Quick-n-dirty Social Media Podcast: Episode 6 Recap

Well, It's only taken six episodes but I think that Jennifer Leggio and I are starting to hit our stride on the Quick-n-Dirty podcast series. For one, we're starting to get used to each other's style (no easy task when you can't see one another). We've also figured out how to use Skype as a back channel for the show. A third thing that helps is that Jennifer and I do live feedback right after our broadcast which is a helpful way to look back at what's worked and what hasn't

For anyone new to the show, here are the recaps of episodes one, two, three, four and five. We'll also be posting the roster for next week's show on the Blog Talk Radio show site soon. The big news for next week's show is that we'll have CEO of music social networking site, Pandora. For no other reason, you'll want to tune in to hear what Tim Westergren has to say about the state of music, how Pandora has battled legal issues and of course, how you can fine tune your Pandora station to get the most out of it.

If you missed this week's show, you can listen to an archive of episode six here. If you're more of a reader than a listener, you'll find a recap of this week's show below:

1. Featured Social Network: Loopt. This geo-location based social network is helpful because it provides real time, GPS-informed data on members' whereabouts. It also allows for members to text, ping or call anyone within their network. Jennifer doesn't love the concept of geo-based networks that don't give you a full of control over who can see what (but she caveats that it's because she's a "'fraidy cat.") I like these types of geo-based services because they are a great way to connect with friends or acquaintances when at a conference or out on the town. For what it's worth, our special guest, Greg Matthews sided with me on this debate. Score one for the guys.
2. Special Guest/Case Study: As I mentioned, Greg Matthews, director of consumer innovation at Humana, was our special guest. He also doubled as our weekly "case study" as he talked about some of the best practices Humana is employing to change the way customers -- not just of Humana, but of the industry in general -- perceive health benefits providers. You can read more about what Greg and Humana are doing over on Amber Naslund's Altitude Branding blog. By the way, Greg's best quote of the podcast (as captured by my partner in crime) was easily, "The concepts of governance and social don't go well together." You can find Greg's blog here.
3. Featured Twitterer: For our first five episodes, we've focused on finding executives that Twitter and blog. As you can imagine, this is no easy task so we've decided to shift focus a little bit to a "featured twitterer." This is someone that "gets it" and that you may or may not know but should be paying attention to. This week, we highlighted none other than Mr. Clue Train himself, Doc Searls. In a nutshell, Doc is funny, human and helpful. He also follows back... okay, not everyone but enough people to avoid the criticism of being to clicquey.
4. Point / Counterpoint: Speaking of clicquey (our point/counterpoint two weeks ago), this time we went toe to toe on a topic Jennifer covered in her ZDNet blog, namely, Is Twitter Making Us All Self-Centered. Jen argues, "yes," because everyone is becoming too broadcast focused. I didn't disagree with her overarching point but stuck with my guns that at the end of the day, you control who you follow. If people are too broadcast focused, you vote with your feet and unfollow them.

Oh, the REALLY exciting news was that we gave away a free 2009 Blog World Expo pass. What was really exciting was that our friend, Jen Wojcik of Austin, TX won (I did the drawing randomly so no griping about the process being fixed). Congrats Jen. We look forward to seeing you at Blog World Expo this fall.

What, this recap wasn't enough? Well go and listen live or download archived podcasts here.