 By now you have heard about Google Buzz and maybe given it a shot. At least you tried couple of times then you said “I think I should just check my email.”
You have to give it to Google that they were very smart about their new offering. Instead of launching it as a separate product like Wave, they launched it as a part of something already successful. In case you didn’t know, Gmail is the 3rd largest free email in the world. I personally started out with Hotmail but always felt that email should be fast and easy. Gmail is fast and easy and that is why after using both Hotmail and Yahoo! I decided to divert everything to Gmail. Every time any website asks me for an email, I give out Hotmail. When people ask for email, I give them Gmail. Lately, I haven’t had much time to play with it but so far it has been an okay experience. I don’t use Twitter much because when I ask a question on Buzz, I do get a response. On Twitter it is like I am shooting an arrow in the dark. I have more followers on Twitter by the way. Most people who are following me on Buzz are not really friends and I was little worried the other day that why exactly are all these people following me ...
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Are you having trouble finding people on Twitter? As a recruiter, sourcer /researcher or business development person looking for specific companies or individuals on Twitter, it can be frustrating sometimes - I know I have done it!!
I want to share with you a Twitter search tool that (using the Twitter API) searches the Bio's of everyone on Twitter. It is simple and brilliant. Don't be put off by the name - FollowerWonk, even though it sounds like something out of a Dutch porn movie, this tool is superb! The search screen is simple - don't forget to use the usual search commands - for exact phrases put in speech marks.
As an example, I just did a search for "social recruiting" in Twitter Bio's - here are the results: 
Now, as with searching on all the other online databases - LinkedIn, Job Boards etc just remember that people have many things they call themselves. For example, someone in sales might call themselves a 'sales executive', 'sales representatives', business development manager' or just ' in sales', so try different combinations of job titles, words and phrases to maximise this tool. Now.......get searching and go find the people that you ...
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Every day more and more businesses, entrepreneurs, musicians, athletes and regular people are tapping into the power of social media to cost-effectively create and/or develop their brand. So the passionate entrepreneur or the aspiring musician creates a Twitter account, Blog, YouTube channel and Facebook Fan Page. However, many do not differentiate themselves from the tens of thousands of other Fan Pages or Blogs. It is necessary to apply your style and personality to all your accounts, to the extent they allow for customization. In this post I will focus on your Facebook Fan Page and will discuss the other properties in later posts. So you took the time to create and populate your very own Facebook Fan Page. That’s great, but now it looks identical to thousands of other Fan Pages. If you look at the pages with the most fans, you will notice that nearly all have a custom welcome page that engages the user to browse through the posts, videos and other pieces of content you share. Facebook has a nifty application called FBML, which stand for Facebook Mark Up Language. FBML is a way for computer programmers to develop advanced pages and applications within a Fan Page. This is what ...
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 Not long ago I had a very interesting conversation via TweetChat with someone who is excellent at one thing, Branding. We talked about how many of us bloggers have a unique online persona, one we share with the “world” as it may and one that may be different than our random everyday personality. Good or bad, it does happen and if you do it right, this may just help you to succeed in the craziness of the online social media world.
From the feedback I received I realized that this idea is hardly new. Since the dawn of Hollywood and before, people have been using their public image to enhance their brand. I may not be a movie star, but many of the same techniques still apply. As a PR person, I learned many of these tricks and tips in school and thought I would now share them with you. So here is just a quick refresher on how to use your online identity (public persona) to help solidify your brand. 1. How important is a name? If you make a point to use your full name in all of your online interactions, that’s great…but remember that not everyone will agree and using your real name can inadvertently create enemies. As long as you remain thick skinned, this should be ...
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Here is a true story that made the national press recently, that I hope will prove to companies that they simply cannot ignore the power of social media. Let me explain the chain of events.... 1. A print design company called Gather No Moss, submitted a series of designs to the retailer Paperchase. 2. Paperchase paid a design fee for these designs to Gather No Moss, then proceeded to use these designs on products in their stores. 3. Independent designer (and blogger and Twitterer) Hidden Eloise, noticed in November that Paperchase were using copies of her design on products for sale in their shop >>>plagiarism. Check the short video below showing this: 4. Hidden Eloise contacted Paperchase and asked them to remove the designs. The response was no - in fact they actually increased the amount of products for sale with the copied designs on!! 5. The story hit the national press. Paperchase issued a press release which (subsequently proved) was a 'little off the truth'. 6. Enter social media and the power of the people. 7. Neil Gaiman, the science fiction write, tweeted the predicament to his 1.6 million followers: 8. His ...
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 Social media is a fascinating and new medium for businesses. If done right, social media can be an incredibly viral way of spreading the word about your company, brand, or product. However, because of its “viral” nature, companies are learning the hard way that social media can amplify the good, and the bad, about your company and/or products. All it takes is one mistake in social media etiquette to damage your brand and have bloggers and tweeters from around the world spreading the message about what you did wrong. That harm can be tremendous and should not be underestimated.
Today we look at the major Twitter mistake that a big Japanese company, UCC Coffee, recently did on Twitter. What did they do wrong? And what are the six important lessons that businesses and professionals can learn from it?
I will be honest with you that, when I am in Japan, I am an avid canned coffee drinker. There are vending machines with canned coffee (as well as corn potage, many types of teas, and the usual sodas) on almost every street corner and train platform. And they’re quite tasty. UCC Coffee is ...
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Here are the top 10 mistakes that I see people make: - Unprofessional photo. LinkedIn is not Facebook. This is not a place where you should have on a baseball cap or be dressed inappropriately for your position. You should be represented exactly as people see you in your day-to-day work environment. If you’re a police officer, you should be in uniform, and a banker better be in a suit and tie.
- Not using a custom URL. You can change your URL where it says Public Profile/edit. Use your name, because this is a public link that you can use in marketing materials. Do this now before somebody else takes it.
- Incomplete employment history. Your employment history is a powerful tool for people to find you. It is common for people to search employees of companies they worked for in the past to reconnect with old friends and associates. If you’re not there, you can’t be found as easily.
- Not listing your specific URLs. Don’t be satisfied with the default, “My Company,” or “My Blog.” By simply dropping down to “Other,” you can customize these ...
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We all know that the Internet today is a lot more than just chat rooms and email. People are sharing news, photos, videos and more in real-time. However, as revolutionary as social media is, there is more information bombarding us than ever—and from many different directions. What is Buzz? Recently Google introduced “Buzz,” a social sharing tool that’s built right into Gmail. Buzz allows you to share updates, links, photos and videos with either the world or privately to a select group of friends. In its first 48 hours, Google reported that tens of millions of people had already tried the service.  One of the reasons it’s received so much attention is not because it’s just another Facebook or Twitter, but because it can be accessed right inside of Gmail, an email service already used several times a day, every day by over 150 million people. Talk about bringing something to an already existing user base!
Buzz also allows you to integrate other sites like Twitter, Flickr and Google Reader so others can see what you are doing on the web in one place. If you have ever heard of FriendFeed, which was acquired by Facebook in 2009, Buzz is built on a similar idea. It acts as sort ...
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Business card design will never be the same with Augmented Reality (AR) letting you put more information than ever before on your pocket-size resume. And this is just the beginning… The card designs are more impressive as you follow the countdown till the bottom of the article, where you can find out how to make your own. Enjoy! 10) Giulio Grasso Click here to view the embedded video. 9) John Smith (yes, there’s no sound) Click here to view the embedded video. 8) Yoo.se Not just augmented, interactive too. Click here to view the embedded video. 7) ID 3D AU Business card Almost a whole resume… Click here to view the embedded video. 6) Jonas I love the clickable iPhone icon you use to call him. Click here to view the embedded video. 5) Augmented Advertising agency Because holograms are cool… Click here to view the embedded video. 4) James Alliban Great demonstration of his skills. Click here to view the embedded video. 3) Zehnder Communications For this ad agency, the business card now becomes a whole platform unto itself. Click here to view the embedded video. 2) Burton Posey His Mini-me avatar just looks terrific. Click here to view the embedded video. ...
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 By now you know that we can all benefit from networking online with experienced business professionals, just as we can offline. LinkedIn is one of the best places to do this, and it currently has over 53 million members in over 200 countries—and grows at a rate of one new member every second.
Your visibility on LinkedIn is determined by your connections. For those of us in business, it’s to our benefit to be connected to more people rather than less. Fortunately, once you take a few minutes to search LinkedIn, you’re bound to find lots of contacts from your current and prior companies or employers, clients, vendors, and schools. All of those contacts have the potential to help you grow your business or connect you to potential clients or customers. LinkedIn is known for having a large number of groups, many of which are very active. Groups are great for connecting with people who share similar expertise, educational backgrounds, interests, professions and more—so you will want to think about the types of people you want to connect with when deciding which terms to search on. For example, when I type “massage therapy” into the Groups search box, it returns 65 results in ...
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