This week I’m flying solo on the Lava Row podcast! I’ve been wanting to bring Megan Smith on as a guest for some time, and last week we finally got the chance to connect via Skype.

Megan is the community manager at Ovation, a multi-platform network devoted to design, photography, art, music and travel. In this episode we discussed online communities, emerging social media trends, and how South by Southwest (where we first met) has changed over the years.

Thanks again to Megan for joining me on the podcast. If you’d like to connect with her, she’s @mightymegasaur on Twitter, or you can look her up on LinkedIn.

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe in iTunes. Got topic of guest ideas? Be sure to reach out and let us know!

Last week I interviewed Julie Roehm of Slash Marketing (an AOL Autos blog) about the state of innovation in the auto industry, and the future of cars as social software platforms.

For example – imagine if your car could overlay Foursquare or Gowalla data on top of your GPS navigation system, showing your friends’ favorite venues as you are visiting a new city. Wouldn’t that be cool?

Before starting her own consulting firm, Julie served as Senior Vice President – Marketing and Communications at Wal-Mart, Director of Marketing Communications at Chrysler and Manager of Marketing Communications at Ford. We touched on the reasons behind Ford’s recent success in the marketplace, how Toyota might have averted their current PR nightmare by investing in the social media space earlier, and open software platforms vs. proprietary.

Pretend that your car had an always-on WiFi connection (and most new models will within three years). What sorts of applications are possible? Chime in below with your ideas.

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe in iTunes. Thanks so much for listening!

It’s that time of year again – South by Southwest Interactive is right around the corner! In our latest podcast I spoke with Bryan Person about the festival, what keeps the city of Austin weird, and the Social Media Breakfast SXSW event being organized there.

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe in iTunes. As always, thanks for listening! If you’re going to be attending SXSW, please leave a shout in the comments section – we’d love to meet you!

Today we interviewed Julia Rosien, Director of Communications at Natura World, about how she’s using social media to build the brand of a mattress company. We chose to highlight Julia to prove a point – that smart, strategic use of social networks can benefit any business, regardless of the product or industry.

The discussion also touches on the FTC’s recent guidelines for blogger outreach and disclosure, and the importance of transparency within Natura’s marketing efforts – differentiating them from other organic businesses that might dabble in less-than-honest “greenwashing.”

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe in iTunes. Thanks for listening, and let us know if you have ideas for future guests or content.

In our latest podcast, we spoke with Sarah Lacy about entrepreneurship in the developing world, the upcoming Facebook movie, and recent Mashable / AOL acquisition rumors. Sarah is the editor-at-large at TechCrunch and author of Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good.

Personally, I loved her story about the entrepreneur in land-locked Rwanda who started a business making toilet paper and now supplies the majority of the country’s product. It’s the common theme of starting a business – discovering a need and filling it.

You can listen to the podcast below, or subscribe in iTunes. Thanks for listening, and let us know how we’re doing!

Hello world, we are now podcasting! Patrick O’Keefe joined us for our first episode. (He’s the founder of the iFroggy Network and author of Managing Online Forums.)

We talked about the ins and outs of successfully fostering digital communities such as blog networks, forums and discussion boards.