Twitter, the micro blogging powerhouse, is the semantic real time search pioneer. When you utilize Google for a search, the return results often include outdated information, dead links, or abandoned blogs. With real time semantic (conversational) search, the returns often include links to conversations that are happening at that moment.

Although Twitter’s internal search engine allows users to RSS subscribe to conversations down to the minute detail, the most robust tool for finding information comes from open source tool Twazzup.com.

7 Reasons to Use Twazzup.com: Case Study Iran

• Real Time Stream: Streaming real time Tweets for the search term(s) “Iran” provide the latest updated information & conversations
• Top Keywords: Returns up to 10 keywords that can be combined with the initial search keyword “Iran” to return 10 separate (and additional) conversations. Example: “Iran” returned “Facebook”, “Twitter”, “Neda” and 7 more keywords
• Featured Tweets: These are considered the most important messages about your keyword search subject
• Top Trendmakers: Twazzup returns up to 10 Twitterers who are driving the conversation and trend for your keyword search subject
• Related Photos: This section provides the top photos for keyword search subject
• Most Popular Links: These are the most read links, most passed around via RT’s on your keyword subject
• Contributors: This is a roll call of all the people who have tweete an event or subject related to your keyword search

“. . . even if you’re new to the party, you’re still well ahead of the curve.” –Mashable’s Adam Ostrow on the adoption of social media and blogging

According to eMarketer.com, cited in a great Mashable article “82 Million User-Generated Content Creators and Counting” by Adam Ostrow :

“More than 82 million people in the US created content online during 2008. . .71 million people created content on social networks last year, while 21 million posted blogs. . .”

The message is clear if not definitive: the paradigm shift is here to stay. The eMarketer.com graph below shows the trend in user content:

Trend to Social Networks and Blogs:

• 82 million people generated content on a monthly basis online
• In 5 years, nearly 115 million people (30% increase) will generate content monthly online
• 71 million people generated content on social networks in 2008
• In 3 years, 94.7 million people (33% increase) will generate content on social networks

Reasons to Adopt Social Media and Blogs Now

• First adopters benefit from the shift more than anyone else
• Establish your Google indexing; stake your SEO “positioning”
• Defend your reputation online and control your name searches
• Build your network to support your career
• Establish your brand as a go-to source of valuable information

“Hiring managers are using the Internet to get a more well-rounded view of job candidates in terms of their skills, accomplishments, and overall fit within the company”–Rosemary Haefner Vice President of Human Resource Careerbuilder.com

Susan and I presented our workshop “Web 2.0’s Impact on Job Seekers: The Changing Roles of the Resume, Job Search, and Job Seeker” at CSIX this past Tuesday to a packed house of over 110 hopeful job seekers. As we settled into facilitating this workshop, we realized that for the first time we were about to present our complete thesis and theme.

We have been supporting blogging as a more powerful and proactive “living” resume since June of 2008. Yet Tuesday was our first opportunity to evangelize the emergence of a paradigm shift, where social media tools and Web 2.0 strategies replaced the resume, as a job seeker’s main marketing tool.

Web 2.0 Paradigm Shift in Communications

The decades of mass media dominance and stranglehold over the control and flow of information is waning. Today is the greatest time in human history for communication, connectivity, collaboration, networking, and delivering your message of value, expertise, and experience to your strategicially targeted hiring managers and companies.

There is a global conversation going on between bloggers, people networking and finding opportunities on Linkedin, resources and messages being broadcast on Twitter, and companies searching for human capital talent throughout the social media stratosphere.

Companies Adopting Web 2.0 and Blogs: Tools to Promote Business

Our friend and blogger Ray Schiel, of globalsocialmedianetwork.com, has produced a massive resource page that outlines the participation of 105 major corporations in blogging, 64 on Facebook pages, 12 podcasting, 12 crowdsourcing sites, and 100’s of companies microblogging on Twitter.

Job Seekers’ Tip: These social media tools are being used by major corporations to promote their products, services, and business practices. If you want to connect with your target company, and they utilize social media tools, then this is a major opportunity to connect as well as demonstrate your understanding of their efforts.

Companies Monitoring Web 2.0 and Social Media: Screening and Hiring Practices

Not only are major corporations utilizing these tools for their own business practices, they are using them to find new talent and perform due diligence on potential applicants. Computer World’s “One in Five Employers Uses Social Networks in Hiring Process” outlines a Careerbuilder.com survey of 31,000 employers. The results are very compelling:

1. 24% of hiring managers “found content on social networks that helped convince them to hire a candidate.” In addition hiring managers said that “profiles showing a professional image and solid references can boost a candidates chances for a job.”

2. 22% of the 31,000 employers said they “peruse social networks to screen candidates.”

3. 9% more of the 31,000 employers said they are planning to do so

4. A total of 9,600 employers are going to search for candidates and perform due diligence rather than rely on resumes to tell a job seekers story

Deliver Your Value First

The conclusion is that job seekers must deliver their value first before attempting to deliver their resume. Social media and Web 2.0 are changing job search. The resume is no longer a job seeker’s marketing tool. It is up to job seekers, in this very rough job market, to utilize these tools in order to stand apart and become memorable.

Susan Mernit is one of the most respected and recognized experts in the field of social media with a focus in “web strategy-product development.” As a former VP at Netscape and AOL and a senior Director of Product development at Yahoo, Susan understands the social media space like few in the industry.

It was of great interest when she published her recent blog article “Susan sez: Social media must haves for the recently laid off.” Her 8 tips for the unemployed are listed here with my comments. Pay attention because this advice is worthy of serious consideration.

1. Facebook: Susan- “Facebook is also a rich source of friends and connections that can lead you to opportunities, jobs, events.”

dean: Yes it can if you have a robust profile that outlines your skill set, what you are looking to accomplish, and your value. In addition make your landing page rich with video, links back to that blog you are going to establish, and your profile on Linkedin.com.

2. twitter: Susan-“a micro blogging platform that shares your updates with people around the world. . . is the newest way to interact with people in the digital world.:

dean: I will go that one further as I believe twitter will surpass many sites as one of the most important social media networking strategies available. I call it my “sound bite sized real time mini press release.” My article describing this strategy for the real estate industry can be modified for a person looking for employment.

3. Your name web site or blog: Susan-“We are truly at the moment when everyone on the planet should that the first thing that comes up when their name is Googled is their very own web site. “

dean: I completely concur. A blog more than a website, unless combined, gives you the chance to populate your page 1 and 2 for a Google search on your name or company name. It gives you a tool to defend your reputation, challenge erroneous information, and block unwanted information on your top page.

4. Wordpress and others: Susan-“This is a continuation of #3 and has to do with what sort of content management system, aka blogging software, you want to put at your URL”

dean: Wordpress.com is the best, most flexible, most robust blogging platform on the planet right now. If you want plug n play, go with Wordpress.com. If you want software to host on your own domain, go with Wordpress.org. Either way begin your writing platform to support your branding “You” and your employment campaign. You do have an employment campaign don’t you?

5. Update your Linkedin profile and import your contacts: “Maybe you’re into LinkedIn, maybe you’re not. If you’re out looking for work, or consulting, you should be. Into it, that is.”

dean: Linkedin is the most important business niche networking site on the internet today bar none. If you are not on Linkedin, fully understanding it’s features, and unaware of the opportunities it offers, you are truly missing the proverbial boat-big time!

6. Flickr: “For the full social media impact, you want to also have a public flickr account.”

dean: This is a case where you can expand your contacts by showing your hobbies or adding pictures that are business related. Your portfolio can be used for your blog or website. Flickr can also provide a new opportunity to integrate into a new community.

7. Join Meetup.com: “Basically, what meet up does is give you the ability to form a group, like I just got laid off in Oakland.com, and recruit members and have meetings. However, and perhaps more importantly, it gives you a chance to search for groups you might want to join and events you might want to go to. . . Meetup is particularly useful for professional groups and association.”

dean: Meetup.com is a great opportunity to find liked minded individuals who are open mined to sharing and learning new ideas. If you wish to network and learn your own value, test giving your value, and possibly meet a great connection, then consider this site.

8. Usage: “Building a presence with social media is just like doing laundry–it’s repetitive, with a cycle of wipe, rinse, repeat. The trick is to modify your behavior so that you’re connecting to people in your professional community via tools like twitter. . . “

dean: It is the biggest marketing opportunity since the telephone, the advent of Word over white out, and the development of business cards. This is the most amazing time in history for communication and connection with a global conversation via blogging and social-niche media sites providing the vehicle.

Question: Are you ready to claim your voice amongst the crowd, develop your writing platform, and hone your brand “You”? It’s all up to you.

Now is the time to take action in this challenging and changing employment environment. If you are a job seeker, a soon to be laid off employee, or someone simply worried about your job security, this message is for you. Your greatest strategy to employment is to utilize Web 2.0 tools, network within the Social Media system, and join the global conversation by establishing your own blog.

Blogging to Employment is a hands-on powerful workshop that provides the job seeker the tool to showcase:

• Differentiating Factor: Stand out from the non-blogging job seekers.
• Knowledge to Expertise: Showcase your business intelligence and assets.
• Employment Campaign: Chronicle your search strategies and answer the hiring manager’s question: “What have you been doing during the past (insert your timeframe) to find employment?”
• Writing Platform: Establish the brand “You”, improve your writing skills through practice, and create content that hiring managers want to see.
• New Skill Sets: Learn to blog and utilize Web 2.0 Social Media Systems.
• Networking: Network globally, within your niche, and to your local market.
• Google Presence: Manage your search placement by populating your top 2 pages on a Google query of your name or business name.
• Reputation Management: Respond, correct, or defend against erroneous information about you online.
• “Living” Resume: Position your blog as an extension of your resume, a landing page where you send people to view your current activities.

4 Strategies to Employment

• Scenario Solution: Take on a company’s challenge, posit your solutions, or review actionable steps that showcase how you might solve their challenge.
• Promote Linkedin Profile: Place a Linkedin widget on your blog that links to your Linkedin profile; place a link within your profile on Linkedin to send readers back to your blog.
• Profile Linking: Link all your profiles on each Social Media site to one another. Also link from these profiles back to your blog.
• What Are You Doing Now?: Promote and tell the world about your employment campaign and writing by placing links on Linkedin and Twitter. Linkedin has a message board and Twitter has a “what are you doing now” message board.

Related Blogging Services:

Blogging to Employment Coaching Package

Business Blogging Basics

Business Blogging Strategies