Another successful breakfast brought to us by Beth Wilson of Mahaffey Tent and Party Rentals! Beth had just returned from the Search Engine Strategies conference held in New York. The key highlights of what she learned in 5 days, she managed to condense into one hour and share via a presentation followed by a wonderful group discussion.

The highlights of Beth’s presentation were:

• How to use the social realm to optimize a public relations strategy. In today’s PR, the media is search and social savvy, and many are collecting story ideas and sources from Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• How to cultivate an environment on Facebook and Twitter that engages conversation.
• The Amazon.com philosophy: “Don’t spend on advertising; put those funds into service.”
• “Listen Before You Measure’ is the new ‘Think Before You Speak.’”

You can view Beth’s presentation here (or below) and follow @BethB_Wilson on Twitter!

We always enjoy not only our speakers and the enlightenment they bring, but our guests and how they engage. Make sure to bring a guest next time!

See you at Twilight Camp, April 21, and we’ll see you at next month’s breakfast!

Plus, don’t forget about MobileCamp Memphis on May 7! That’s right around the corner, so register now at MobileCampMemphis.com!

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!

(Fun fact: it was Dave’s 62nd presentation in the last two and a half years on social topics, to more than one thousand people.)

Dave talked us through all of the new plug-ins being offered by Facebook to connect the site and its features with sites across the web. The first one on the agenda has already been adopted by around 50,000 sites, and Dave says it will likely be the most game-changing tool of the group: the universal “Like” button.

A user simply needs to grab a snippet of code and plug it in to a site to see the now iconic “thumbs up” appear on a page. When someone visits the site and clicks the button, an item will appear on their personal activity feed and the news feeds of their friends on Facebook, just as it would with activities and interactions within the four walls of the site itself.

Other plug-ins Dave discussed included a comments tool, which will bring the function of commenting — as you would on Facebook in response to a photo, video or note — to external sites, allowing users to leave text comments and, of course, linking that activity back to the user’s news feed.

The fan page widget has gotten a new name, as well, and is now called a “like box.” Other plug-ins include the activity feed, Facepile, Live Stream, Login with Faces (Facebook Connect reborn) and Recommendations.

After the plug-ins, the discussion turned to privacy. Facebook’s recent partnerships with external sites like Yelp and Pandora have made public information that many users thought was only being shared among their friends and connections. Dave noted that one of the main problems with Facebook’s privacy settings is that users have to choose to opt out rather than choosing to opt in.

He walked us through the steps a user would need to take to access privacy settings and discussed each section and potential implications of each — for example, information your friends can share about you. You may think you’re protected because you’ve tightened up your personal security, but your profile details can still find their way out into the public through your friends.

Generally, Dave advised against putting anything remotely sensitive on Facebook; even if you think you have that portion of your profile locked down, Facebook could change the rules of the game at any time, leaving you exposed.

If you want to learn more about online privacy, Dave recommended OnGuard Online, EFF.org and DotRights.org.

Dave wrapped up his presentation with some highlights from his recent trip to SOBCon, including the advice “Quit collecting blueprints and start building something.”

Join us for our next meet-up on May 20, Twilight Camp at Davis Kidd’s Bronte Bistro, and be sure to mark your calendar for next month’s breakfast, happening Wednesday June 2.

RSVP here and be sure to connect with us on Facebook as well. We’ll see you in May!

Much of Dr. Markman’s talk felt like a look in the mirror; the statistics represent who we are as a social network site using population, from our median age to the specific messages we communicate through even a simple status update. Dr. Markman led off her presentation with a huge number — 46. That’s the percent of adult web users who use social networking sites. SNSs, as she called them, have hit the mainstream. Of those users, 73 percent have a Facebook account, while 48 percent are on MySpace, 14 percent on LinkedIn and just 6 percent on Twitter.

One of the key functions of the SNS that is increasing in prevalence is the status update. 19 percent of adult web users share or read status updates through Twitter or another platform, which Dr. Markman noted would include the Facebook status. Status updaters, she said, tend to be younger adults and tend to be early adopters who are highly plugged in.

But perhaps even more interesting than this increase in status interest is the categories of updates Markman introduced. 80 percent of updaters are called “Meformers,” who post self-focused, “me-now” messages. Just 20 percent are considered “Informers,” who share links or information through Twitter and status updates. Both groups occasionally indulged in the more peripheral categories, opinion/complaint and random thoughts.

Teenagers are a whole different animal, tweeting mostly to follow and interact with celebrities, and obsessed with the number of times they’ve tweeted. The statistics go on, and you can download and read Dr. Markman’s full presentation by clicking here. You’ll see more in the slides about the newly emerging racial breakdown of MySpace usage, incredible increases in online video viewership and a taste of Dr. Markman’s own research on podcasting — who podcasts, why they do it, what keeps them involved and more. It’s particularly interesting to us, because we’ve got a podcasting project in the pipeline to get Memphis podcasters together to talk shop. Keep watching here for more information soon.

And while we might not have that kind of time, we were able to pencil ourselves in to Dr. Markman’s 7:30 to 9:30 slot on Dec. 2 for the upcoming Expedition breakfast. She’ll be presenting “Current Trends in Social Media Usage,” talking about the big changes that have been afoot on the social media scene in 2009, and as usual we’ll break up for core conversations following the presentation, so do a little brainstorming on what topics you’d like to see on the shortlist.

The details remain the same: we’ll be at the University of Memphis Holiday Inn and the cost to you is $20, or $15 for you and a guest if you bring along a brand new Expeditionary. Either way, remember to RSVP.

Here’s a little more background on Dr. Markman, taken from her University of Memphis vitae: Markman’s academic research focuses broadly on the areas of identity & anonymity, language & social interaction and organizational uses of technology. She is also interested in the relationship between the internet and popular culture and new forms of media production and distribution. She teaches Computer-Mediated Communication (Communication on the Internet), History of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, Media 2.0: Production & Distribution in the Internet Age and Broadcast Regulations & Programming Policy.

That’s one of the ways Elizabeth Lemmonds, director of marketing and communications for The Leadership Academy, sums up the message of MemphisConnect.com. But however you choose to describe it, the site is using community blogging not only to refresh the national (and international) perspective on our city, but also to connect its citizens and create a hub of information on what’s going on, what’s gearing up and what’s good in Memphis.

Elizabeth Lemmonds, MemphisConnect.com

Lemmonds spoke to Expeditionaries at the monthly breakfast this morning about the history and purpose of the site, but also about the challenges of community blogging and the ways the site is working with social media tools to build and expand. Though she faces some challenges that any blogger could empathize with – keeping a conversation going once it’s ignited, for example – she also faces challenges unique to this medium. For example, you probably wouldn’t hear a blogger complaining about having too much content, but it’s an issue for Lemmonds. With so many contributors and authors, the content, she says, is realistically too much to manage on a daily basis.

But – and maybe she’s crazy – she still wants more. “You have to grow, because if you don’t grow, you’ll die,” she said. So instead of turning content down, she’s constantly looking for new opportunities for growth and learning. In that growth, the site has undergone some changes, like the addition of Facebook Connect to make the log-in process easier for new users.

Cracking the code of that natural ebb and flow of user participation and commenting is another hurdle for the site, Lemmonds said. One of the greatest functions of MemphisConnect is conversation, but it isn’t always easy to keep it rolling. She gave a specific example of a Halloween happenings post by Memphis Daddy Blogger Buck Rogers, and how many comments it received. “One commenter even said, ‘I’ve been online all day trying to find this information, thank you for posting this,’” Lemmonds said. It’s that type of participation (and utility for users) that will keep people coming back.

Lemmonds said the site also aims to bring people in through social media channels, specifically through Twitter. For example, each week on Thursday posts go out through the MemphisConnect Twitter handle asking followers what they’re getting up to over the weekend. The responses are re-tweeted and also posted on the site. Lemmonds said she hopes to see a new functionality in the future that would allow users to post photos in comments, meaning they could give feedback during the week on how all those weekend recommendations turned out.

If you missed out, the good news is that you can get a little taste of what Lemmonds has to say about MemphisConnect through last week’s Expedition podcast, still available for listening or download here.

Expeditionaries gathered in Core Conversations

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