However, you do need to always be aware of what shows up where when you post it, and I will give you an example of what I mean.

Yesterday, when a friend was reviewing Facebook, she noticed another friend wrote something on an open group. (The comment appeared in the Facebook ticker on the side of the screen.) She clicked on her comment, and clicked through to the group where her friend was posting. Interested in the group and the group’s conversations, she scrolled down and noticed other posts her friend wrote. In doing so, she found out information that may not be a secret, but that the friend probably did not expect a casual contact to read.

What does this mean to you?

Assume anything you post is pretty easy to find. (Even if it may not be, technically, easy to find. When you post in open groups (maybe groups about job search), even if your friends don’t know about those groups, it’s pretty easy for your participation to be discovered via the side ticker. If you do not want to be found, be sure to study privacy settings carefully. This is Facebook’s FAQs about their ticker and privacy. If you are commenting on a public post, expect the details to be public.

Facebook can help you with your job search, too. The old advice to “be aware of your surroundings” applies, though!

Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

Consider these networks and how they may play a role in your career plans:

Expand your network via Tokkster. This beta-stage web plug-in allows users to chat with others who are concurrently visiting the same website. Asher Adelman, one of Tokkster’s creators, explains how the organization takes privacy very seriously. “We’ve designed Tokkster so that nobody’s data, browsing history or chats are ever collected, stored, or tracked,” he says. In fact, Tokkster users do not have names or ‘handles.’

Be found via Vizibility.com. When you use Vizibility.com, you can make it easier for people to access the information you want them to see when they search for you online. This is a helpful site for job seekers, and it’s particularly useful if you have a common name. Vizibility’s basic features are free, but the site also offers a paid version with more advanced options. The key is to first have some Google-indexed search results (for example, your LinkedIn profile, Twitter account, media mentions, and/or your own website).

Access new information using StartWire. Chris Forman, CEO of the job search organizer StartWire, says, “Using this free tool, you can find out when your online applications are reviewed by thousands of employers and track your progress. StartWire users share where they have applied by emailing their thanks for applying confirmations to apps@startwire.com.

Demonstrate your expertise with Pinterest. Pinterest has been getting a lot of buzz in the blogosphere. Like other networks (such as Twitter) that are not necessarily designed with professional networking in mind, Pinterest has interesting potential job search applications. Using the site (by invitation only, which you receive after adding your name to a wait list), you can create a virtual pinboard of interests about any topic.

Read the rest of the post (with more information about each network) on my US News & World report blog.

photo by L. Marie

I had a chance to speak to Brad Mauney, LinkedIn’s senior product manager, search & social graph. There’s not much more important than being found, especially if you’re in a job search. One of the most useful aspects of any social media platform is the opportunity for people to find you. The adage, “If Google doesn’t know you, you may be no one,” is becoming more prevalent in today’s socially focused environment. LinkedIn tends to rank very well in Google searches, so having an optimized profile is one useful way to be found online.

It’s also important to stand out within LinkedIn. When someone is searching for a candidate with your expertise in that network, how can you help ensure your profile comes up high in their search results? Mauney explained that part of the algorithm LinkedIn uses to determine where you rank in a given search takes into account 1) how often your profile comes up in LinkedIn’s search results and 2) how often searchers click through to view your information when it does appear.

How can you influence this elusive aspect of being found in LinkedIn? Mauney emphasizes the importance of creating a profile that engages viewers and entices them to click through to learn more about you.

How can you encourage people to want to know more about you on LinkedIn? Mauney suggests the following:

Include a picture in your profile. Krista Canfield, LinkedIn’s senior manager, corporate communications, says, “Folks who have a photo are seven times more likely to have their profile viewed in general than folks who don’t have a photo.” While the statistic does not include data about the type of photo, it’s a good idea to use a picture where you appear friendly and approachable. Smile, and be sure you look like yourself, but on a good day! Use appropriate lighting; a professional photo is a great idea, but if that is not possible, take a close-up of your face, wearing clothing that isn’t distracting or busy.

Write an engaging headline. What can you include in your headline to pique a reader’s curiosity? Since your headline appears in search results, it naturally affects how many people decide to click through to learn more about you. Since you can improve your overall ranking in search by earning more click-throughs, pay special attention to your headline. Mauney suggests incorporating an elevator pitch in the headline and not limiting it to your current job title.

Grow your network. Another important factor influencing click-throughs is whether or not you are connected to the person searching. Statistically, people are more likely to click through to learn more about someone if they share a common connection. (Search results list levels of connectivity.) Mauney says a baseline of at least 50 people in your LinkedIn network is important to help users begin to see a real benefit from their connections. He noted that a “trusted network” is the most useful, and encouraged LinkedIn users to connect with people they actually know or do business with.

Other suggestions to help people find you on LinkedIn?

Completely fill out your LinkedIn profile with as many details as possible.

Think about the searcher’s intent.

Titles and “headlines” are important in LinkedIn.

Use LinkedIn’s various tools, including “groups” and “answers.”

Read the complete post at U.S. News & World Report

One of the creaters, Asher Adelman, explained that the application is designed to mimic in-person interactions. Just as you don’t normally wear a name tag when you are out and about, Tokkster users do not have “handles.” All that identifies you when you are using the app is the avatar you upload, and if you choose to share more information when you “meet” others via the app, that is up to you.

Sensitive to privacy concerns, founders chose for Tokkster interactions to be real-time only — just like a regular conversation — chats are not saved. Once a conversation closes, it is gone. The site explains, “Privacy is very important to us, and we’ve designed Tokkster so that nobody’s data, browsing history or chats are ever collected, stored or tracked.”

Tokkster’s site addresses additional privacy concerns:

• Your name and other personal information is not accessible to other users.
• The only thing that people can see of yours on Tokkster is your photo.
• Tokkster does not collect, store or track anyone’s browsing history or their chats.
• If you wish to be “invisible” to other users on certain websites, you can easily minimize the Tokkster app and you will not be seen or or see anyone else. You won’t be able to receive any chat messages when your app is minimized.
• When you log into your email or online banking, Tokkster is automatically disabled. The site notes, “No one can “see”or access any information from your bank, email or other personal accounts.

I’m planning some special events for Tokkster users starting in January. I’ll have some job search and social media Q&A on Keppie Careers’ site, and I’m looking forward to spending time online with other Tokkster users in the new year! Be sure to sign up now so you’ll be well versed in the app when we  get started!

• Be the “home” for people’s professional identity. He noted LinkedIn’s focus on helping LinkedIn users put their best foot forward when applying for jobs.
• Provide insights for users and opportunities to learn from a community, thus making people better at their jobs
• Be “everywhere,” helping professionals access their networks access information and resources.

Nash noted LinkedIn is a “professional operating system for the web” and an “extension of “professional web,” a designation he believes the new “Apply Now” button solidifies. He explained the button helps package and “bring the power of LinkedIn to anyone.” Whether someone is applying for a job, or hiring for a large or small company, he believes this new tool will help.

Any employer or job seeker (who has a LinkedIn profile) may use the button free of charge. In fact, LinkedIn reports:

 “Thousands of companies have the Apply with LinkedIn plugin accessible on their websites today, including LinkedIn, Netflix, LivingSocial, Photobucket, Concur subsidiary TripIt, Foodspotting, GazeHawk, Munch On Me, and Formative Labs. LinkedIn has also teamed up with key Applicant Tracking System (ATS) partners who have enabled the Apply with LinkedIn plugin for their customers today, including Peoplefluent, Jobvite, SmartRecruiters, Bullhorn, and Jobscience.”

“How people hire hasn’t really changed in 15 years,” Nash said. He explained that today, we have an opportunity to know who the people hiring are and to identify whom they know. “Business software needs to acknowledge those relationships,” he said. Distinguishing it from other online applications, LinkedIn’s button offers anyone using it information about how they are linked to the person posting the job and/or the organization, whether or not the job is posted in LinkedIn.

Most job seekers would agree the opportunity to immediately know if they are connected via their LinkedIn networks to the hiring manager or someone in the target company is a great resource. However, easy isn’t always the best approach for job seekers. While this solution eliminates those pesky hoops job seekers usually need to jump through to apply for work, to best take advantage of the opportunity to apply using “Apply Now,” it’s important to keep a few things in mind:

• Complete your LinkedIn profile fully. Include your story in the “Summary” section and add your keywords in the “specialties” section. Pay special attention to your Headline. (I offer detailed information about how to optimize your profile in a free sample chapter of my book, Social Networking for Career Success.)
• If you are a student, don’t forget to complete LinkedIn’s student-focused sections.

Read the rest of my tips on my post on in U.S. News & World Report.

UPDATE: THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT and RTs of this post and for spreading the word to your communities. Due to the death of my father this weekend, we will be postponing the launch of this chat until next week. We will re-post and advertise it when we’re ready to get going.

I’m taking a bit of a break from blogging and social media posting to concentrate on remembering my dad and focusing on family matters. I appreciate your kind support in this difficult time. My social networking community is a big part of my life in good times, and I am lucky to be able to appreciate your thoughts in tough times, too.

I’ve been thinking about how to bring the great aspects of Twitter chats into Google+, and you’re invited to join in the fun!

I’m a big fan of Twitter chats. My favorite, and one I try to participate in regularly is #jobhuntchat, Monday nights at 10 ET. It’s moderated by Rich DeMatteo, @cornonthejob and Jessica Miller-Merrill, @blogging4jobs  If you’re familiar with Twitter chats, they are somewhat informal opportunities to engage with people you know — and meet new contacts, colleagues and experts.

I’m excited to announce my Career Collective co-leader, Jacqui Barrett-Poindexter and I will be launching an interactive Q & A we are calling Career+ Convo on Google+ in conjunction with several Career Collective members and other experts whom we’ll invite to join us. The plan is to meet on Wednesday nights, 9-9:30 pm ET on a G+ page. We’ll post questions (you can send them to me in advance) and you’ll have instant answers from us and any of our colleagues and expert friends who hop on!

We hope you’ll join us for this experiment, which will provide job seekers:

• Answers to your “need to know now” questions.
• Connection points with other job seekers on G+.
• Introductions to career experts (coaches, recruiters, HR experts, etc.) who may be answering questions. This will help you add some experts to your “circles” so you can keep up-to-date on trends and resources.

This week, the chat will be happening on my Google+ homepage. You can click that link or search for “Miriam Salpeter” on Google+ to find the conversation.

Consider checking out the Chrome extension for Google+ to help make it easier to follow the conversation.

To summarize -

YOU ARE INVITED TO THE FIRST CAREER+ CONVO

When: Wednesday, August 3rd, 9 – 9:30 pm Eastern Time

Where: On my Google+ page. Or, just search for “Miriam Salpeter” in Google+ to find where we’ll be.

What you need: A Google+ profile and a willingness to try something new

Please comment to let us know if you’ll be joining, whether you are an expert or a job seeker! Looking forward to trying this out with all of you! Please let your social media communities know about Career+ Convo.

Google+ icon by Samuel McQueen

Via Mashable

Many early adopters are excitedly proclaiming the new network a replacement for everything from LinkedIn to Twitter and Facebook. No one knows how things will shake out in the social networking sphere, but there is no doubt Google+ heightens the importance of your Google profile. If you use Google for search and have a profile already, you may have noticed Google providing search results “from people you know.” Current Google search results may include links (even on page one) identified as being shared by your community. (Assuming your contacts share links regarding the topics you search. They pass along these links by giving articles +1, Google’s version of a Facebook “like.”)

All of this serves to make a profile you probably created casually much more important. If you use Gmail or other Google services, you likely already have a Google profile. Now is a good time to re-visit what you included to be sure to get the most from Google’s new social scene.

Read the rest of the post on my U.S. News & World Report column.

photo by the trial

One of the big reasons to use social media is to help you find people you want to know. I wrote about how to find people on Google+. Be sure to take a look at my post, because it gives you the tools to figure out the next important piece of the social networking puzzle: How to BE found!

Your Google profile (which you probably own but don’t pay much attention) is important. If you’re not already on Google+, you can find your profile via Google profiles: http://www.google.com/profiles.

If you are already on Google+, you can start to test out how easy (or difficult) it is to find you via your profile by searching the various tools I listed in the “how to find people on Google+ post.”Think of the keywords you want people to use to find you. Are you a graphic artist working mostly in Atlanta?  Search, {“graphic artist” and “Atlanta”}. How many pages does it take to find your profile?

Identify the keywords you want people to use to find you. (Follow that link for advice about how.) Maybe your location is not important, but the fact you design custom Facebook pages? Decide your KEY keywords.

NOW – pack your Google profile with those words. Similar to LinkedIn, where it is easier to find you if you include keywords in your titles, descriptions, skills, etc., it appears Google will index you higher in search if your profile is packed with your keywords. List all of your titles. Include professional associations. List anything including keywords in your profile.

A trick?

Google doesn’t offer a “keywords” section to “tag” yourself in the profile, which would be similar to LinkedIn’s “specialties” section, where it is appropriate to list words and phrases relevant to you. Why not add one in?

In your “Introduction” section, add KEYWORDS: and then fill in all the words and phrases you think will help people find you in search. I did it, and it immediately impacted my search results in Google+. Take a look at my profile.

Try a “before” and “after” search to see if your rankings improve. Let me know how it works for you!

photo by Auntie P

1) To expand the number of people you know and who know you. To find and to be found!

2) To learn new information pertinent to your field from mentors and thought leaders.

3) To illustrate your expertise with a community of people who may connect you to opportunities based on learning about you and what you know.

It seems clear Google+ offers a lot (and a lot of potential) to satisfy these needs.

Today, I wanted to share some advice about how to address #1: How to find people on Google+

Recruiters in the social sphere are already buzzing about using Google+ profiles to find and source applicants. It’s important to know how they are looking and to make your profile as searchable as possible. Google doesn’t share its search algorithms, but there seem to be ways to make it easier for people to find you.

How are people searching?

I do not profess to be an expert at Boolean search. Luckily, I know how to find the people who are! If you’re not familiar with Boolean search, it’s a way to create (usually) complex strings of search requirements in order to find the exact results you want. For example, you can write a Boolean string to find engineers who graduated from a particular school. Depending on how complex the search, it may find engineers with a school name in their title, or only those who actually listed they “graduated” from the school. It’s possible to write a search to find people who work in a particular company, or those with a particular job title.

Kelly Dingee wrote a terrific post on Fistful of Talent about why she’s excited about using Google+ for recruiting. (Be sure to read her post; it may convince you to at least create a great profile and hop on board!) In addition to her ideas information about how she plans to use Google+ and Google profiles for search, Kelly provides what she calls a “simple” search string (to use directly in Google) to find an engineer in Google+:

site:plus.google.com google engineer

Irena Shamaeva wrote a great post about how to search Google+ profiles. Irena links to two searches I think are particularly useful for job seekers. Her first link is to search for people on Google+. This brings you to a page inside Google itself, set up to let you search within Google+ profiles. Search for anything you want to find here. Maybe you’ll be looking for expert career and social media advice? Search {“career coach” and “social media”}. Or, even, {career coach, social media}. You’re looking for someone who works in a particular company? The link brings you to “work at Google.” You can search for “work at” any company!

Hopefully, you are recognizing the opportunities to find people on Google+. As the number of people who sign on grows, the opportunities to find, learn from and connect to people will also grow.

Some additional, useful resources for finding people:

@recruiterdotcom details search strings and how to write them in their post. They also wrote a post about how to find people on Google+. They suggest two new tools to try, which seem similar in results to the link above, but are created outside of Google:

• http://findpeopleonplus.com/
• http://www.gpeep.com/

If you’re already using Google+, you may be familiar with “hangouts.” Recruiter.com also highlights a website called gphangouts.com aggregates all the public hangouts on the social network. It includes “recent” and search functions too.

Wait – you want to start from the beginning – what’s Google+? Read this post to get started learning what you need to know.

Stay tuned for more information about Google+. Please consider including me in your “Career Advice” circle. (No one has access to what your circles are named!) Find me in Google+ HERE.

photo by gwen

• Projects: It’s absolutely useful to highlight projects as examples of “experience” on your resume, but you can also include them in a special section on LinkedIn. Pay special attention to projects focusing on work you’d like to continue to do.
• Honors & Awards: A “forever” section — not just for college students, but you may want to point out certain awards you haven’t listed elsewhere. For example, LinkedIn asks, “Did you make the Dean’s List or earn a merit-based scholarship? Add it to your profile. While much of your profile is a subjective characterization of your abilities, Honors & Awards provide objective validation for your accomplishments.”
• Organizations: Many employers appreciate your work with organizations, demonstrating your leadership and other important skills. Keep an eye on describing how YOU made a difference at the organization to help your profile stand out.
• Test Scores: If you have excellent scores you want to share, this is the place! You may include standardized tests or your GPA here.
• Courses: Have you taken a lot of relevant courses, helping you prepare for your next career move? Include select courses on your profile to help demonstrate your background and experience.

How-to: Add new student sections to your profile.

Go to your LinkedIn profile page in edit mode, and click the blue “Add sections” bar under your profile summary.

For details about adding your information, visit LinkedIn’s blog...They remind readers, “Quick Tip:  You can rearrange the sections of the profile to highlight your strongest sections.  Simply click on the section header, and drag and drop it to the best location on the page.”

For a free sample chapter from my book, Social Networking for Career Success (all about LinkedIn), click HERE and scroll to the bottom of the page.