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At Social Media Camp last week in New York City, the real-world value of social media was a hot topic for attendees. Questions about ROI (that's return on investment for all you vehemently anti-corporate and possibly broke folks) abounded, and true experts were on hand to answer.

One such expert, Howard Greenstein, has a mile-long rap sheet in social media and web work that reaches back into the mid-nineties. He is known for his unique blend of experience and enthusiam, both of which he brings to this video conversation about how businesses and brands can use social media.

Ayelet Noff, a.k.a. Blonde 2.0, has been a well-regarded, world-traveling social media strategist for more than ten years and is part of Chris Heuer's AdHocnium unagency, as well. While attending Social Media Camp 2009 in New York City, she took some time to talk with us about the mistakes and misunderstandings she's seen countless brands encounter when working with social media.

"Companies in general don't value social media marketing as much as they should," said Noff. "They're afraid of it; they don't understand it; and therefore, they just don't do it. Yet it's the most cost-efficient way of marketing there is."

At Social Media Camp 2009, Dan Zarrella of HubSpot gave a well-attended presentation about the etiquette and very real-world value of retweets. Although every power user's ego heart swells with pride with each of these 140-character validations he receives, the small- and medium-sized business owners using Twitter for marketing have a much more tangible interest at stake.

There are Twitter Terms of Service that help dictate how content is shared, and there are generally accepted community guidelines for attribution. Zarrella shared his researched insights on how to get more retweets and leverage Twitter to increase mindshare and drive traffic. He also talked about the value of Twitter as compared to other social networks in terms of conversion.

During Internet Week NY 2009, Social Media Club co-founder, Chris Heuer, took a few minutes to chat with us about Social Media Camp, transparency, and streams.

His thoughts might surprise you. Is the firehose of social data further killing our attention spans? Are drunken Facebook party pictures necessarily a bad thing? How do n00bs help refresh the echo chamber? Spend eight minutes of your life with one of social media's friendliest thought leaders; you're guaranteed to hear something new.