Now in its seventh year, the annual New Media Expo (formerly Blogworld  & New Media Expo) convened in Las Vegas last week for another of round of socializing on social media, where clever takeaways and pithy bullet points were posted, tweeted, liked and Google+’d at rapid-fire. For those not in attendance, here are four quotes to remember, lightly paraphrased:

1) “You can have the best marketing program in the world, but if you have a piece-of-crap product, it’s going to show. Fix your service before you go and fix your marketing. If you have a good product, let go of your fear and let others tell your story.” Attributed to Scott Monty, Ford Global Head of Social Media and trade show demigod. As part of Ford’s strategy to reach the highly coveted Millennial market, the company gave away Ford Fiestas to young drivers as long as they created monthly videos recording their activities with the cars. The campaign was a runaway hit, with the heavy lifting being done by Ford drivers, not Ford itself. For more check out Ford Social.

Guy Kawasaki (left) promotes his latest book, “Ape”.

2) “Facebook is for people you went to high school with, people you went to college with, people you’re related to, and people you had sex with. Twitter is for perspectives you explain to the world—’The line at Starbucks is long; I’m frustrated.’ Google Plus is the place you explore your passions—you type in knitting and you find a great knitting community. And LinkedIn is for pimping. You find business development, people who can help you get jobs, it’s for pimping and being pimped. And that’s how I would explain the world.” From bestselling author, venture capitalist and former disgruntled Apple employee Guy Kawasaki. No further explanation needed.

3) “I used to have a love/hate relationship with media. Now they have this new thing where I can talk directly to fans and won’t be misquoted. If they do something wrong, I can call them out and they have to defend themselves. I hate when every tweet is an ad—the Kardashians are the worst. My Twitter is to talk to fans and get feedback, good and bad. I’m not on there to sell shit.” Who would’ve thought Dana White, president of Ultimate Fighting Championship, would be a surprise hit? As White proves, social media is a tool both to produce a narrative and to challenge—thereby forcing a response—the narrative presented by traditional media outlets. Note that White belongs to a tiny elite of CEOs who can claim more than 2.3 million Twitter followers to their personal accounts, providing him with a doubly powerful mouthpiece. If the UFC can win on social media, so can you.

UFC President Dana White (left) relishes tough questions.

4) “Last time I declared the word ‘podcast’ dead. See how well that worked out.” Those words belong to the self-deprecating Leo Laporte, whose TWiT network now earns nearly $4 million annually. Thanks to today’s smart devices, it’s easier than ever both to produce and access quality audio on the go. Many believe podcasting is experience a rebirth, including NMX organizers, who set up a high-tech podcasting booth for veterans and novices alike to record their shows.

Bonus quote: One more from Guy Kawasaki, when asked to predict the next digital dynamite: “Only an egomaniac and a troll would answer that question. To put yourself back in history five years ago, people said MySpace would control the world. These so-called experts were saying MySpace would be the operating system of the Internet. Flash forward five years later, MySpace is a thirty million dollar write-off.” Would-be prophets take note.

To watch video of the speakers delivering these presentations in their entirety, click here.