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.

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.

Download the podcast to hear that conversation and so much more, including: hash browns. Mmmm.

"IMG_0348" by Joelogon on Twitter

In this episode:

• Social Business: Business is becoming increasingly transparent, where once it was isolated. We talk about David Armano’s recent presentation about social business, and how every aspect of business is becoming more a matter of collaboration rather than heroics.

• SocialMemphis: We spotlight MIFA’s “Something Good in Memphis” campaign, which focuses on people who do good things in and around Memphis and promotes their actions and efforts though social media. Learn more about our SocialMemphis project on Twitter and Facebook.

• We talk with Dana Lewis, a healthcare communications consultant (and University of Alabama senior), who started the #hcsm hashtag for an ongoing, worldwide chat about healthcare communications and social media. Every Sunday at 8 p.m. Central time, she posts topics for group discussion and then participates both from her own Twitter account, and from @healthsocmed.

• Hashtags: we talk about what they are, how they work, and ones we use, including #smexp and #barcampmem.

• Upcoming Events: It’s a busy fall here at the Social Expedition, including two events Friday: the inaugural Feedback Friday and a tweetup before a showing of “Where the Wild Things Are.”

• As we wind things down, we offer our condolences to those who have not yet received Google Wave invitations, and talk about the methodology for keeping the beta testing so limited.

We also mentioned some tools that people use to follow the #hcsm conversation:

• search.twitter.com
• TweetChat
• TweetGrid
• Twitter Web (which is just another name for Twitter.com)
• TweetDeck

Memphis was one of more than 200 cities world-wide that participated in the first-ever Twestival, an event designed to bring together Twitter users to raise money for charity:water, a non-profit that brings potable water to areas in need. Donations were made to the Twestival Web site in advance via PayPal, an e-bay auction and t-shirts and music for sale.

To date, Twestival is one of Memphis’s largest tweet-ups. Tweet-ups are gatherings organized via Twitter, a social networking tool that allows people to post 140-character messages. Memphis’ first tweet-up was in April 2008.

LunaWeb, the group behind Social Media Expedition, created a wiki for Memphis Twitter users that allows them to list their organizations and schedule tweet-ups. More than 50 Memphis organizations and businesses have a presense on Twitter. We’re hoping that even more people are able to attend future Twestivals and tweet-ups.

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