GITweekly

As the wise pundit of TWiT network’s This Week in Google (TWiG), Jeff Jervis adds an amazing non-technical insight into the world of “Google and the cloud”. Jarvis provokes discussion, introduces insightful topics and does it all with a disarming self-consciousness.

He’s released a fantastic book, What Would Google Do?, that tries to understand the machinations behind Google’s success and how these ideas may just be applicable to other modern day industries.

In 2009 Jeff announced that he was fighting the Big-C, prostate cancer. As a result of his survival he’s influenced his audience to at least be aware of the disease and that a prostate check is vital for all of us fellas. This experience has, for obvious reasons, changed his life and subsequently given the title of his new book a multi-level spin (after he openly spoke about some manly issues he was having post-surgery).

Now comes his “Public Parts” or “How sharing in the digital age improves the way we work and live”. This will be out around the 27th September 2011 and I have to say that I can’t wait to have a read. His take on why digital “publicness” can improve work and life will be intriguing considering the advent of increased privacy on both the Facebook and Google+ platforms along with the rise and rise of “cyber” crime.

Let us know your thoughts on both of his reads.

———————————–

You can get Jeff’s books on Amazon (if you use our links we may just keep the lights on a little longer):

Public Parts: Hardback

Public Parts: Kindle Edition

What Would Google Do? Hardback

What Would Google Do? Kindle Edition

Grab a WiFi Kindle!

Or head to Jeff’s own site for his own affiliate codes. Cheers.

When the bidding ends for the services of Kyle Clarke I expect he’ll be sitting in the job that best suits him. The job that he chose. For someone with his level of experience this is a dream come true. But anyone who puts themselves “out there” in such a blatant and egocentric way deserves a chance. But that’s the power of social networking and the web. It’s a whole new game out there.

An egocentric attempt at bypassing the job queues or that little difference that gets the job?

Kyle’s approach is definitely not going to work for everyone. The simple fact that “it’s been done” blunts the chances of it working again. But if you’re looking for work in PR, journalism, new media, IT, or a related field you’d be selling yourself a little short if you don’t use the tools available to you.

So what should you do?

Which tools should you sharpen first?

Which ones should you avoid?

In our humble opinion you should begin with some sort of landing or profile page – and there are many that let you park your persona for free. These pages are your hub. Visitors can then move off and peek at all facets of you from here – or at least the information that you want to give them.

Google profiles, like this simple one from Matt Cutts, gives you some basic information about education history along with links to blog pages and Twitter feeds. Nice. Simple. Not too flashy. But what if you want something more je ne sais quoi?

About.me is about to kick off and there’s a big “land grab” going on. This site will be giving you the chance to create a custom landing page with a great web address attached to it. What this means is you no longer have to link to a page with a million letters in its address (or use an address shortening service). Instead you can place a cool address like About.me/daveywhale onto your business card – sweet.

And what do you get for nothing?

The chance to create a beautifully simple site that says something about you, with only the information you want to part with.

Why the land grab?

Since the web address is short and unique you’d better try and grab your name as fast as you can.

So what about the other social networking tools like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Well in the words of the “yoof”. Meh.

Sure you could use Twitter to search for opportunities. Like I’ve said before, there is a whole load of gold in the Twitter stream that just needs a little sieving. Hash tag searches for #job, #lookingfor, or something along those lines may throw up your chance at the corner office. But I wouldn’t rely on it.

Plugging yourself through Twitter and Facebook is also fraught with danger. Opinions matter. And people often disagree with opinions. A disagreeable potential employer may not come calling. That’s why Twitter and Facebook are great for plugging established businesses or bloggers – what they stand for or say is part of their grand plan. For the new job-seeker this sets off alarm bells in employers.

Lastly comes LinkedIn. Again this is great for the established professionals. Displaying education, previous experience, industry connections and multiple recommendations says to an employer – this person is an asset. Someone who knows a business and could increase our share. On the other hand a new job-seeker may have no connections, no recommendations, and minimal history. It says more about short-comings than anything. So you might have to hold off on this site until you’ve got some history in your pocket.

So in the proverbial nutshell – What social networks should I use to get that job and which should I avoid:

• Get a great landing page. Free ones like Google Profiles or the upcoming About.me are a good way to start.
• Show some flair and try a self hosted site – it shows independance and self-reliance. WordPress is a great skeleton for your site.
• Use Twitter as a job search tool – fine tune your # hash tag searches.
• Facebook and Twitter could promote your opinion and alienate your potential pay cheque provider.
• Beware the drunken Facebook photos. Set up privacy correctly and watch who you befriend – friends of friends may be potential employers.
• LinkedIn works best for subsequent jobs – when you have no history it stands out badly on this site.

Good luck with those job searches peoples.

Google has pulled the pin on its Wave product – at least as a standalone technology.
Its impressive possibilities may crop up elsewhere – but at this stage you’d better get your fix now because it closes at the end of the year.
Sadness. Especially as it came out of Google Australia’s skunkworks.

The Twitter Tsunami Vs The Google Wave

Anecdotally speaking, some days I’m finding that I get more traffic to GITweekly from the mighty Twitter than I do from the big search engine that could, Google.

Look, I’m not complaining – any traffic’s good traffic. Great even.

My only problem is that we may be missing our target audience. You see, at GITweekly we’re trying to chat to the people who aren’t the hardcore tech heads. We’re trying to get some interesting news and ideas onto the desktops of the masses rather than the Android mobiles of the technorati.

Sure the average Twitter user may be in our demographic but people who use Twitter to search out topical news, and subsequently find our Twittered links, may just be a little too hardcore. It’s hard to say and time will tell.

All in all Twitter is proving to be a very powerful tool for marketing, topical news searching and discussion. It’s not just about inane chatter about how soft your stools were this morning. Sorry.

But if you are one of those folks that prides themselves on being “tech-forward” please hang around. Make comment. Suggest story ideas. Heck – write for us. We’d love to see you stay and give “average Joe and Josephine”* something great to sink their teeth into.

Cheers.

*Davey apologises if your name is Joe or Josephine – please substitute either Sandra or Sandro in your names place.