days).

WordPress bloggers – check out the Zemanta plug-in! This thing is nifty. Once you install it, start writing a blogpost. The plug-in combs your content and recommends links, photos, Wikipedia articles, etc., and it’s super easy and awesome. I know another plug-in that does pretty much the same thing was mentioned. What was the name of that one, Andy?

Don’t miss the breakfast on September 1!

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.

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.

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

This lil guy from South of Beale needs a home

On this week’s Social Expedition podcast, we cover a surprisingly wide range of topics, from Mashable’s Open Web Awards (we liked their “Most Interesting Twitter User” and were fairly nonplussed by their “Best Breaking News Site“) to why the iPod’s interface pwns Guy Kawasaki’s linking. Also: puppies found by South of Beale, Ardent Music, and a disturbingly extensive display of soap opera knowledge among all of us.

Conversations are already starting to sprout up about the South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive conference in Austin, TX.

We brought in Kerry Hayes, the Special Assistant for Research and Innovation from Memphis Mayor A.C. Wharton’s office to talk about the mayor’s use of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media in communicating with Memphians and keeping us updated on what they’re doing. We also cover Net Neutrality and bringing high-speed internet access to all Memphians.

Join us on Friday for the call-in Core Conversations podcast for predictions about what 2010 holds in store for social media, tech, and emerging Web technology.

You can download the podcast here, click the player below to listen on this page, or click the banner to subscribe in iTunes.

We also sit down with the guys from the “Shut Up and Listen” podcast, who have a lot to say about podcasting, Web culture, and more – so much, in fact, that we couldn’t fit it all on the podcast. Stick around; we’ll be posting the unedited interview shortly.

"Valu Thrift Headphones" by Thrift Store Addict on Flickr

Some links mentioned in the episode include:

• Mashable
• Twitter
• Facebook
• Memphis Zoo on Twitter
• Crowdspring.com
• Reaper recording software
• Shut Up And Listen Podcast
• Why Aren’ t You Listening?
• Shut Up and Listen on Twitter
• BarCampMemphis
• Eric Maskol

Download the podcast here, or listen below.