newmediaMike

Free e-book - Using the Social Web to Find Work

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I don’t know how he does it, but Chris Brogan always seems to be able to put his finger squarely on the pulse of the zeitgeist.

I recently received an email from Chris with a link to an e-book he wrote and is freely distributing called “Using the Social Web to Find Work”. This is an informative and to the point e-book that takes you from the specifics of using LinkedIn to your benefit, to some ideas on how to grow and nurture your social networks before you need them.

This fall when I was looking for work the first place I turned to was my social network. I relied heavily on what I now call my “Holy trinity” of social networks - Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. By interacting with my contacts I found out about numerous opportunities and eventually found a great consulting gig (thanks again Alex !).

No matter what industry you are in, even if you think your job is the most solid on Earth, I strongly recommend you download Chris’ e-book “Using the Social Web to Find Work”. and start implementing the tips you will find in it. 2009 is going to be a challenging year, and we are all going to need all the help we can get.

In a down market, online video is on the rise

Despite gloom, doom. bailouts, layoffs, and the worst market conditions in recent memory, online video is expected to buck the downward trend, according to Online Video Watch.

According to the post, monetization is expected to ramp up as  video continues to grow.

Now there is a word in scarce supply these days.  GROWTH. How much you ask? According to the post  video currently contributes about 5% of Forbes.com revenues, but they expect the growth to double in ‘09 with the potential to reach as high as 30% to 50% in the coming years.

I’m glad the folks over at Online Video Watch are so optimistic and found positive news to write about while everyone else is perpetuating the downward slide. But didn’t I say just a few weeks ago online video was hot? I will keep saying it through out 2009.

On a personal note

For some time now I have been contemplating a “personal” blog to document some of the many events that are going on in the other side of my life. A couple of weeks ago I re-worked mikeallan.com - so it is now my own personal blog. I will be still posting to newmediamike of course, I have a whole load of SEO tips I’ve been writing and web video isn’t cooling down any nor is the field of social media. Plenty of my interests to keep writing about!

This blog is coming at the end of a very tumultuous year. I’ll be writing a lot of year end review posts from now until the beginning of 2009, wrapping up and saying good bye riddance to 2008.  2008 has been a landmark year for me, now I’ll be documenting what went on.

I hope you’ll check it out.