Social Media

Brazen Careerist, formerly just the title of career columnist Penelope Trunk's blog and column, has launched today as a social networking site for Gen-Y professionals.

Why isn't this just another LinkedIn?

Trunk says: "LinkedIn is for gen x. Brazen Careerist is the job site for the next generation."

To this end, the site emphasizes ideas over experience—perfect for the entry-level pro.

While we don't think Trunk is always right on the money in her columns, Brazen Careerist sounds like it'll take off like gangbusters—if the company can get enough folks to sign up.

We really don't know the answer to this one but we're gonna throw it out there.

flickr: Spencer E Holtaway; no derivatives.

Let's say you go on a job interview that ends up being a disaster. The hiring manager's a jerk or sexist or racist or abusive or desperate or whatever the situation is, you are like "okay, no way do I want this job."

And in the course of this job interview let's say you met another candidate in the lobby and that person ended up taking the job. They friend you on Facebook or Linkedin and say "Hey, the job didn't work out but I want to keep in touch anyway."

Or, situation two: let's say the small media company where you worked goes belly-up due to managerial incompetence/fraud/or some other horrible thing and everyone loses their jobs. Months later, another laid-off employee says "hey, a couple of the old gang is starting this thing and you should be part of it, and things are a little crazy right now but I SWEAR we're not as crazy as things used to be, heh-heh. so let's be linkedin friends and stay in touch."

Do you accept these requests?

We wonder because SIMILAR things have happened to us. When we think of these people, all we can associate with them is the disastrous company they worked for—whether or not it was their fault, you have to sort of think "well if they TOOK the job at the crazy place, maybe they're a little crazy too." Maybe "disastrous people" is the wrong word; maybe they're "people always sort of hovering around the edges of disastrous situations." But that's way too long to fit in the title bar.

On the one hand, you never know who this person might know that could help you; on the other hand, you have to feel like you dodged a bullet once, and getting back in touch would be like another round of Russian roulette.

Does this only happen to us or is this a common situation?

If this hasn't happened to you, answer the alternate question: is there any person/group of people you wouldn't let on to your social networks?

Careerbuilder is diving into the social media sphere with the launch of BrightFuse.com, a "talent community" where jobseekers can showcase their skills. Kinda like LinkedIn, except, well, run by Careerbuilder. Take that as a plus or a minus depending on how you feel about Careerbuilder.

Even Careerbuilder's own employees haven't really gotten into the thing, as far as we can tell. Here's Michael Erwin, senior manager of corporate communications at Careerbuilder.com.

Is this the definition of "I'm only filling this out because I have to" or what?

We did a search and found that a random sample of other CB.com employee profiles are even less detailed (Erwin, for example, actually bothered to upload a photo) and many are "friends only."

Do you really need another networking site? Apparently not even CareerBuilder thinks so.

One thing BrightFuse seems to offer, unlike linkedin, is that it's free to search by company. (LinkedIn users need to subscribe to view the full names of people who work for a certain company.) This feature may make the service more attractive to recruiters—if anyone gets on the site and uses the dang thing.

Looking for a job? Try one of these:

Social Marketing Strategist at 360i

Social Media Sales Consultant at Meltwater Buzz

Director for Social Media at MH Group Communications

What these jobs have in common: Communications skills, creativity, tech-savviness.

No Twitter follower quota required.

At AdAge, Brad Karsh points out that most of us (clearly not all of us) have figured out how to behave ourselves on the Internet.

But what do you do when your friend tags you in that kegstand photo or your mother asks how your job search is going—while you're still employed at your old job?

A couple obvious, and not-so-obvious suggestions from Karsh:

• Make sure the picture is taken down ASAP.
• Joke about it, but don't lie.
• Be on your best behavior at work. Possibly even postpone your job search, because if you were to leave two weeks later, that looks a little weird, he says.
• And if you're freelancing on the side, don't use social media to proclaim how much you're not committed to your full-time job. Durr.

Not mentioned in the piece, but kind of a no-brainer:

Make sure your privacy settings don't allow the whole damn internet to see you doing that kegstand.

Ahem.

WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE LEARN??

(hat tip: Mashable)

We last wrote about social network Recruiter Earth in March, when the network had 9,000 members. It's now up to, let's see...12,691.

Wow.

Recruiter Earth boasts videos (both user-generated and in-house), podcasts, forums, and a personal page for each member. We mean, it's basically Facebook except with a bunch of nerdy recruiters on it.

If you're looking to network, meet folks, find splits, or just laugh at awkward videos, this is the place.

Speaking of awkward...

Find more videos like this on Recruiter Earth

"Damn this Social Media!" writes HARO founder Peter Shankman. "What works? How do you get people to listen? And most, most importantly - How do you generate revenue from all this stuff? Because in the end, while getting "buzz" and "virality" is nice, if you're not generating revenue, then you're failing. So how do you do it?"

If you're a small business trying to figure out how to get this social media marketing thing, Shankman and social media guru Chris Brogan are holding a one-hour Social Media Primer conference call August 4.

For $50, you'll get the basics of social media. Twitter, marketing, Facebook, and more

Of course, if you want something a little more in-depth, check out our self-paced new media course.

Nicky Digital

Art Jumping is a movement created by Allison Reimus of Jumping In Art Museums. People go to art museums and take pictures of themselves jumping in front of works of art.

Jaeger decided to get the art jumping movement involved. He took a picture of himself jumping in front of a work of art and sent it to Allison to get her to sign on to the idea of trying to get the largest group of art jumpers to jump at the MoMa.

He then wrote to a NY Post writer and invited him to the art jump—not to write about, not as a pitch, but he wrote about it. Here's the piece he did in advance of the event.

The art jumpers who came out took pictures, which went on Facebook pages and on the Jumping In Art Museums blog--which was basically free PR because the participants naturally wanted to post about this kinda weird thing they did. And the photos were great handout art for the MoMa to use in traditional publications.

In all? "We had a really great night, we were ushered around by security guards and allowed to show our stomach hair," he jokes.

Editor-in-chief of BusinessWeek.com John A. Byrne sat down with Social Nerdia to talk about twittering and the value of social media. Here are some highlights:

"Years ago, if you were a smart, ambitious professional you distinguished yourself by having something worthwhile to say about your business or profession. You sought opportunities to be a panelist at an industry or professional trade association. You tried to give a speech at the local Chamber of Commerce. You wrote a bylined article for a trade journal. Today, your active participation in social media can convey similar status and prestige.

"We now have more than 50 editors and writers on Twitter seeking story ideas, sourcing suggestions, and advice on all kinds of editorial decisions from what our lead online story should be to what music to play on our podcasts.

"Lately, some news organizations have banned or heavily restricted the use of Twitter by reporters. That is a big mistake. Besides the advantage to engagement, Twitter is another tool to make newsgathering more effective.

"I envy the young people who are graduating now. Some of them will be creating the new Huffington Post or Slate or TechCrunch. Whatever your dream, don't settle."

Byrne's Twittering has established him in the media world as somebody who really cares about reader engagement as well as a guy who "gets" social media. (Here's a story we did about a dinner he hosted for readers..)

As a reminder, he'll be speaking at the Mediabistro Circus next week (on Wednesday at 1:45 to be exact), and you can still get tickets here.