Social Media, Life, and prominence

We hear constantly about Social Media these days until many of us are sick of it (I'm getting a bit tired of hearing about it myself).  In all the discussions, analysis, articles, witty twitters, and so on, one thing gets missed. I'd like to discuss it since social media is both a geeky life tool, a geeky career tool, and a geeky career destination.

And that fact is that Social Media offers nothing new.

Blasphemy, many will say, but it's the truth.  Social Media is completely unoriginal, and that's why it works.

Read more

Week In Review 5/30/2009 – And More

This is going to be our last week in review done in text format – instead we're going to be doing weekly shows every Saturday reviewing the geeky career news and discussing progeek issues at Fan To Pro on BlogTalkRadio!  We haven't set an exact time, but we plan to shortly.

So, let's get to reviewing the news of the week for career geeks!

Lots of Google news.  Google makes it easier on people to use special widgets on the web, further cementing their presence and mindshare.  Big news however was their mega-collboration-communication tool in the works, Google Wave, which has open source elements, and a Twitter integrator.  I'm guessing this is google's big push post-android to shore up web presence and, as I mentioned, dilute the chance for others to dominate in various areas.

Facebook got a huge $200 million investment.  That's a lot of money, but really only a 2% ownership of the company.  Still that's a giant amount of cash to get, and good for Facebook.  As a side note, it seems we've got more Russian investment in social media (remember Livejournal?).  Interestingly Facebook may have peaked among users 55 and older.   Facebook is facing a number of challenges and advantages.

(Also, don't forget the advice you have a social media backup plan).

Hulu took on Boxee, launching it's own desktop (and I suspect making a play for X-box installation).  Boxee of course offers to work with them.  Hulu, for all it's dominance, seems surprisingly insecure, and i want to watch what they do – it could be something self-defeating.

For gaming, the sad note high reviews are no guarantee of sales.

My big takes this week are Hulu, Google, and Facebook.  Hulu seems to be wanting to expand fast and furious, Google already is (and let's face it, a clash involving YouTube is coming.  Again), and Facebook is working to expand.  Those are the 3 to keep an eye on this week.

– Steven Savage

Make your Own Job Title!

Here's an exercise I want you to try – and do it right as you read this.

Sit down and create your ideal job and give it a title.  Do NOT use any existing job description, and do not use any existing job title.  In fact, if you can, when you create that job title, try not to use any words in your current job title if at all possible, even if its close to ideal.

(If you're a fan of fantasy RPGs or games with "class" structures this may be easy for you)

Ready for more?

Read more