Brazen Careerist just developed a Social Resume feature which allows professionals to gather all of their notable social contributions in one place for employers to see. At first glance, it reminded me of VisualCV which serves as an online resume that can showcase not only a standard resume, but your multimedia contributions and overall portfolio as well. While a Social Resume may seem like a good idea at first, one could argue that your entire online presence is your social resume. While employers would have the option to see positive items with Brazen's new feature, why would they not want to see the good, the bad and the ugly of your social presence? One search in Google and you're all theirs. Focusing on building our "social resume" through blogs, tweets, Facebook etc. is more vital. Contributing notable content to the internet on a daily basis is enough to serve as a great social resume any day. I commend them for thinking of this idea but I wonder how much value employers would truly see in it. It can be rather easy to compile and boast of our best work but in a world where information about most can be found with a click of a button, perhaps the attention needs to be focused on the bigger picture.

Read an article today from one of my favorite blogs on the web - ReadWriteWeb.com.  They have decided to use Buzz a bit differently than the rest and it has finally brought that big ol' light bulb back into my head.  Now I sit here realizing what the potential of Buzz is as another social avenue.  While first using Buzz, I was a bit annoyed as I followed people only to see regurgitated info (tweets, blog posts etc.) that could be viewed on all the other sites I connect with them on. It just felt like one big redundant way to gather and broadcast content.   However, RWW wrote the following about their hopes in using the tool:

..."We won't be cluttering up our own Buzz stream with bot-like aggregations and self-promotion. As we've said, if you want to get RWW news, there are many other platforms well-suited to that.  We're really looking forward to getting to you know as individuals in a more casual online environment.

What if we were to cut out all of the self-promotion and all of the links and truly use it to ask questions of one another? Discuss Issues?  Ones that won't just be limited to a 140 @ reply.  These could be questions and discussions that can truly be talked about with a wide variety of people all at once?

One could argue that Facebook can service this need but again, Facebook also consists of the clutter of applications, multimedia, links and thensome.  Perhaps Buzz could be in between for what is defined as a chatroom/forum/blog. People will not feel compelled to write lengthy blog posts in order to evoke response.  Perhaps brands could use it to gather authentic information and input from their customers all in one place without having to ask on their Facebook fan pages where fan comments/company announcements and more are clustered together.

I had left Buzz up and running just in case I finally figured out a use.  If more people were to consider this approach, we may be onto something.  I would say an occasional link posted on an article/topic would be sufficient providing it was not something necessarily tweeted and blogged about on their other social accounts.  While it may be a pain to keep up with yet another site, it may be beneficial as we can lessen our interactions on other sites to gain the same insight/feedback we require as professionals, individuals and companies on a weekly basis.  What do you think?

While I actively promote social media as a means of social interaction, marketing and more, I also understand that you need one thing to be truly active in this space: time. As they say, time is money and keeping up with all the sites you've signed up for can be tedious and demanding. Not only do I have several sites to keep up with, but even this blog is hard for me to update as often as I'd like. Oftentimes I figure that since blog posts will be out there for the world to see, must like newspapers in print - we must make them worthy of being read, so bare with me here. I'm not sure this is "blog worthy" but it's something I'm noticing as of late. Despite my being in this industry, I'm having a hard time doing what I pretty much preach about to others. Hmm, not good.

There are hundreds of social sites out there and while I'm signed up for many, I will admit that the one issue I have is the time to spend keeping up with all of them. While I actively use Facebook on a daily basis, where do I find the time to stay in tune with Twitter, Friend Feed, Seesmic, LinkedIn, CafeMom, Brightkite, Plurk, Digg, StumbleUpon, Flickr, Ping.fm, and more? Each site has their own unique capabilities and can be extremely beneficial but it's mind boggling to be a part of so many of them! To have a profile that is barely active is (to me) worse than having no profile at all. Why be on a site if you cannot put some time into it? I hate to think that there is a number of profiles I've started up laying around abandoned on the web due to my lack of time but after seeing several topics on this subject, none have really led to a solution for me.

The average person is not in social media (as their career) but with the ever growing pressure to be on such networks for social and business purposes, which ones do they choose and how do they find the time between family and work to be active participants? With new ones popping up each day, do we ignore them and give them no love due to "oversaturation" of the social media market despite the possible innovative functionality they may possess? More importantly, for those IN the industry, where do they find the time around client work to keep up their online personalities while not sacrificing the time that should be spent doing other things?

I remember the days when Friendster existed... then Myspace... then Facebook. Now it's a social media frenzy and if you're just sitting on the sidelines and not participating, you're as good as dead it seems. What's a girl to do? It seems in order to be "in the know" and to be a part of "social media", you have to be on every big well-known site but is this true? Is it better to enjoy the little things in life off the web and spend less time online thus damaging your credibility as a "social media expert"? Or being online and "connected" every second of nearly every day while losing your credibility as a mom or a normal human being. When venturing out and seeing something interesting but not photo-worthy to most, I will often capture a picture and upload it to Brightkite. Those around me cannot understand why the iPhone has to be connected constantly and why moments have to be interrupted by taking out the few minutes to upload, write a caption and Tweet about a damn subject or what is going on. Sometimes I snap back into reality and realize that this social media bubble many of us are in and are pressured to be more a part of, is both exceedingly time-consuming and unrealistic. Social media = fantastic. Social media = the wave of the future. I understand this, respect this and love the industry but am not as concerned as others to be visible on every single site for the sake of looking bigger, better and more knowledgeable on the subject. However, in ways I cannot help but sometimes wonder how I can find the time to do more on these sites and keep up with as many (like others do).

Where do you find the time to be human or to do activities in the real world? If we're tweeting every moment of our lives, brightkiting a photo each second and then updating the status on every site, is this real life? What's more important? Online or offline?

Many say social media enhances offline activities - ie business networking/opportunities, like-minded meetups etc. While I believe it does and use it for those purposes myself, I can't help but find it a tad difficult to keep up with it all these days. Those who are constantly connected have to remember that time is precious and irreplaceable. I know I have to remind myself that social media is complementary but certainly should not replace the valuable time you should keep offline. You should too. Social media & time, where do you draw the line and where do you find the time?

I wrote an article on Examiner.com about the community. Come and join us!  I'm the community leader and am excited to be a part of Panasonic's greatest social media effort.  We will be running contests with cool Panasonic product prizes and more.  Feel free to join here - http://livinginhd.com/go/about/home

We all know the value behind the microblogging site Twitter as many of us use it on a daily basis for networking, sharing valuable business information, joking with friends and for some? Fighting with enemies.

It was interesting to see two Hollywood big-wigs (Ashton Kutcher & Perez Hilton) take their beef to Twitter.

Ashton: when you have kids you will understand the pain you have unnecessarily inflicted on my step kids life. You can bash me all day
Perez: Rumer invited the attention upon herself. She is a huge famewhore - and I totally respect that. I love talentless famewhores!
Ashton: honestly don’t even know you and would love to call a truce just lay off my kids man
Perez: I don’t really talk about the other girls. Just Potato Head, mainly. I’m sure she secretly loves it!
Ashton: come by for dinner some night and I’ll show how much she loves it
Ashton: invented attention upon herself, why does that bother you? hmmmm
Perez: I'm a fat kid at heart and am still a porker. I love to eat! Say when and I'll be there!
Perez: See, I don't ALWAYS say mean things about Potato. Kinda. (link)
Perez: And I can guarantee you that if I COMPLETELY stopped talking about Rumerzilla, she'd be sad. Very very sad.

This isn't from the gossip magazines...this is the real deal. I've never seen Twitter get so personal & public for a celebrity. Hilton is notoriously known for making fun of a slew of Hollywood actors but more particularly; their children which is a low blow. Demi Moore's daughter Rumer has received shallow criticism on Perez's website and it's good to see Ashton defending her but even worse to see how much of a shameless coward Perez is. Either way, Twitter has proved to be yet another outlet for those publicly looking to defend their family or in Perez's case - publicly humiliate another human being. I'd like to think this is the worst way to use Twitter... but a way nonetheless.

 

Russ Somers of Egghead Marketing  has summoned me out of my dark hole and has enticed me to blog.  He has "tagged" me in this cool internet meme.  Since I've been so busy with little time to blog and an absolute writer's block, this was the perfect reason to blog.  A) I didn't have to think about the subject.  B) It's fun!

Mr. Somers tagged me for this meme and here I will begin with 7 things you may not definitely don't know about me. 

1) I was born with one kidney.  No joke!  I had no idea up until I was about 19 and went in for what I thought may have been appendicitis!  The doctor said "Good news Kate!  You don't have appendicitis but did you know you only have one kidney?"  He went on further to include that this lone kidney was "larger than the average one" since it had to compensate for the lack of a second one.  It was equally weird as it was interesting.  I looked it up on the internet to find that 1 in 750 people are born with one kidney and it is more common in males.  I also came to find out that the left one is more commonly absent.  Welllll waddyaknow?  I'm a girl (obviously) and my right one is actually missing.  Neato gang!

2) I was confused in college (who isn't?).  I was first an advertising major and once I realized I wasn't that great at ad copywriting (my professors all worked at big NYC ad agencies and were quite blunt about my lack of talent), I decided advertising wasn't for me.  I then ventured into television and film while supporting myself financially by doing internet marketing!  When I had to move back to Boston, there really wasn't/isn't much of a TV & Film industry here (although it is growing a bit), I decided to go for web marketing as it was more of a prominent and stable industry than the commonly freelanced position of a TV production employee.  

3) One of the most inspiring people I have ever met was a 12 year old girl from a village called Putibiw in west Africa (Ghana to be exact).  This girl had more of a spark than 90% of children you meet in the US and had work ethic that was (to be honest) greater than mine.  She worked hard for her family and was probably one of the most curious people I have ever met.  I helped run a summer camp in Ghana for kids and out of all of them that I met, she impressed me the most.  We still keep in touch today!

4)  My first year of college was in Honolulu, Hawaii.  Much to my dismay, it wasn't what I expected.  Being car less in Honolulu isn't really ideal and much of the city is pretty dirty and filled with drugs and crime.  If I ventured off about an hour away, I did find paradise but it was a rare occurrence.  Honolulu, Hawaii - > place to vacation not quite to live.  I then transferred to a university in Manhattan. 

5) I'm a twin.  No, I don't have some equally stunning (HA!) female clone of me running around.  Instead I have a brother who looks nothing like a female (sorry guys) but currently serves in the US Army.  He is roughly 1 hour and 16 minutes older than I am.  (Poor mother!)  When I was born, I came out like this -> one foot, bum and then my other foot.  Doctors would NEVER allow this kind of erratic and strange (and dangerous!) entrance into this world these days but back then they apparently allowed it and this abnormal entrance was a bit phophetic in that  the rest of my life has been the same way -- > unpredictable, strange , awkward but pretty cool too. 

6) I started an email newsletter when I was 12 years old.  It had about 1,000 recipients and I targeted these recipients through AOL 3.0.  I was a massive Buffy the Vampire Slayer (not the movie) fan.  Yes yes..I collected everything "Buffy".  I was so excited about the show that I began a pretty impressive weekly newsletter that was shot out to eager fans.  Back in the day, the word "SPAM" was non-existent so yes, I did send it unsolicited to those who had "Buffy" listed in their favorite TV shows but I told them to simply email me if they wanted out and only rarely did someone say so.  My email newsletter was filled with colorful fonts, photos and information about the show, it's characters and more.   I had this newsletter for about a year until I got too busy with extracurricular sports.  People begged me to continue it but Kate started to grow up... (Not sure that process is still done?!)

7) The pressure is on for this last one huh?  Which factoid shall I choose?  Ok, got it.  This one -> I'm currently unemployed.  Ok, that's not true.  I am, but for myself.  I work at home for myself but am looking for a full time job.  This is totally cheating I know... but I'm looking for a position in Massachusetts but am actually open to possibly relocating somewhere else.  I'd like something in social media and/or web marketing as a whole.  If you want to hook a sista up - comment below or check out my LinkedIn profile. 

Here are 7 interesting people whose blogs are 10x more exciting to read:

Two I know personally...

1. Leslie Poston of  UptownUncorked.com is a social media consultant here in the Boston area and is not only a cool chick but knows her stuff.  She's a great person to connect with and learn from.  

2. Alejandro Reyes aka the SuccessFool is the man!  He runs a great show on UStream and boasts quite a few viewers per show.  This guy is definitely inspirational.  

Five I just admire from afar...(most are within social media but they ALL rock and are ridiculously knowledgeable!)

3. Shimon Sandler

4. Michelle MacPhearson

5. Michael Brito - Kinda, sorta know him!

6. Scott Monty

7. Joseph Jaffe

 

Tag, you're it!

Hello boys & girls, 

I've been neglecting this blog a bit.  Besides currently being in South Africa, I've now begun cheating on this blog and writing as the Boston Internet Examiner for Examiner.com.  The site has grown tremendously and is a great source of information on all subjects - especially local to you.  

The articles are rather short and to the point but cover on subjects that are a bit more factual as opposed to opinion.  This blog is reserved for my rants and opinions.   

Go and check out the articles!  I began writing them this week... Click Here 

Enjoy!

This is definitely not new news but something I keep noticing and appreciating; the ability to comment on people's Facebook feed activity.  I have seen endless conversations via a person's status update and really believe this was a great move.  They have integrated the functionality of a traditional forum thread into the platform and now more than ever people are debating politics, helping eachother with issues and creating more of a social environment than the typical Facebook wall can provide.  These comments show up visibly on the feeds while signing in and encourage the average user to chime in.  Friends of one person can communicate where they wouldn't otherwise have the opportunity to do so thus creating more networking opportunities. I can't say enough about this feature.  Take advantage of it if you haven't already!

Ok so SEO isn't my greatest love when it comes to internet marketing... social media is. Due to this being so, perhaps it's taken me a while to get in the know with how much this "No-Follow" epidemic as grown in the past year or so. Now I know there are arguments from both sides on the pros and cons of this but I can't help but feel that the any non-blog site (particularly e-commerce) looking to link build will be hard-pressed to find a way to increase their SEO efforts now.

No-Follow Making Link Building Far Harder

I understand the reason to add the no-follow tag was to prevent spammers from slapping their posts all over your blog. However, with the new spam filters (especially the Akismet filter) in place on most blogs, this no-follow thing is simply unnecessary. I understand most trying to get links were writing such bland posts like "Hi, great post!" on blogs which was providing no value to the conversation. However, say those who were interested in being a part of their niche blog community wanted to write something of value to these blog posts and deserved a little link credit? Where do they stand? We all know a BIG part of SEO is link building so what do the little guys do?

I tweeted about this and a few people were stuck while others suggested that they do something viral and submit that to the social bookmarking sites and have others blog about it but we don't decide what's viral. You are extremely lucky if a video or concept of yours goes viral. If it were that easy to create viral content, wouldn't we all do it and as often as we could? I understand there are other ways to link build like article submissions and so forth, but how much work will go into getting one quality link? Today I looked at a top site in a position for a certain keyword and they had about 180,000 links. How does a smaller business even get close to that much with this no-follow tag in place? Where are the options to link build these days for non-blogging sites? I understand bloggers can write compelling content and tweet about it, submit it everywhere and share it with the world but what about content on sites that remain relatively the same? E-Commerce sites? Services sites? Is link building for smaller sites a lost cause unless they write ridiculous amounts of content on other sites or coerce some high profile bloggers to blog about them? Are opportunities existent anymore?

Comment if you wish... I genuinely would love to hear your input!

According to my favorite Facebook blog, the new Facebook Voter Registration App which was launched on September 25th, has gotten 40,000 people to register.  This number is staggering compared to the amount that may have registered had there not been an application designed for this purpose.  When turning 18, most students are not given the opportunity to register so easily and this tool has only made the process far quicker and available to the majority of new voters.  

To see that a mere social networking app has done so much in so little time is truly inspiring and certainly makes the positive side of technology a bit clearer in a day where we continuously hear of how it is negatively influencing society.  This is a great move by Facebook and could truly have an impact on this year's election as young voters are more engaged than ever! 

Additionally, the official campaigns, political parties and PACs are using the Facebook medium as a way to influence hundreds of thousands of more voters.

Here you can find 2008 Facebook Statistics on American Politics.  What an exciting time to witness politics, no matter how crazy the race may be and again, kudos to Facebook for creating this modern way of voter registration!