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How many times in a given week, day or hour, do we switch to a browser to check Twitter or Facebook? How much copy pasting do we do to share interesting items with friends using mail or social networking sites?
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Available for download March 2nd
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Sunday, March 1, 2009
You Must Tweet to Compete
If you still think Facebook is for twentysomethings clinging to their college years and Twitter is for people with too much time on their hands announcing what they had for breakfast, think again.
Slideshow: Top 12 Twitter tools
Read about private Twitter alternatives
Social networks like Facebook (150 million users), Twitter (4.4 million users) and LinkedIn (34 million users) are some of the fastest growing sites on the Internet and they're not being used for aimless chitchat or sharing the latest gossip. (Read a related story on the 12 CIOs who Twitter.)
We're talking busy IT professionals using social networks for serious IT business -- everything from customer service to marketing a product to marketing themselves to keeping up with industry news to getting fast answers to a technical question.
Related Content
According to a Network World survey of 583 IT execs, 84% said they visit social networking sites on a regular basis, up from 68% last year. In fact, half of our respondents said they visit a social networking site at least several times a week. Only 29% said they visit social networking sites solely for entertainment purposes, and 64% said they are using social networks more than they did a year ago. (Watch a slideshow of 12 tips to safe social networking.)
LinkedIn is the most popular site among IT pros, with 63% of respondents saying they use it, followed by 44% who say they are on Facebook and 14% who use Twitter.
While there are hundreds of social networks out there (Bebo, Plaxo, Plurk, FriendFeed and Jaiku to name a few), most people stick to the big three: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Sell your product/company
Comcast (Twitter: @comcastcares) might be the standard when it comes to using Twitter to help customers in need. Long derided for bad customer service, the company is turning that around with its Twitter efforts. Twitter about any Comcast-related issue and you'll likely receive a reply in a few minutes asking if they can help. You can do the same.
Jason Williams, (twitter: @whatsupguru) product manager for WhatsUpGold at Ipswitch Software, usesTwitter in a similar fashion to Comcast. He has set up search terms related to his business that he monitors via an RSS feed. If he picks up on a Tweet that might be relevant, he hits reply to engage the person in conversation. "It's a little more of a personal approach," Williams says.
"I've been able to connect with some existing customers as well as people who have Tweeted about network management solutions," Williams says. "I've even gotten a few people to trial our software."
A relatively new feature to LinkedIn is its Groups function, which allows members to share information around a common topic or interest. Set up a group for your company and invite customers and fellow employees to share tips and keep up to date on the latest news coming from your organization.
Facebook offers similar group and fan page (see Network World's Twisted Pair fan club) functions. Members can post comments, photos and more to the site. One caveat to Facebook groups is a lack of notification when something new is published. You have to check back often to see if anything new or interesting is published.
Sell yourself
It's not all about your employer. All social networks blur the line between work and personal, which means you can use these networks to build your own brand.
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"There's an opportunity lost by not being on the larger social networks," says Dan Schawbel, a social media specialist at EMC and author of the upcoming book on personal branding titled "Me 2.0". "People are already searching for other people. Recruiters are looking to fill a void. If they don't come across your name, you'll miss out."
Schawbel equates one's presence on social networks as a living resume that can show both your professional skills as well as everything else you do in life. "You're painting a picture of who you are," he says.
Search engine optimization techniques help put company sites higher up in search results pages. Schawbel says you can use similar techniques to improve your search engine ranking by linking your multiple social profiles together. This is particularly important on Twitter and LinkedIn, where your information is more easily trolled by search engine crawlers. If you have a blog, make sure your various profiles link to it, thereby increasing your search engine worthiness. Facebook is a walled garden and the information within is not as easily indexable, but is nonetheless valuable because it can function as a "mailing list" when you're looking for a job or opportunity.
Building such a network does not happen overnight and should be done over time. "If you forge the relationship over time, then you are seen as a contributor to the community so more people are apt to help you out," Schawbel says.
On the flip side, the blurring of the personal/business boundary in social networks can have negative ramifications if the wrong things are posted. Common sense advice from Nina Buik, president of HP's Connect user community: "Look ahead 10 years from now, whatever you post on [a social network] now; will you be happy with in 10 years?"
Get answers to questions
Got a technical question that needs answering? If you have a big enough following on Twitter or Facebook and/or belong to certain groups on LinkedIn, posing your question to these groups can be a timesaver.
"2,200 people are following me in some way and any given time I put something out there, some percentage of those folks are paying attention and may answer," says Dan York, director of emerging communications technology at Voxeo. He adds that he can save hours of time by posting a question to his Twitter network, which helped him solve a vexing Wordpress mirroring issue recently.
Social networks can also be used to get a feel for how different industries handle technical and business issues. "I am very interested to get the CIO perspective from outside the legal environment," says Jeffrey Brandt, chief information and knowledge officer at the Washington, DC-based law firm Crowell & Moring. Brandt belongs to a number of knowledge management and CIO-related groups on LinkedIn and finds "a lot of people's thought processes are amazing."
Keep up with news/trends
RSS feeds getting to be too much? Twitter and its many associated applications can help you keep tabs on the world around you or at least direct your attention to what is most important.
"It's an attention lens for me," York explains. "I follow a certain number of people that I have deemed to be authorities in their realms, so their links are of interest to me."
Many news sites offer Twitter feeds as a way to catch up on headlines of the day without having to browse a site or delve into an overflowing RSS reader. "I saw Nortel was filing for bankruptcy first on Twitter," says Wayne Bogan, CTO of Spirit Telecom in Columbia, SC., who has his BlackBerry set to check his Twitter feed once per minute to stay in tuned to what is happening.
During a December 2008 ice storm that knocked power out to more than 300,000 customers, Public Service of New Hampshire (twitter: @psnh) used Twitter to deliver status updates on how many customers were still without power and the progress that was being made. For those with limited 'net connections, the updates proved invaluable.
Social networks can also be used to keep tabs on your vendors. Brandt, who takes great care of his LinkedIn "Rolodex", caught a vendor off guard when he asked them who his new sales person was after the last one left. Brandt noted the departure through a change in the person's LinkedIn status. The vendor, it seemed, did not know the guy had left.
Get involved
You don't have to be on a social network 24 hours a day to enjoy the benefits. Keeping your profile up to date on LinkedIn, staying in touch with former colleagues on Facebook and jumping into the occasional conversation on Twitter is enough to build your social network persona and might find you that perfect hire for a job opening or provide the answer to a vexing question.
Original Article - http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/159815/you_must_tweet_to_compete.html
17 Ways to Use Twitter for Business and Some Not
More and more small business folks are giving in to what seems like an insurmountable mountain of hype and jumping on the twitter bandwagon.
But, some people still look at twitter on the surface and conclude that it’s one big waste of time. I can’t say I disagree completely, however, like all social media and marketing tactics, before you can determine if something makes sense you need to analyze your objectives. So, instead of asking why you would use it, ask how it might help you achieve some other already stated objectives.
1) Would you like a way to connect and network with others in your industry or others who share you views? It’s a good a tool for that.
2) Would you like a way to get instant access to what’s being said, this minute, about your organization, people, products, competitors or brand? It’s a good tool for that.
3) Would you like a steady stream of ideas, content, links, resources, and tips focused on your area of expertise or interest? It’s a good tool for that.
4) Would you like to monitor what’s being said about your customers to help them protect their brands? It’s a good tool for that.
5) Would you like to extend the reach of your thought leadership – blog posts and other content? It can be a good tool for that.
6) Would like a way to quickly find vendors, partners, tech help, even employees for your organization? It can be a good tool for that.
7) Would you like to promote your products and services directly to a target audience? Not such a good tool for that, but it can light a path back to your web site!
Now, if that weren’t enough, the open nature of the twitter platform is spawning uses far beyond what was ever imagined or what many people can grasp - and this use of the technology will only get bigger.
Here are few things you may have never considered
9) If you use online todo list Remember the Milk - you can set it up to flow into twitter - this might be a way to assign todos to remote teams
10) Using strawpoll you can create mini polls into your twitter stream - great for flash feedback
11) Use twitter to keep up on traffic jams with commuterfeed
12) Have twitter alert you when you have a meeting with timer
13) Get and fill current job openings with tweetajob
14) Track FedEx, UPS and DHL shipments with TrackThis
17) Get a tweet when your plants need water - - okay this one would be way cooler if it simply tweeted you when the plant watered itself.
Original Article - http://www.socialmediatoday.com/SMC/76820
Tim Esse
Virtual Recruiter
Retail Recruiter
Apple Recruiter
Tech-etiquette for job seekers
If there's any small solace when starting a job search in this recession, it's the proliferation of digital technology to help you re-enter the working world.
Web sites like Indeed.com and LinkedIn.com have multiplied the number of job openings you can track and the professional contacts you can make. E-mail and smart phones make it easier to pitch yourself and set up appointments.
But think twice before picking up that BlackBerry and thumb-typing a message to the hiring manager whose e-mail address you so slyly uncovered online. In the end, landing the right job hinges on old-world skills.
"The electronic piece usually just gets your foot in the door," said Dave Willmer, executive director of Robert Half Technology, a tech industry recruiting division of Menlo Park-based staffing consultant Robert Half International.
"But you still have to present yourself well face-to-face in an interview, and you have to have good references," he said. "I think some job candidates lose sight of that because of all the technology options and capabilities that get your name out there."
Willmer and Kate Wendleton, president of The Five O'Clock Club, a New York-based career counseling company, advise that job seekers -- especially the young and tech-savvy -- frequently misuse electronic gadgets and the Web and run roughshod over professional etiquette.
Some of their advice:
Avoid e-mail blasts: Resist the temptation to respond to each online job listing in your field, and focus on those that fit the best. If you can use personal contacts to learn about an opening that's not widely publicized, your chances of landing the job increase because you've got fewer rivals.
Embrace snail mail: In your first contact with a prospective employer, you're unlikely to stand out if you join the legions of job seekers sending "hire me" pitches via e-mail with resumes attached. E-mails also are too easy for a hiring manager to delete. With snail mail, you control the appearance of your carefully crafted cover letter and resume.
Get personal: If you resort to e-mail pitches, make them personal. If you're introducing yourself to a hiring manager you've identified via a professional colleague, type that colleague's name in the e-mail's subject line and succinctly explain the link so the manager is less likely to hit delete.
Avoid follow-up foibles: If you land an interview, pay attention if the hiring manager specifies how to make any follow-up contacts.
Observe boundaries: Even if you managed to track down a hiring manager's cell phone number, don't call it unless given permission.
Stick with land lines: For any phone contact with a prospective employer, try to use a land line. With cell phones, there's too great a risk that you'll get a spotty connection, lose it altogether, or end up with excessive background noise.
Network the smart way: If you identify a hiring manager or other professional you'd like to connect with on an online networking site, don't send an electronic invitation without explaining why you want to get in touch.
Manage your digital footprint: Be judicious about what you post on social networking sites such as Facebook, and limit access to friends and family if it's something you wouldn't want an employer to see.
Original Article - http://www.pe.com/business/local/stories/PE_Biz_S_jobhunt01.2b6e20e.html
http://jobsearchadvicenet.blogspot.com/2009/03/tech-etiquette-for-job-seekers.html
LinkedIn's Most Unusual Members: Meet The Super-Connected
LinkedIn open networkers, or LIONs, accept almost all LinkedIn connection requests and introduce strangers out of good will. Here's a look at this controversial group and its approximately 16,000 members who'd like to be known as the saints of social networking, but are sometimes called spammers.
Full Article -
http://www.cio.com/article/470122/LinkedIn_s_Most_Unusual_Members_Meet_The_Super_Connected?page=1
http://litips.blogspot.com/2009/03/linkedins-most-unusual-members-meet.html
How to Use LinkedIn Company Profiles For Job Hunt, Networking
Company profile pages on LinkedIn can help you tune into a company's comings and goings, executive relationships, key business facts, and more. Here's how to search and use LinkedIn Company Profiles to your best advantage.
As the recession turns workers of all industries into job seekers, many users of LinkedIn, the social network for professionals, have begun examining the service's free company profiles to see who recently joined (or left) organizations, prepare for interviews and learn about what skills particular employers value in prospective candidates.Since LinkedIn Company Profiles launched nearly a year ago, more than 160,000 companies have established a profile page. If you're job hunting in today's struggling economy, LinkedIn company profiles can help you learn about companies on your short list in greater depth, according to career experts who have analyzed the service. Another bonus: a careful examination of LinkedIn contacts who have recently joined (or worked at) a company can help you determine if the organization would be a good fit, as you compare your own qualifications against the candidates hired.
After using the service and talking with experts, we've constructed a quick primer on LinkedIn company profiles and how you can start utilizing this resource right away for job hunting or networking.
How to Access LinkedIn Company Profiles
1. Log into your LinkedIn account.
2. Click on the "Companies" tab, located on the top (center) of your LinkedIn homepage, just to the right of the popular "Answers" tab.
3. Once the companies page loads, type in a company name (such as "GE" or "Microsoft") into the search bar. In the search results, beside the company you want, you might see a number inside a parenthesis, such as (41), which would indicate that 41 jobs are available at that company.
4. Once you're on the company page, look over to the right column for a "jobs" section to see if any positions are available.
Interested in a company? Learn who you are connected to there.
One of the most helpful features of the LinkedIn company pages: they list your LinkedIn contacts (known on the service as "Connections") who work at a particular company. This list will include your first degree connections (your immediate contacts on LinkedIn), as well as second degree (friends of friends) and third-degree (friends of friends of friends) connections.
"It really can help you network your way in," says Jason Alba, CEO of Jibberjobber.com, a career management firm, and author of the book I'm On LinkedIn — Now What?. "Even if someone is just two connections away, it puts that information right at your finger tips, and you can act on it by connecting with them directly and asking questions about the company."
The LinkedIn Company Profiles page shows your "Connections" who work at the company. Above, we see some Microsoft contacts.
Look at the comings, goings, movers and shakers
A company website wouldn't exactly want to broadcast the names of everyone who just joined or left the organization. But luckily for LinkedIn company profiles, users will keep you informed.
"The real value of LinkedIn is that it's a self-updating database," says Phil Rosenberg, president of reCareered (a career consultancy). "You can see who is coming in, and it might help you figure out what the company is looking for [in candidates]."
As Rosenberg notes, a LinkedIn company profile displays a list of new hires at the company (and links to those new hires' public profiles). This information is purely user-driven, as (presumably) employees who take a job at a company will update their profile information to reflect that change. That user profile information will communicate that information to LinkedIn company profiles.
"By looking at their background, it can give you some hints and clues as to potentially what the company's new strategies are," Rosenberg says. "It also shows how the company is trying to deal with its specific business problems."
LinkedIn also shows changes and promotions that have occurred at the company internally. This could be something as trivial as a minor title change, but culd also be serious promotions or moves between departments.
The past employees section doesn't provide a ready-made timeline for when employees left the company. In order to piece that information together, you have to click on users' profiles and see what information exists on their public profiles. There's an upside to this feature, however: many of the people listed in the "past employees" section could be in your connections (1st, 2nd or 3rd).
"You can use that information to understand lots of things," Rosenberg says. "You can reach out to them to help you understand what the culture is, or maybe who you will be interviewing with if you score an interview. It's an excellent way to learn behind-the-scenes personality issues, so you can make a good impression."
Go to school on your company of choice
LinkedIn company profiles have another convenient feature: key company statistics gathered by Standard and Poor's Capital IQ. Down the right side of the company profile, look for a list of vital data such as revenue, headquarters (and key geographic locations), approximate company size (in employees) and primary competitors. The latter category may spur new ideas for job opportunities as well.
Above, Microsoft's key statistics on its LinkedIn profile page.
This data component shows that LinkedIn has interest in making company profiles a competing product to services such as Hoover's, experts say. In fact, when you you consider the other social components (mentioned above) of LinkedIn company profiles, it might provide even greater user value than Hoover's.
"I think that LinkedIn companies could make Hoover's obsolete eventually," Alba says. "If you're a job seeker preparing for that interview, they're giving you a significant amount of information on LinkedIn that you now don't even need to search Google for."
Original Article - http://www.cio.com/article/480610/How_to_Use_LinkedIn_Company_Profiles_For_Job_Hunt_Networking_?http://litips.blogspot.com/2009/03/how-to-use-linkedin-company-profiles.html
Preparation wins points
Use library, online resources to help ace an interview
Through a local recruiting firm, "Debbie" had landed a meeting with the chief financial officer of a Columbus retailer that she hoped to work for. After exchanging small talk, the executive asked her: "So, what do you think of our stores?" The candidate replied honestly that she'd never been in one.
Oops.
"There's just no excuse for that," said Jay Canowitz of Ives & Associates, the North Side executive search firm that sent the job seeker to the interview. Needless to say, she didn't get the position.
Preparation and research are always important when trying to land a job, but that's even more true in today's competitive market, recruiters say.
"We've definitely heard from employers after an interview that people hadn't done their homework," said Amy Harkins, professional-services manager in the Groveport office of Columbus-based Proteam Staffing.
"Anything you can learn about the company is going to give you a leg up in the interview process," she said. "It helps you understand the business, know if it's a good fit and shows that you've taken the extra time and effort that every employer wants to see."
Where to start? The Internet is a great tool, and a simple Google search and visit to the employer's Web site is a logical place to start.
"At the very least, go to the company's Web site," Canowitz said. "If it's a consumer-products company, find out what they make. If they're a financial-services company, see what states they operate in. If it's a retailer, see what products they sell and where their stores are -- and make sure you go to one."
A Google search can turn up news coverage about the company, along with information that might be useful to know.
If the company is public -- its shares are traded on a stock exchange -- it's easy to find a wealth of information on sites such as Yahoo Finance ( http://finance.yahoo.com), where you can look up everything from news articles and Securities and Exchange Commission filings to stock prices past and current.
Both Canowitz and Harkins recommend getting an insider's perspective on your prospective employer, if possible, by tapping into your extended network of friends and contacts.
Online "insider" sources such as Job Vent ( www.jobvent.com) that allow users to post comments anonymously should be taken with a grain of salt, though. It's impossible to verify a person's identity or to know what ax they have to grind. Plus, no workplace is the right fit for everyone.
"I don't care who the company is in town. I have a resume from someone who doesn't want to work there anymore," Canowitz said.
When it comes to pay, a recruiter usually will be able to tell you a range if you're job-hunting through an employment agency. Sites such as Salary.com and GlassDoor.com post information on salary ranges in specified fields or particular companies. Recruiters say a candidate shouldn't be afraid to negotiate for pay or benefits within reason, even in today's economy. But do so at the appropriate time -- when an offer is made.
Canowitz adds, though, that previous salary history is the most compelling indicator of what your new employer is likely to pay you.
"If the range is $80,000 to $100,000 and you've been making $70,000, most companies are not going to offer you a salary at the top of that range," Canowitz said.
To really research a company in depth, you'll want to tap resources beyond what you'll find by surfing the Internet. For example, try the library.
"Pre-Internet, people used our print resources all the time," said Jay Kegley, manager of the Science, Business and News division for the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Main Library Downtown. "Now, they're less used. Many people aren't even turning to library resources. We have a lot of material you won't find online, and it's authoritative, unlike some of the material on the Web."
A librarian often can help you find material both in print and online that you might not come across yourself.
For example, Kegley recommends the Lexis/Nexis Directory of Corporate Affiliations for researching the relationships between various businesses.
Online, he likes Reference USA ( www.referenceusa.com), a subscriber service that patrons can access at the library or at home using a library card. Reference USA is useful for building lists of companies in an industry or area.
The Main Library has some resources that its branches don't, but all have research materials that can help job seekers.
In short, the experts say there's no such thing as too much preparation for an interview.
If you know the name of an executive you'll be interviewing with, for example, you might want to do a Google search of him or her to try to find common ground -- hometowns, schools and memberships, for example.
And don't forget to do a little research on the interview location.
"Go drive around, see the neighborhood, see where you're going to park," Canowitz said. "You don't want to arrive with just a few minutes to spare and not be able to figure out where to go."
Original Article - http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/business/stories/2009/02/28/RESEARCH.ART_ART_02-28-09_C8_DMD2J1R.html?sid=101
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