http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28951-2004Oct13.html
Investors Flock to Web Networking Sites
By Michael Liedtke
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 13, 2004; 7:05 AM
Saturday, October 16, 2004
article - "Investors flock to Web Networking Sites", Wash Post, 10/13/04
"From Pull to Point: How to Save The Economist and The Journal from Irrelevance", John Battelle, 10/11/04
Topic is the power of deep linking thru blogs.
John Battelle is Visiting Professor, UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, one of the co-founders of Wired magazine and the founder and former Chair of Standard Media International ("The Standard"), publisher of The Industry Standard and TheStandard.com. http://journalism.berkeley.edu/faculty/battelle/
He makes the same point that Adam Penenberg did in “Searching for the New York Times” (major media is becoming irrelevant because it can’t be found via links) but his emphasis is on blog links rather than search engine links. http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,64110,00.html
I added a comment to his blog entry and linked to my description of SubscriptionPal.
http://battellemedia.com/archives/000957.php
Cynthia
----------------------------------------
From Pull to Point: How to Save The Economist and The Journal from Irrelevance
by John Battelle
http://battellemedia.com/archives/000957.php
EXCERPT (NOT THE WHOLE POST)
“The real issue is how paid registration is handled. I find, increasingly, that sites which wall themselves off are becoming irrelevant. Not because the writing or analysis is necessarily flawed (though honestly, I don't trust journalists who eschew the blogosphere), but rather because their business model is. In today's ecosystem of news, the greatest sin is to cut oneself off from the conversation. Both the Economist and the Journal have done that.
”So what is to be done? My suggestion is simple: Take the plunge and allow deep linking. Notice I did not say abandon paid registration, in fact, I support it. Publishers can let the bloggers link to any story they post, but limit further consumption of their site to paid subscribers.
“I'd be willing to wager that the benefit of allowing the blogosphere to link to you will more than make up for potential lost subscribers. First off, if you as a publisher do not offer additional paid subscription benefits beyond the articles themselves, you're not paying attention to your community. And in any case, many folks will pay to subscribe to a site which is continually being linked to. In fact, I'd wager that the landing pages from blog links might be the most lucrative place a publisher can capture new subscribers. It's a massive opportunity to convert: the reader has come to your site on the recommendation of a trusted source (the blog he or she is reading). It's pretty certain that if you make that page inviting, and use it as an opportunity to sell the reader on the value of the rest of your site, that that reader will eventually feel like the Journal is worthy of his or her support.
“Why? In short, if a reader finds him or herself pointed to the Journal on a regular basis, that reader knows that by subscribing to the Journal, he or she would be more in the know. After all, all of the blogs read and point to the Journal, the reader thinks, so perhaps I should read it too. Before subscribing, the only time a reader might find out something in the Journal is if someone points to it (a far sight from where things stand today, by the way). But if they subscribe, they can get their own RSS feeds, and be first to know something. And, in the end, isn't that what drives subscription sales?
“Net net, I think allowing deep linking will drive subscription sales, rather than attenuate them.”
RE: [webcommunities] Yelp - local recommendations thru friends
Charles,
Wow, thanks for the great link to Slashdot which linked to the Register article which is excellent and links to some other interesting stuff.
Warning!!!!! Social Networking Luddite opinions in those articles!!!! Don’t say you weren’t warned and don’t go there if your toes will get burned.
Cynthia
From: Charles Jo [mailto:cjo@inteliant-tech.com]
Sent: Friday, October 15, 2004 11:20 PM
To: webcommunities@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [webcommunities] Yelp - local recommendations thru friends
Slashdot has a discussion on Yelp here:
http://slashdot.org/articles/04/10/15/1633235.shtml?tid=95&tid=111
My favorite comment from one of the readers is:
It's about time somebody saved me the hassle of having to hit that CC button, my efficiency is going to skyrocket now.
This one may be a tough sell unless they change their model. But out of curiosity, I may test it.
Best Regards,
Charles Jo
Friday, October 15, 2004
article: Neopets gambling controversy
Article: Neopets gambling controversy
http://games.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=04/10/15/1413222
Posted by Zonk on Friday October 15, @10:05AM
from the neoaddicts-eh? dept.
Neopoet writes "Players of the online virtual pet game Neopets (claims 70 million pet owners worldwide) have gone nuts against an Australian current affairs show called Today Tonight after the show ran segments railing against the Neopets for introducing children to gambling. Click below to read on.
It started when McDonalds Australia included a Neopets plush toy with every kids' Happy Meal in
To "feed" their pets, Neopets players have to win points in a variety of mini-games, including versions of poker and blackjack.
TT aired the story Parents not McHappy over pokie toy and the Neopets message boards went nuts. Meanwhile McDonalds heavied Neopets into banning Australians from the gambling games. Today Tonight must have received a lot of hate mail because the next night came Neopet players fight McDonalds ban, featuring interviews with adult Neopets addicts. But this only increased the outrage on the Neopets boards - they're now trying to squash rumors of McDonalds withdrawing sponsorship altogether, and Neopets shutting down."
(this signature is in HTML format)
C y n t h i a T y p a l d o s: Passion, Expertise, Experience
Social Media & Social Software | Web Communities | Online Content Business Models
Online Career Profiles & Social Networking | Software & Internet Product Mgmt & Marketing
cynthia@typaldos.com | 408 867-8875 office | 408 828-1370 cell
Monday, October 04, 2004
my latest bio
I wrote this new bio for the upcoming Online Community Summit conference sponsored by the Online Community Report.
I have been creating, developing, and managing online communities since January 1995 when my co-founder and I launched GolfWeb, a dot.com that included a golf course database with reader reviews and a "find a playing partner" service. With a small group of engineers and product managers I added further capabilities including a classifieds section (1995) and the "GolfWeb Players Club" (July, 1997).
The GolfWeb Players Club was a purposeful community application for golfers to use improve their game. It was offered as a subscription service and consisted of a game tracking system (golfers entered their rounds and the community provided the tee lengths for each course), private and public groups (where members could compare themselves to others in 30 different ways), online searchable and browsable profiles (including a reputation system), "invite a friend", and other features which were unique at the time; now standard in successful online communities. GolfWeb was featured in Business Week as one of the "Best Products of the Year" in the January 1997 issue that covered 1996 (click on the image to make it larger). GolfWeb was acquired by CBS Sportsline in early 1998.
Using my experience at GolfWeb as a specific example, I spent the next year exploring the underlying principles of communities by researching sociology and speaking with the leading sociologists involved in online communities (most notable was/is Marc Smith). From that research I developed "The 12 Principles of Civilization", a framework for developing and analyzing online communities (this space is now also called "social software" or "social media").
In 1998 I founded RealCommunities, a software startup that transformed the "12 Principles" into a software platform. We had early success with 3 major customers, then the internet bubble burst and RealCommunities was acquired by Mongoose Technology.
For the last three years I have been consulting and, with colleagues, creating and managing various free services including the Software Product Marketing eGroup (a.k.a. ProfGuilds) and the ResumeBlog.
My areas of passion, expertise and experience are:
- Social Media & Social Software
- Online Career Profiles & Social Networking
- Online Content Business Models
- Software/Internet Marketing & Product Management
- Enterprise Software Product Management & Marketing
- Speaking, Teaching, & Training: Hi-Tech Marketing
- Software Standards
I am particularly interested in how my clients can tap into existing services such as blogs, groups, Amazon (lists, reviews, guides), eBay, Evite, social networking sites, etc. to achieve their online community goals -- either as prototypes or even as the final offerings. I look forward to discussing this and other topics with the rest of the attendees.
I invite all dog-lovers to visit the blog of Sam, my foster German Shepherd dog, who is seeking his forever home.
Friday, August 27, 2004
Monday, August 23, 2004
Blogs are boring
I’ve come to the conclusion that blogs are boring. And the comments on blog entries are often worse than boring…not only are many of them silly but just like the online guest books of 10 years ago, the software is so unsophisticated that it allows the same entry again and again and again.
The goofiest blogs are the group blogs where a chosen “elite” get to post and the hoi polloi get to respond with comments. Each of the chosen attempts to make brilliant posts that will prove s/he is a genius, and each of the commentators attempt to either kiss up to the blogger (because s/he is one of the chosen), or prove that they (the commentator) are actually much smarter and have an even better idea, or just be silly.
However, I’m sure there are plenty of great blogs and great group blogs – but those are hidden from our view. They belong to cohesive communities, companies, friends, etc. – people that communicated before the internet and are just using blogs as one of the many online tools to continue to accomplish their purpose.
Feel free to agree or disagree or just be silly. And prove me wrong by pointing to a blog that you rely on and passionately follow (feel free to include your own).
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Incompetent people cannot recognize their own incompetence
This study on incompetent people came out a few years ago but a recent experience reminded me of how true it is.
So, in case you missed it the first time around...
"There are many incompetent people in the world. But a Cornell University study has shown that most incompetent people do not know that they are incompetent. People who do things badly, according to David A. Dunning, a professor of psychology at Cornell, are usually supremely confident of their abilities -- more confident, in fact, than people who do things well. One reason that the ignorant also tend to be the blissfully self-assured, the researchers believe, is that the skills required for competence often are the same skills necessary to recognize competence. "
http://www.lingsoft.fi/~reriksso/competence.html
http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/overestimate.html
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0DTI/is_7_29/ai_79826905
http://www.applesforhealth.com/competence1.html
http://comp9.psych.cornell.edu/people/Faculty/dad6.html
lots more here:
http://www.google.com/search?num=100&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&newwindow=1&c2coff=1&q=Cornell+University+psychology+professor+David+Dunning+competence&btnG=Search
Friday, July 30, 2004
Blogging at the Demo Nat'l Convention
Maybe I'm reading the wrong blogs, but most of the convention blogs seem to be drivel. The second biggest story of the convention might we actually need journalists after all. I also found it difficult to even find the convention bloggers (OK, it took a few minutes googling but it should have taken a few seconds). And then they weren't connected to each other so it was a pain to go from one to the other. Only to read exciting comments such as "I'm going to my hotel room now to upload some photos". Please tell me I'm missing something here.
CyberTourists in Boston
July 30, 2004, 4:00 AM PT
By Charles Cooper
Professional politicians aren't famous for being early to embrace new technology. So when the Democrats extended credentials to bloggers to cover the party's national convention in Boston, I was left pleasantly stunned.
With all the pageantry and the circus-like atmospherics that make up an American political convention, you couldn't ask for a better backdrop to show off blogging's potential. In full view of the rest of the journalistic world, here would be the most welcome--albeit belated--recognition yet by the establishment that the media landscape is changing before our eyes.
All the more disappointing, then, to report back that blogging blew its big chance in Beantown.
With a few exceptions, most of the credentialed bloggers came off like cyberhayseeds in the big city.
for the rest of the article go here:
http://news.com.com/2010-1028-5289475.html?tag=nefd.acpro
John Dvorak on the blogger fiasco
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?dist=¶m=archive&siteid=mktw&guid=%7B771BE781%2DB80B%2D48DD%2DB94D%2DA1917D357E4D%7D
Unfortunately you have to register to read, but here are a few tidbits.
Blogging at the convention
Commentary: Results of novel experiment prove mixed
By John C. Dvorak
Last Update: 2:55 PM ET July 28, 2004
Editor's note: John C. Dvorak is a regular contributor to CBS MarketWatch.
Dvorak is a longtime technology industry observer and columnist. His own daily musings can be read at www.dvorak.org/blog.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- When the Democrats issued credentials to between 30 and 50 bloggers and treated them to a special "breakfast for bloggers" at this week's Boston convention, you sensed something is changing in the media.
.......
From what I've seen so far on the Technorati convention blog watch, I'm not impressed.
Many of these posts are vapid observations combined with simple Kerry boosterism or knee-jerk Limbaugh-Republicanist complaints. Some are simply an undecipherable mess. Hopefully a few professionals will come in and publish some thoughtful pieces before the exercise is over, but this looks laughable thus far.
........
Blog mavens see blogging as a new form of media that will destroy the old media and its old-fashioned methodologies. They are living in a dream world.
Blogging is important and will take its rightful place as a resource, but not as a substitute for news organizations. And like the legions of Star Trek fans who pour over every episode frame-by-frame to find flaws, bloggers will, in fact, become the watchdog of the media, combing news reports, and keeping everyone honest. What's more important than that?
CyberTourists in Boston
July 30, 2004, 4:00 AM PT
By Charles Cooper
Professional politicians aren't famous for being early to embrace new technology. So when the Democrats extended credentials to bloggers to cover the party's national convention in Boston, I was left pleasantly stunned.
With all the pageantry and the circus-like atmospherics that make up an American political convention, you couldn't ask for a better backdrop to show off blogging's potential. In full view of the rest of the journalistic world, here would be the most welcome--albeit belated--recognition yet by the establishment that the media landscape is changing before our eyes.
All the more disappointing, then, to report back that blogging blew its big chance in Beantown.
With a few exceptions, most of the credentialed bloggers came off like cyberhayseeds in the big city.
for the rest of the article go here:
http://news.com.com/2010-1028-5289475.html?tag=nefd.acpro
John Dvorak on the blogger fiasco
http://cbs.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?dist=¶m=archive&siteid=mktw&guid=%7B771BE781%2DB80B%2D48DD%2DB94D%2DA1917D357E4D%7D
Unfortunately you have to register to read, but here are a few tidbits.
Blogging at the convention
Commentary: Results of novel experiment prove mixed
By John C. Dvorak
Last Update: 2:55 PM ET July 28, 2004
Editor's note: John C. Dvorak is a regular contributor to CBS MarketWatch.
Dvorak is a longtime technology industry observer and columnist. His own daily musings can be read at www.dvorak.org/blog.
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- When the Democrats issued credentials to between 30 and 50 bloggers and treated them to a special "breakfast for bloggers" at this week's Boston convention, you sensed something is changing in the media.
.......
From what I've seen so far on the Technorati convention blog watch, I'm not impressed.
Many of these posts are vapid observations combined with simple Kerry boosterism or knee-jerk Limbaugh-Republicanist complaints. Some are simply an undecipherable mess. Hopefully a few professionals will come in and publish some thoughtful pieces before the exercise is over, but this looks laughable thus far.
........
Blog mavens see blogging as a new form of media that will destroy the old media and its old-fashioned methodologies. They are living in a dream world.
Blogging is important and will take its rightful place as a resource, but not as a substitute for news organizations. And like the legions of Star Trek fans who pour over every episode frame-by-frame to find flaws, bloggers will, in fact, become the watchdog of the media, combing news reports, and keeping everyone honest. What's more important than that?
Thursday, May 06, 2004
ProfGuilds/ResumeBlog Presentations
We presented yesterday (5/5/04) at the Silicon Valley Product Management Association monthly meeting on the topic of Career Management in the era of globalization (this link goes to the current event, at some point our event will be moved to the archive so if this link does not describe our event, look in the event archive).
Our presentations are in the ResumeBlog blog. One is my presentation on Professional Guilds and Career Management, the other is Sachin Gangupantula's presentation specifically about the ResumeBlog. Heather Hamilton, the Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout, gave a presentation but rather than posting her presentation she will make comments in her blog.
Our presentations are in the ResumeBlog blog. One is my presentation on Professional Guilds and Career Management, the other is Sachin Gangupantula's presentation specifically about the ResumeBlog. Heather Hamilton, the Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout, gave a presentation but rather than posting her presentation she will make comments in her blog.
Sunday, May 02, 2004
BOB - the Big Orange Bee
This is completely unrelated to "work" but...
My relationship with BOB (the Big Orange Bee) is written up in an article on the front page of Saturday May 1, 2004 San Francisco Chronicle Home and Garden section and includes a photo I took of him.
Uncovering the secret life of a blond bee, by Ron Sullivan
BOB is a male Valley Carpenter Bee.
On the webpage, click on the photo to get a larger version, or go here: my photo of BOB
Another photo of BOB that I took.
That’s all the non-blurry photos I’ve been able to take. He never alights.
My plant list is here if you are interested: www.ceanothus.com
My gardener is Jeffrey Caldwell.
Friday, April 30, 2004
My Career is My Business - Presentation
I will be giving a presentation next week on May 5, 2004 evening title "My Career is My Business". I invited Heather Hamilton, the Microsoft Talent Scout, to join me. Sachin Ganganpantula who is a member of the core ResumeBlog team will also be on our panel.
The details can be found here:
Next SVPMA Event
at least until before the event.
I really don't like it when webpages don't have a permanent link. Anyway, if you are reading this after May 5th the SVPMA (Silicon Valley Product Marketing Association) has an archive of the events.
But here are the details. If you read my blog and come to the event, please let me know.
----------------------------------------
Wednesday, May 5th, 2004
My Career is My Business - Career Management in the era of globalization
Speakers:
Cynthia Typaldos, Founder and President - ProfGuilds
Heather Hamilton, Sr. Talent Scout, Microsoft
Sachin Gangupantula, ProfGuilds ResumeBlog Team
Location: Wyndham Hotel
1300 Chesapeake Terrace, Sunnyvale, 94089
408-747-0999 (map)
Cost: $20 at the door for non-members or $100/year for annual membership covering 12 meetings.
6:30 pm Registration/networking/refreshments
7:30 pm Presentation
9:00 pm Wrap-up/networking
Cynthia Typaldos, founder and president of ProfGuilds (previously known as the Software Product Marketing [SPM] eGroup) will speak and lead a discussion on managing your career in the era of globalization. Product marketing and management, like many other knowledge worker occupations. is being globalized and commoditized. Cynthia will speak about how the product management job market will evolve, and how to develop and market a deep expertise thus differentiating yourself. Cynthia will also cover how to achieve professional visibility online, build your reputation, and participate on virtual teams wherever your skills are needed. Heather Hamilton, Senior Talent Scout at Microsoft for marketing, will provide her perspective on the way she seeks out top talent and how this has changed and is further evolving because of the internet. Sachin Gangupantula, a consultant and key member of the ProfGuilds/ResumeBlog team, will highlight the process of creating a ResumeBlog and the benefits this brings.
Cynthia and Heather will also explain the difference between being a “wolf or a potato” in managing your career.
The audience will be encouraged to participate throughout the discussion. This promises to be a lively topic. Please join us and learn the strategies that product managers are using to succeed in today's difficult job climate.
50% off the entry fee if you bring a copy of your ResumeBlog! It’s best to print it in landscape format.
Heather Hamilton and a colleague will be interviewing candidates during the day before and after the presentation for marketing positions at Microsoft (for various geographical locations, not just Silicon Valley or Redmond). If you would like to be interviewed, please follow the directions here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/webcommunities/message/987
Speaker Bios
Cynthia Typaldos is currently the founder and president of ProfGuilds. ProfGuilds is a set of professional guilds for knowledge workers (formerly known as the Software Product Marketing [SPM] eGroup), currently consisting of 5 guilds in the software space (marketing, sales, engineering, project management, and jobs in India), and over 5,000 members. The ProfGuilds are not-for-profit volunteer-managed organizations composed of career-minded knowledge workers who are employees, consultants, contractors, and entire project teams in the software, networking, internet and telecommunications markets. In tandem with the not-for-profit professional guilds she would like to develop a for-profit company to provide services to the guilds including hosted social software, partnerships, consulting projects, and a barter economy (funding needed). The primary services are a job postings and the ResumeBlog service.
Typaldos is a two-time entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in software and networking. She was previously founder and CEO of RealCommunities, an enterprise software platform for collaboration (a.k.a. social networking) applications (acquired by Mongoose Technology in 2001), founder and COO of GolfWeb, one of the first dot.coms (acquired by CBS Sportsline in 1998), Director of Software Product Marketing at Sun Microsystems, Group Manager of Product Marketing at Data General, and Senior Systems Software Engineer at Bank of America
She is widely recognized as an expert on web collaboration, online communities, and social software. She earned an undergraduate science degree and did graduate course work in computer science at UC Berkeley and was awarded an MBA from MIT.
Heather Hamilton has been working in the staffing industry for ten years and is currently Senior Recruiter for Marketing Talent Acquisition at Microsoft. She is responsible for creating and driving strategies for identifying and attracting the industry's best marketing talent to Microsoft. Heather has been with Microsoft for 5 years in different roles, supporting business and technical organizations' staffing needs. Prior to Microsoft, Heather held roles leading the technical recruiting team at a large multi-line insurance company's corporate headquarters as well as staffing full-time consultants for Y2K remediation and application development and application outsourcing projects for a national IT consulting firm. Heather started her staffing career at Robert Half International in the AccounTemps division after a brief career excursion in accounting. Heather has a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and currently resides in the Seattle area.
Sachin Gangupantula is an independent consultant providing services in product and technology strategy, Competitive Analysis, Product Marketing and business development. Most recently, he helped iManage develop, market and deploy highly reliable enterprise collaborative content management solutions. He has over 8 years of experience in developing and bringing to market innovative web-based products and services.
He is currently helping the ProfGuilds team in developing & delivering a compelling open-source innovation with the ResumeBlog Service that redefines Professional Visibility on the web. He is also on the board of SVPMA.
Sachin earned an undergraduate degree from BITS, Pilani and has a Master's in Computer Science from Univ of Hawaii.
The details can be found here:
Next SVPMA Event
at least until before the event.
I really don't like it when webpages don't have a permanent link. Anyway, if you are reading this after May 5th the SVPMA (Silicon Valley Product Marketing Association) has an archive of the events.
But here are the details. If you read my blog and come to the event, please let me know.
----------------------------------------
Wednesday, May 5th, 2004
My Career is My Business - Career Management in the era of globalization
Speakers:
Cynthia Typaldos, Founder and President - ProfGuilds
Heather Hamilton, Sr. Talent Scout, Microsoft
Sachin Gangupantula, ProfGuilds ResumeBlog Team
Location: Wyndham Hotel
1300 Chesapeake Terrace, Sunnyvale, 94089
408-747-0999 (map)
Cost: $20 at the door for non-members or $100/year for annual membership covering 12 meetings.
6:30 pm Registration/networking/refreshments
7:30 pm Presentation
9:00 pm Wrap-up/networking
Cynthia Typaldos, founder and president of ProfGuilds (previously known as the Software Product Marketing [SPM] eGroup) will speak and lead a discussion on managing your career in the era of globalization. Product marketing and management, like many other knowledge worker occupations. is being globalized and commoditized. Cynthia will speak about how the product management job market will evolve, and how to develop and market a deep expertise thus differentiating yourself. Cynthia will also cover how to achieve professional visibility online, build your reputation, and participate on virtual teams wherever your skills are needed. Heather Hamilton, Senior Talent Scout at Microsoft for marketing, will provide her perspective on the way she seeks out top talent and how this has changed and is further evolving because of the internet. Sachin Gangupantula, a consultant and key member of the ProfGuilds/ResumeBlog team, will highlight the process of creating a ResumeBlog and the benefits this brings.
Cynthia and Heather will also explain the difference between being a “wolf or a potato” in managing your career.
The audience will be encouraged to participate throughout the discussion. This promises to be a lively topic. Please join us and learn the strategies that product managers are using to succeed in today's difficult job climate.
50% off the entry fee if you bring a copy of your ResumeBlog! It’s best to print it in landscape format.
Heather Hamilton and a colleague will be interviewing candidates during the day before and after the presentation for marketing positions at Microsoft (for various geographical locations, not just Silicon Valley or Redmond). If you would like to be interviewed, please follow the directions here: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/webcommunities/message/987
Speaker Bios
Cynthia Typaldos is currently the founder and president of ProfGuilds. ProfGuilds is a set of professional guilds for knowledge workers (formerly known as the Software Product Marketing [SPM] eGroup), currently consisting of 5 guilds in the software space (marketing, sales, engineering, project management, and jobs in India), and over 5,000 members. The ProfGuilds are not-for-profit volunteer-managed organizations composed of career-minded knowledge workers who are employees, consultants, contractors, and entire project teams in the software, networking, internet and telecommunications markets. In tandem with the not-for-profit professional guilds she would like to develop a for-profit company to provide services to the guilds including hosted social software, partnerships, consulting projects, and a barter economy (funding needed). The primary services are a job postings and the ResumeBlog service.
Typaldos is a two-time entrepreneur with 25 years of experience in software and networking. She was previously founder and CEO of RealCommunities, an enterprise software platform for collaboration (a.k.a. social networking) applications (acquired by Mongoose Technology in 2001), founder and COO of GolfWeb, one of the first dot.coms (acquired by CBS Sportsline in 1998), Director of Software Product Marketing at Sun Microsystems, Group Manager of Product Marketing at Data General, and Senior Systems Software Engineer at Bank of America
She is widely recognized as an expert on web collaboration, online communities, and social software. She earned an undergraduate science degree and did graduate course work in computer science at UC Berkeley and was awarded an MBA from MIT.
Heather Hamilton has been working in the staffing industry for ten years and is currently Senior Recruiter for Marketing Talent Acquisition at Microsoft. She is responsible for creating and driving strategies for identifying and attracting the industry's best marketing talent to Microsoft. Heather has been with Microsoft for 5 years in different roles, supporting business and technical organizations' staffing needs. Prior to Microsoft, Heather held roles leading the technical recruiting team at a large multi-line insurance company's corporate headquarters as well as staffing full-time consultants for Y2K remediation and application development and application outsourcing projects for a national IT consulting firm. Heather started her staffing career at Robert Half International in the AccounTemps division after a brief career excursion in accounting. Heather has a BS degree in Business Administration from the University of Southern California and currently resides in the Seattle area.
Sachin Gangupantula is an independent consultant providing services in product and technology strategy, Competitive Analysis, Product Marketing and business development. Most recently, he helped iManage develop, market and deploy highly reliable enterprise collaborative content management solutions. He has over 8 years of experience in developing and bringing to market innovative web-based products and services.
He is currently helping the ProfGuilds team in developing & delivering a compelling open-source innovation with the ResumeBlog Service that redefines Professional Visibility on the web. He is also on the board of SVPMA.
Sachin earned an undergraduate degree from BITS, Pilani and has a Master's in Computer Science from Univ of Hawaii.
Sunday, March 21, 2004
Honesty Online Higher than Offline
March 21, 2004
The New York Times
ESSAY
The Honesty Virus
By CLIVE THOMPSON
This is an incredibly interesting article, that draws the conclusion that people are more truthful online than in person or on the phone. I’ve highlighted the most interesting parts below.
The author’s last two paragraphs are astonishing…yet he seems to be on the right path. I certainly agree that I can get to know someone just as well, maybe even better, by working with them virtually.
The New York Times
ESSAY
The Honesty Virus
By CLIVE THOMPSON
This is an incredibly interesting article, that draws the conclusion that people are more truthful online than in person or on the phone. I’ve highlighted the most interesting parts below.
The author’s last two paragraphs are astonishing…yet he seems to be on the right path. I certainly agree that I can get to know someone just as well, maybe even better, by working with them virtually.
- Our impulse to confess via cyberspace inverts much of what we think about honesty. It used to be that if you wanted to know someone -- to really know and trust them -- you arranged a face-to-face meeting. Our culture still fetishizes physical contact, the shaking of hands, the lubricating chitchat. Executives and politicians spend hours flying across the country merely for a five-minute meeting, on the assumption that even a few seconds of face time can cut through the prevarications of letters and legal contracts. Remember when George W. Bush first met Vladimir Putin, gazed into his eyes and said he could trust him because he'd acquired ''a sense of his soul''?
So much for that. If Bush really wanted the straight goods, he should have met the guy in an AOL chat room. And maybe, in the long run, that's the gratifying news. As more and more of our daily life moves online, we could find ourselves living in an increasingly honest world, or at least one in which lies have ever more serious consequences. Bush himself can't put old statements about W.M.D. behind him partly because so many people are forwarding his old speeches around on e-mail or posting them on Web sites. With its unforgiving machine memory, the Internet might turn out to be the unlikely conscience of the world.
-------------
March 21, 2004
The New York Times
ESSAY
The Honesty Virus
By CLIVE THOMPSON
Saturday, March 20, 2004
RealCommunities Business Model
Summary: Goal was to own the API for personal profiles
The business model of my previous company, RealCommunities, had an ambitious plan to create and then dominate in the area of personal profiles. Here's the short description from my business model document that I prepared for our angel investors (written in September 1999).
RealCommunities Business Model Discussion document, 9/27/99
RealCommunities Executive Summary, 10/00
More about RealCommunities on Typaldos.com
The business model of my previous company, RealCommunities, had an ambitious plan to create and then dominate in the area of personal profiles. Here's the short description from my business model document that I prepared for our angel investors (written in September 1999).
- Community (and Community Application) Portal
- Enable individuals to find the “best” community for their needs (e.g. for mentoring, community opinion, experts, investment clubs, etc.)
- Enable individuals to store, retrieve, update and otherwise maintain a “myrealcommunities” capability in order to
- More quickly join new communities (that are powered by RealCommunities)
- Be alerted to new communities of interest to them
- Quickly find and manage their involvement in various communities
- More quickly join new communities (that are powered by RealCommunities)
As we build up a large base of customers we can create a portal whose purpose is twofold:
The revenue stream from this portal could be from our customers (based on referrals, new members to their site), and targeted advertising (since we know a lot about what our community members are interested in).
Traffic to our portal would primarily come from links from our products on our customers’ websites rather than through expensive branding programs.
RealCommunities Business Model Discussion document, 9/27/99
RealCommunities Executive Summary, 10/00
More about RealCommunities on Typaldos.com
Tuesday, March 16, 2004
Microsoft Talent Scout Blogs
Heather Hamilton, the Microsoft Talent Scout who gave us all the great ResumeBlog tips previously
(see my notes at http://typaldos.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_typaldos_archive.html#107713767999431713)
has now started her own blog at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/heatherleigh/
Several of the other Microsoft Talent Scouts are also doing a blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog
Heather invites all of the SPM members to send her questions about “Marketing at Microsoft” that she will respond to in her blog. See her note below.
If you send a question to Heather, be sure to mention you are an SPM member AND provide a link to your ResumeBlog.
If you don’t have a ResumeBlog, you can create one in 15 minutes by following the directions here:
www.resumeblog.com
Please do not forward this message or re-post it to other lists, but rather if there are other people you know that might be interested, invite them to join our spmdiscussion egroup at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softwareproductmarketingdiscussion.
From: Heather Hamilton (Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout)
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 8:24 PM
To: cynthia@typaldos.com
Subject: RE: notes from our conversations
Hi Cynthia,
I wanted to follow up since our conversation and let you know that I am working on the "top 10 tips" article that we discussed. I have some other projects this week but it is coming along and you should expect it the middle of next week.
I also wanted to let you know that I am officially blogging at http://blogs.msdn.com/heatherleigh/. Maybe some of your folks would be interested in sending in some questions about "marketing at Microsoft". I'd love to hear from people! I've added a link to the Software Product Management eGroup. I hope I can contribute to some additional traffic for your resume blogs as well!
(see my notes at http://typaldos.blogspot.com/2004_02_01_typaldos_archive.html#107713767999431713)
has now started her own blog at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/heatherleigh/
Several of the other Microsoft Talent Scouts are also doing a blog
http://blogs.msdn.com/jobsblog
Heather invites all of the SPM members to send her questions about “Marketing at Microsoft” that she will respond to in her blog. See her note below.
If you send a question to Heather, be sure to mention you are an SPM member AND provide a link to your ResumeBlog.
If you don’t have a ResumeBlog, you can create one in 15 minutes by following the directions here:
www.resumeblog.com
Please do not forward this message or re-post it to other lists, but rather if there are other people you know that might be interested, invite them to join our spmdiscussion egroup at
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softwareproductmarketingdiscussion.
From: Heather Hamilton (Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout)
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2004 8:24 PM
To: cynthia@typaldos.com
Subject: RE: notes from our conversations
Hi Cynthia,
I wanted to follow up since our conversation and let you know that I am working on the "top 10 tips" article that we discussed. I have some other projects this week but it is coming along and you should expect it the middle of next week.
I also wanted to let you know that I am officially blogging at http://blogs.msdn.com/heatherleigh/. Maybe some of your folks would be interested in sending in some questions about "marketing at Microsoft". I'd love to hear from people! I've added a link to the Software Product Management eGroup. I hope I can contribute to some additional traffic for your resume blogs as well!
Sunday, February 29, 2004
Internet-based Techniques for Recruiters
The Microsoft Talent Scout mentioned the AIRS website where recruiters/talent scouts congregate. We (ProfGuids volunteers) took a look at their website and found two fascinating classes!
Some info on the two classes below but go to the class pages for the entire description.
This is excellent proof that recruiters and their like are using internet to troll for candidates rather than just posting jobs on the tradition media or job boards. I believe it also shows that recruiters are spending less time working their rolodexes and more time just finding the people directly.
Class is offered once/month at $495 per person (discounts for multiple attendees)
Online, 4 hours.
The world of Internet search has been turned upside down by Google and other new search engines that reach farther into the Web to bring back pages never before available! This ground breaking class will update you on the hottest techniques on the cutting edge. This class is full of startling new ways to use Google to bring back great results - this is really fun stuff!
Why You Should Attend
Google Rocks!
Google is the uber-search engine that most people rely on today. If you're like our researchers, you've come to rely on the massive scale of Google's index, and the precision of it's results. Though it's still important to use a variety of search engines to canvass the Web, Google is definitely becoming the first stop for Internet search - and an increasingly great resource for finding passive candidates.
Documents You Won't Find Anywhere Else
Google indexes documents that other search engines do not. Learn to find MS/Excel and MS/Word phone directories, MS/PowerPoint organizational charts and other unique documents hidden inside the Web servers of companies, colleges, organizations, forums and other Web communities.
A Suite of New Search Tools
You'll learn to leverage the power of the Google Toolbar, Google News and Google Groups to flip Websites, find hidden pages, get past 404 errors, find executives and listen-in to expert discussions online. Google's advanced features and secrets are powerful tools for recruiters and researchers.
Learn From the Best
AIRS trainers are seasoned professionals with first-hand experience recruiting through a time of revolutionary change in the industry. All are Certified Internet Recruiters, and have cutting-edge e-recruiting skills and technical knowledge, as well as expert sourcing, contact, assessment and hiring skills.
What You'll Learn
* Getting around inside Google.
* The best advanced search process for passive candidates.
* The ins and outs of the Google Toolbar.
* How to find gurus in Google Groups.
* How to find the right Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
* How to find DeepWeb pages you can't get to any other way.
* Uncover phone lists, org charts and other high-value documents.
* Using Google Images and News to find specific kinds of candidates.
* Super commands and Google "hacks".
* And lots more!
Class is offered once in April at $495 per person (discounts for multiple attendees)
Online, 4 hours
Why You Should Attend
Reduce Your Advertising Costs
Lower your costs while you sharpen your focus. Why pay hundreds of dollars a posting to compete with over 400,000 other customers at Monster.com, when you can post your ads for pennies into specialized communities filled with passive candidates? Stop paying a fortune to job boards that broadcast to the general public - and start narrowcasting to the right candidate pools, at a fraction of the cost.
Leave the Crowds Behind
Knowing where passive candidates gather is a powerful competitive advantage. Now you can stop jostling with every other recruiter on the planet for the same overexposed group of job seekers at the big boards. Instead, you'll learn to go out on the Net to find fresh, untapped communities of passive candidates that you can capture with focused, personalized ad campaigns.
Reach Better Candidates
The best candidates are not surfing job boards, because they're not looking for a job. But that doesn't mean you can't reach them. This class will teach you to reach passive candidates by growing relationships with the alumni directors, mail list managers, forum moderators, user group presidents and other gatekeepers who can help you advertise to their targeted audiences.
Learn from the Best
Your trainers are seasoned professionals with first-hand experience recruiting through a time of revolutionary change in the industry. All are Certified Internet Recruiters, and have cutting-edge e-recruiting skills and technical knowledge, as well as a solid grounding in sales, client management and candidate development.
What You'll Learn
* How to write job ads guaranteed to produce better results.
* How to optimize your placement on the Big Boards.
* The most efficient niche board strategies.
* How to build no-cost and low-cost job posting campaigns.
* Find the right Web communities for your search.
* Low cost advertising into forums, mail lists and vertical portals.
* How to cost-effectively drive eyeballs to your own Web site.
* How to measure and refine your ad strategies.
* To reach the best passive candidates at the lowest possible cost.
* And lots more!
Some info on the two classes below but go to the class pages for the entire description.
This is excellent proof that recruiters and their like are using internet to troll for candidates rather than just posting jobs on the tradition media or job boards. I believe it also shows that recruiters are spending less time working their rolodexes and more time just finding the people directly.
Googling for Candidates
Class is offered once/month at $495 per person (discounts for multiple attendees)
Online, 4 hours.
The world of Internet search has been turned upside down by Google and other new search engines that reach farther into the Web to bring back pages never before available! This ground breaking class will update you on the hottest techniques on the cutting edge. This class is full of startling new ways to use Google to bring back great results - this is really fun stuff!
Why You Should Attend
Google Rocks!
Google is the uber-search engine that most people rely on today. If you're like our researchers, you've come to rely on the massive scale of Google's index, and the precision of it's results. Though it's still important to use a variety of search engines to canvass the Web, Google is definitely becoming the first stop for Internet search - and an increasingly great resource for finding passive candidates.
Documents You Won't Find Anywhere Else
Google indexes documents that other search engines do not. Learn to find MS/Excel and MS/Word phone directories, MS/PowerPoint organizational charts and other unique documents hidden inside the Web servers of companies, colleges, organizations, forums and other Web communities.
A Suite of New Search Tools
You'll learn to leverage the power of the Google Toolbar, Google News and Google Groups to flip Websites, find hidden pages, get past 404 errors, find executives and listen-in to expert discussions online. Google's advanced features and secrets are powerful tools for recruiters and researchers.
Learn From the Best
AIRS trainers are seasoned professionals with first-hand experience recruiting through a time of revolutionary change in the industry. All are Certified Internet Recruiters, and have cutting-edge e-recruiting skills and technical knowledge, as well as expert sourcing, contact, assessment and hiring skills.
What You'll Learn
* Getting around inside Google.
* The best advanced search process for passive candidates.
* The ins and outs of the Google Toolbar.
* How to find gurus in Google Groups.
* How to find the right Word, Excel and PowerPoint documents.
* How to find DeepWeb pages you can't get to any other way.
* Uncover phone lists, org charts and other high-value documents.
* Using Google Images and News to find specific kinds of candidates.
* Super commands and Google "hacks".
* And lots more!
Guerrilla Job Posting Strategies
Class is offered once in April at $495 per person (discounts for multiple attendees)
Online, 4 hours
Why You Should Attend
Reduce Your Advertising Costs
Lower your costs while you sharpen your focus. Why pay hundreds of dollars a posting to compete with over 400,000 other customers at Monster.com, when you can post your ads for pennies into specialized communities filled with passive candidates? Stop paying a fortune to job boards that broadcast to the general public - and start narrowcasting to the right candidate pools, at a fraction of the cost.
Leave the Crowds Behind
Knowing where passive candidates gather is a powerful competitive advantage. Now you can stop jostling with every other recruiter on the planet for the same overexposed group of job seekers at the big boards. Instead, you'll learn to go out on the Net to find fresh, untapped communities of passive candidates that you can capture with focused, personalized ad campaigns.
Reach Better Candidates
The best candidates are not surfing job boards, because they're not looking for a job. But that doesn't mean you can't reach them. This class will teach you to reach passive candidates by growing relationships with the alumni directors, mail list managers, forum moderators, user group presidents and other gatekeepers who can help you advertise to their targeted audiences.
Learn from the Best
Your trainers are seasoned professionals with first-hand experience recruiting through a time of revolutionary change in the industry. All are Certified Internet Recruiters, and have cutting-edge e-recruiting skills and technical knowledge, as well as a solid grounding in sales, client management and candidate development.
What You'll Learn
* How to write job ads guaranteed to produce better results.
* How to optimize your placement on the Big Boards.
* The most efficient niche board strategies.
* How to build no-cost and low-cost job posting campaigns.
* Find the right Web communities for your search.
* Low cost advertising into forums, mail lists and vertical portals.
* How to cost-effectively drive eyeballs to your own Web site.
* How to measure and refine your ad strategies.
* To reach the best passive candidates at the lowest possible cost.
* And lots more!
Wednesday, February 18, 2004
Conversations with Microsoft Senior Talent Scout – Rev 2.18.04
Two sets of notes, the first set is from my conversation with the talent scout on Monday, 2.16.04, and the second set is from our group conversation with her on Tuesday 2.17.04.
There is a wealth of information in these notes including specific advice on how to improve your ResumeBlog to make yourself more visible to recruiters and more interesting once you are found.
Cynthia
--------------------------------------
Notes from my conversation with the Microsoft Senior Talent Scout, 2/16/04
Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout is one of 5 “Senior Talent Scouts” at Microsoft. Talent Scouts are essentially the recruiting swat team that helps the business division recruiters when they are having trouble filling a position. This Microsoft Senior Talent Scout first learned about us (ProfGuilds) thru a internet search using keywords (MSN or Google, I didn’t probe). She found the ResumeBlog of Andy Klein (www.andrew-klein.blogspot.com) of this group along with others. Several of the ResumeBloggers are now in discussions with Microsoft concerning open positions. In fact, the talent scout went thru most of the ResumeBlogs in the BlogRoll (the list of ResumeBloggers that is on the right-hand side of every ResumeBlog). This particular Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout and one other talent scout are responsible for marketing, the other three talent scouts are for technical jobs. Via email Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout has shared information about the ProfGuilds’ ResumeBlogs with other Microsoft recruiters. (Note: my ResumeBlog is here - www.cynthia-typaldos.blogspot.com, but see the advice below, my ResumeBlog needs some improvement! A ResumeBlog is different than an ordinary blog -- go to the ResumeBlog blog for more information.)
What the Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout is really excited about is the ResumeBlogs. Overall she is thrilled with blogs in general because they reveal more about a potential candidate and in particular provide insight into candidates that are the levels below director. Higher level people often have more information about them because of speaking engagements, being on company websites, etc. She considers blogs to be a revolutionary tool for staffing professionals to use to find top talent.
The Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout never uses job boards for a variety of reasons including:
- Typically Microsoft already has a person’s resume if they have put it into a job board
- The quality is lower than what she can find by an internet search
- Microsoft Sr. Talent Scouts find candidates through internet search and then follow-up via phone or email to prospective candidates or people that might know of prospective candidates. They do not usually post their job openings as the internet search method is more effective.
- When they (the Talent Scouts or presumably any of the Microsoft recruiters) find a community or cluster of similar professionals they are very excited because they have found these communities to be the best source of good talent.
Feedback on the ResumeBlog service overall:
- This is exactly the kind of service she loves to discover. I got the impression it was unique amongst the various communities she has found. She has already told a number of other recruiters about the ResumeBlogs.
- She did not realize the search box would take keywords. We need to change the box description to say “keyword search” rather than “member search”. She thought it was a search by member name only.
- She would like to see the ResumeBlog members split out by ProfGuild (we are working on that already)
- She would like a “last updated” flag next to each members’ link in the BlogRoll
- She would like a service where a recruiter could sign up to receive notification of new or modified ResumeBlogs (some kind of RSS feed?)
As you can see, our conversation centered around the ResumeBlogs. Microsoft does not use our job posting services. However that doesn’t mean the job posting services aren’t important. These services are what attracts members to ProfGuilds and then it’s our job to get them to create ResumeBlogs.
Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout and her team are going to write up a list of 10 tips on how to get found as a job candidate on the internet. She will sign this herself and post it to our members. Our thoughts behind this are to get our members to hear directly from one of the industries top talent scouts on how to get a job. I suspect she will be quite convincing in getting more people to create ResumeBlogs.
But wait, do we want more people to have ResumeBlogs and therefore create more competition for ourselves? Absolutely because the more ResumeBlogs we have the more likely one of us is going to be found and as we have seen numerous times, once hiring managers/recruiters find one ResumeBlog they tend to use the search box or the list of links in the Blogroll to find additional candidates.
-------------------
Notes/Input from the Microsoft Sr. Talent Scout from group meeting with ProfGuilds on 2/16/04
Suggestions on how to improve your ResumeBlog:
Content
- Explain more about product space, industry space in your ResumeBlog
- Include product context: explain something about the product, that's useful information.
- Make it look like a resume rather than a bio; link to other information about yourself (articles, website, press mentions, etc.).
- Experience, even older experience is relevant. If there is a natural break you might want to just put company, title, date. Technology changes but functional role does not. Marketing people with previous technical experience is very relevant.
- Red flags no dates of employment, too much movement although more acceptable lately.
- Green flags. What did the person actually DO? What did they OWN, not just what did they do as part of a team. Strategic without tactics is bad. How they put something thru the whole process.
- Keep personal stuff out of it (that is, don’t use it as a personal blog also). Blogs should clearly indicate whether they are personal or professional.
Getting Found
- Talent Scouts start with an internet search using keywords of company names, product types, they find people, then use those people to find more people
- They search discussion groups to find knowledgeable people too
- Once find a person that might be interesting they do an internet search on the name of that person
- Are they using social networking tools – LinkedIn, Spoke, and Plaxo? She doesn't use them for the intended purpose, just uses them to get names by keyword e.g. network security. Once she has names she does an internet search on those people. [By the way, my personal opinion is that references are LESS important in the internet world than previously, because now professionals have ways of actually showing their work to a wide audience via internet presentations, articles, press mention, etc. -- Cynthia.)
- Smaller companies may have to use other mechanisms because they don’t get the same candidate flow.
- Once you get your resume to one recruiter they will pass to other recruiters in that company.
- Use KEYWORDS. Company names, titles, is what they do the initial search on. You want your ResumeBlog to come up in that search. OK to put keywords into source code -- talent scout doesn’t look for actual word. Market space terms server, business intelligence, security, digital media, desktop applications, operating systems, ebusiness, smart personal objects, mobility, embedded, consumer space, devices, home entertainment, customer segment specific experience, consumer packaged goods, branding and advertising, architect, developer, etc.
- Be part of a community of similar professionals…creates a pool of talent for the recruiters to tap into. They will look at a lot of ResumeBlogs if the are in a logical grouping (e.g. our professional guilds, note that we will be breaking the ResumeBlogs into chunks by guild soon)
Getting Hired
- Why are some product marketing/management & technical positions “hard to fill” such that the Talent Scout gets involved? Niche-y jobs. Not just hiring for the position, hiring for the long run. Hiring the best in the industry. Or some recruiters are working on a lot of positions (e.g. 40+) need help from the Talent Scouts.
- Looking for people who are smart and not how to get stuff done. People that are successful in working towards a GOAL (and accomplishing that goal). This was THE most important thing she said re: Microsoft, their culture. Can't emphasize that enough. She noted working hard is commendable, but what's important is that the hard work is related to a GOAL.
- Picking out doers from talkers. What have they done. Must have been at a company long enough to get stuff done (at least 1.5 yrs).
Recruiting Industry Observations:
- How should we (ProfGuilds) approach recruiters? Network our way in, using email addresses on job postings doesn’t work because those typically go into a folder. AIRS is http://www.airsdirectory.com/. Go thru those organizations and find the recruiters.
- Change in the recruiting industry: It’s now all about finding the BEST talent. Typically someone who has a web presence is viewed as a better potential hire…speaking at conferences, discussion groups, articles, etc. Who are the best people in this space?
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Make your small URL H*U*G*E !!!
Many of you are familiar with www.tinyurl.com to make a long URL short but…
What if you want to impress others? Wouldn’t it make sense to make a small URL huge?
There is now a service to do this and it is completely totally FREE. No obligation. Total privacy (I don’t actually know if this is true.)
I successfully turned my small ResumeBlog URL into the humongous URL below. You can do the same by going to www.hugeurl.com.
www.cynthia-typaldos.blogspot.com: original short ResumeBlog URL is now the huge URL below!
http://www.hugeurl.com/?NTg2OWE5MzYyYzhjMmU1Y2YzZGVhNjg2MjUyODEyMGYmMTEm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I couldn't get Blogger to accept this as a valid URL but if you cut and paste it back together you will see it actually works!!!
Amazing...
Saturday, January 31, 2004
Stanford Business School has just now published all of the videos of their speaker forums including the one on social networking that was sponsored by the MIT/Stanford Venture Lab in which I was a panelist:
Social Networking: Is there a Business Model?
September 2003
link to original event description
link to video of event
Since I was hardly allowed to speak by the moderator, Tony Perkins, I haven’t had the nerve to look at the video myself. But apparently my observations were noticed, at least by this person.
http://www.socialwrite.com/archives/2004/01/30/shooting-in-the-dark/
Social Networking: Is there a Business Model?
September 2003
link to original event description
link to video of event
- "A handful of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs have created a resurgence of Web sites dedicated to enabling social networking: business contacts, affinity groups and even dating. At the same time other technologists are experimenting with network platforms to enable new communication avenues. These were some of the topics that drew a capacity crowd in September for the MIT/Stanford Venture Laboratory discussion on Social Networking."
Since I was hardly allowed to speak by the moderator, Tony Perkins, I haven’t had the nerve to look at the video myself. But apparently my observations were noticed, at least by this person.
http://www.socialwrite.com/archives/2004/01/30/shooting-in-the-dark/
- "There are some great videos over at the Stanford School of Business centre for lifelong learning with a panel discussion and keynote on finding a business model for social networking. Of all the panel members Cynthia Typaldos was the most realistic and informative. She was neither sceptical, nor oblivious."
Friday, January 30, 2004
My Business Networking Predictions for 2004
Network Moves asked me to come up with a list of what 2004 will bring in the area of professional networking.
You can find my predictions on their website along with those of Scott Allen, Nick Corcodilos, Diane Darling, Debra Feldman, Craig Frank, Julie Jansen, and Andrea Nierenberg. I'm last since we "experts" are in last name alphabetical order so you have to scroll down to find my predictions. I'm going to asked them for a named link but until then either read it there, or I'll put it right here in my blog.
So far I think my predictions are holding up pretty well! Of course, it is only the start of the second month of the year...
1. Except in the areas of job/career, yellow pages, and small/local businesses, most online social networking is a dud. Do you really want to sell that crummy old couch to a friend of a friend? For more on this, see my recent blog entry, Social networking is mostly silly.
2. The move to member-owned professional guilds will accelerate as everyone realizes that he or she must be a business of one, taking full ownership of their career. Also, the definition of a career will change from successive promotions in corporations to participation in projects with various organizations and teams, structured around a core competency.
3. At the same time, professionals will demand full ownership of their career and professional data. They will say No to proprietary systems like Monster.com and various social-networking start-ups.
4. Not having a professional Web presence will be like not having an e-mail address or a phone number.
5. Open-software and open-innovation concepts and implementation will become even more attractive. For more on this, see my list of articles and books on open innovation.
6. Recruiters and executive-search firms will play lesser roles in the acquisition of talent. Human resources and talent managers—those who can find the absolute best person for any project—will become more important and less subjective.
7. Outsourcing will become less of a threat. Non-U.S. companies will hire the best talent anywhere, be it in Boston, San Jose, Bangalore, Singapore, London, or Mexico City. Virtual teams will become the norm.
8. What you have accomplished will become much more important than who you know. Past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Recommendations are simply proxies for understanding a person's work experience. Professionals will use their online portfolios to demonstrate their talents (ResumeBlog is a start). With connections and validations, white-collar professionals will be hired much more for what they can do rather than what others say they can do. This will be welcome news for those who are not part of the "old boys network," especially in high tech.
9. Successful online social-networking business models will be based on membership fees, the ability to match talent with jobs, and a barter economy. (For more on this, see my recent blog entry.)
10. Online social networks will be offered as features of many products—rather than as stand-alone Web sites, services, or tools.
You can find my predictions on their website along with those of Scott Allen, Nick Corcodilos, Diane Darling, Debra Feldman, Craig Frank, Julie Jansen, and Andrea Nierenberg. I'm last since we "experts" are in last name alphabetical order so you have to scroll down to find my predictions. I'm going to asked them for a named link but until then either read it there, or I'll put it right here in my blog.
So far I think my predictions are holding up pretty well! Of course, it is only the start of the second month of the year...
1. Except in the areas of job/career, yellow pages, and small/local businesses, most online social networking is a dud. Do you really want to sell that crummy old couch to a friend of a friend? For more on this, see my recent blog entry, Social networking is mostly silly.
2. The move to member-owned professional guilds will accelerate as everyone realizes that he or she must be a business of one, taking full ownership of their career. Also, the definition of a career will change from successive promotions in corporations to participation in projects with various organizations and teams, structured around a core competency.
3. At the same time, professionals will demand full ownership of their career and professional data. They will say No to proprietary systems like Monster.com and various social-networking start-ups.
4. Not having a professional Web presence will be like not having an e-mail address or a phone number.
5. Open-software and open-innovation concepts and implementation will become even more attractive. For more on this, see my list of articles and books on open innovation.
6. Recruiters and executive-search firms will play lesser roles in the acquisition of talent. Human resources and talent managers—those who can find the absolute best person for any project—will become more important and less subjective.
7. Outsourcing will become less of a threat. Non-U.S. companies will hire the best talent anywhere, be it in Boston, San Jose, Bangalore, Singapore, London, or Mexico City. Virtual teams will become the norm.
8. What you have accomplished will become much more important than who you know. Past performance is the best predictor of future performance. Recommendations are simply proxies for understanding a person's work experience. Professionals will use their online portfolios to demonstrate their talents (ResumeBlog is a start). With connections and validations, white-collar professionals will be hired much more for what they can do rather than what others say they can do. This will be welcome news for those who are not part of the "old boys network," especially in high tech.
9. Successful online social-networking business models will be based on membership fees, the ability to match talent with jobs, and a barter economy. (For more on this, see my recent blog entry.)
10. Online social networks will be offered as features of many products—rather than as stand-alone Web sites, services, or tools.
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
My Career is MY Business
mycareerismybusiness
This is the write-up for a talk I am giving in February 2004
In the syndicated comic strip "Sally Forth"(0), Sally's husband Ted, a middle management drone, types his name into Google and there is no mention of him. He is greatly disappointed and mentions his "absence of presence" to Sally. Sally responds saying that she will hire a programmer to build a website for Ted.
What's wrong and what's right with this scenario?
What's right with this scenario is Ted, a corporate employee, can no longer hide in his cubicle and expect promotions and projects to come to him. The 21st century is the dawn of the "Free Agent Nation"(1) and every white collar professional must manage his/her own career...not only is lifetime employment disappearing but many forms of employment are being replaced by contractors and consultants. No matter what you do, you need to accept this and learn how to market yourself as a business and manage your career. So, Ted needs to get himself visible on the web, because an executive recruiter might at this very moment be typing the keywords into Google that will bring up Ted...i.e. "tax accountant corporate merger" (I have no idea what Ted "does"(3), this is just an example).
What's wrong with this scenario is that Sally thinks she has to get a programmer to build a website for Ted's professional presence. Having someone build a website for you is the worst possible path because who will maintain it? There's a better solution which is....
...the ResumeBlog(TM)!(4) -- a professional web presence that is easy to create and maintain . Additionally, your ResumeBlog is not a lonely island in the vast sea of internet webpages; it is tightly linked with other people in your industry your professional guild, which makes you findable thru traversable links and a higher pagerank(5).
We will discuss all of the above including going thru the very simple steps to create your ResumeBlog so that when you leave this seminar you can go home and in 10 minutes be findable for that next great opportunity! This talk is appropriate whether you are a professional seeking to expand your opportunities, or if you are seeking talent.
Fortune Magazine's columnist/recruiter "Ask Annie"(6) and "Sally Forth" agree -- you gotta have a web presence in the 21st century!
=================================
(0) the comic strip is here: http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/sforth/aboutMaina.php, go to Nov 16, 2003
(1) see Dan Pink's website: www.freeagentnation.com
(2) read the first two articles by Prof Tom Malone, MIT: http://www.typaldos.blogspot.com/2003_11_18_typaldos_archive.html#106919390880564685
(3) actually comic strip characters don't do anything in between their daily appearance in the newspaper
(4) check out the ResumeBlog instructions! www.resumeblog.com
(5) Google's pagerank algorithm measures the ranking of a page in a search results partly by how many other pages link to it
(6) http://www.fortune.com/fortune/annie/0,15704,539758,00.html Ask Annie: Secrets of an Executive Recruiter, 11/10/03
This is the write-up for a talk I am giving in February 2004
In the syndicated comic strip "Sally Forth"(0), Sally's husband Ted, a middle management drone, types his name into Google and there is no mention of him. He is greatly disappointed and mentions his "absence of presence" to Sally. Sally responds saying that she will hire a programmer to build a website for Ted.
What's wrong and what's right with this scenario?
What's right with this scenario is Ted, a corporate employee, can no longer hide in his cubicle and expect promotions and projects to come to him. The 21st century is the dawn of the "Free Agent Nation"(1) and every white collar professional must manage his/her own career...not only is lifetime employment disappearing but many forms of employment are being replaced by contractors and consultants. No matter what you do, you need to accept this and learn how to market yourself as a business and manage your career. So, Ted needs to get himself visible on the web, because an executive recruiter might at this very moment be typing the keywords into Google that will bring up Ted...i.e. "tax accountant corporate merger" (I have no idea what Ted "does"(3), this is just an example).
What's wrong with this scenario is that Sally thinks she has to get a programmer to build a website for Ted's professional presence. Having someone build a website for you is the worst possible path because who will maintain it? There's a better solution which is....
...the ResumeBlog(TM)!(4) -- a professional web presence that is easy to create and maintain . Additionally, your ResumeBlog is not a lonely island in the vast sea of internet webpages; it is tightly linked with other people in your industry your professional guild, which makes you findable thru traversable links and a higher pagerank(5).
We will discuss all of the above including going thru the very simple steps to create your ResumeBlog so that when you leave this seminar you can go home and in 10 minutes be findable for that next great opportunity! This talk is appropriate whether you are a professional seeking to expand your opportunities, or if you are seeking talent.
Fortune Magazine's columnist/recruiter "Ask Annie"(6) and "Sally Forth" agree -- you gotta have a web presence in the 21st century!
=================================
(0) the comic strip is here: http://www.kingfeatures.com/features/comics/sforth/aboutMaina.php, go to Nov 16, 2003
(1) see Dan Pink's website: www.freeagentnation.com
(2) read the first two articles by Prof Tom Malone, MIT: http://www.typaldos.blogspot.com/2003_11_18_typaldos_archive.html#106919390880564685
(3) actually comic strip characters don't do anything in between their daily appearance in the newspaper
(4) check out the ResumeBlog instructions! www.resumeblog.com
(5) Google's pagerank algorithm measures the ranking of a page in a search results partly by how many other pages link to it
(6) http://www.fortune.com/fortune/annie/0,15704,539758,00.html Ask Annie: Secrets of an Executive Recruiter, 11/10/03
Wednesday, December 03, 2003
Social Networking Sites = More Work for Me! Am I a Luddite?
I posted this note in both the SPM Discussion eGroup (900 members) and the WebCommunities eGroup (350) members. Lots of interesting responses; you can search the archives to find them without being a member.
- Subject: market/ social software = more work for me
Although I am a big fan of social software in general, I've come to the conclusion that the existing social networking sites/tools (at least the ones I signed up for earlier this year) are simply a way for people I hardly know (or don't know) to ask me to do stuff that I don't want to do (e.g. update their address book) or introduce them to someone else who I hardly know (or don't know) regarding a subject or purpose in which I have no interest, knowledge, or is not even revealed to me.
I admit I have put no effort into my profiles on these sites...after signing up for site number 4 or 5 the whole thing just got to be too much trouble.
Am I a Luddite?
Elisa Camahort was among the many who wrote perceptive comments.
- "Networking is much easier for the extroverts among us, and these social networking sites give a false hope to introverts that they can achieve the benefits of networking without really have to interact with people on an individual basis."
And no, I did NOT make my post just for the joy of using the word Luddite.
Cynthia
Thursday, November 20, 2003
Tuesday, November 18, 2003
Academic Articles and Books on Professional Guilds and Open Innovation
- Free Agents in the OldeWorld: The future of work in Free Agent Nation may look strangely like the past, says MIT's Thomas Malone. Prithee: Art thou ready to join a guild?, Fast Company, May
- Retreat of the Firm and the Rise of Guilds: The Employment Relationship in an Age of Virtual Business, by Robert Laubacher and Thomas W. Malone, MIT. This paper appears in Inventing the Organizations of the 21st Century, a volume of articles edited by Professors Malone and Laubacher and their colleague Michael Scott Morton
- Free Agent Nation, Dan Pink
- Work in the New Economy: Flexible Labor Markets in Silicon Valley, by Chris Benner, Manuel Castells, Preface
- The Open-Innovation Model, Henry W. Chesbrough, MIT Sloan Mgmt Review, Spring 2003
- Open Innovation: The New Imperative for Creating and Profiting from Technology, by Henry William Chesbrough
- Open Innovation: Interview with Henry Chesbrough, April 2003, Corante
Thursday, November 13, 2003
Career/Job Websites and Social Networking Business Model
There is the potential of an eBay-like economy, with a transaction-based business model, once professionals accept 1) everyone is a free agent in the 21st century, forget being an employee, and 2) a critical mass of professionals have a viable web presence. This new economy will be based on the exchange of professional services thru a bartering system – essentially bypassing national forms of currency. eBay is already experimenting with alternative forms of currency, e.g. frequent flyer miles. and I suspect they are very deep into analyzing a bartering economy, not whether to do it, but when. Bartering is already very big business on the web…just do a Google search and I suspect you will be astonished at the types of merchandise and services, and the companies, that are already participating in bartering.
I believe there are only two really powerful uses of social networks – for jobs/career for white-collar professionals and “employee-type” roles, and for yellow page advertisers (yellow pages are essentially the proxy for personal commodity services, often location-dependent, e.g. real estate agents and for small businesses).
Friendster is silly for a variety of reasons, and the other social networking websites that are targeting professionals have failed to appreciate that free agents want to OWN their data – thus proprietary based systems (e.g. LinkedIn, Monster.com’s effort, Tribe.net, Spoke SW, Ryze) will fall by the wayside as open software solutions become available. In fact, it is already possible to create 95% of the needed functionality for an initial job/career social networking website out of freely available software and services (Google, Blogger, Yahoo Groups, etc.). See www.resumeblog.com for a straightforward example.
For more information on the above topics please read other posts in my blog, visit the ResumeBlog blog, my professional website at Typaldos.com, and the ProfGuilds/Software Product Marketing website.
I would love to get a small amount of funding for my concept – ProfGuilds – but unfortunately women entrepreneurs only receive 4% of venture funding. My team and I are looking for corporate funding instead.
I believe there are only two really powerful uses of social networks – for jobs/career for white-collar professionals and “employee-type” roles, and for yellow page advertisers (yellow pages are essentially the proxy for personal commodity services, often location-dependent, e.g. real estate agents and for small businesses).
Friendster is silly for a variety of reasons, and the other social networking websites that are targeting professionals have failed to appreciate that free agents want to OWN their data – thus proprietary based systems (e.g. LinkedIn, Monster.com’s effort, Tribe.net, Spoke SW, Ryze) will fall by the wayside as open software solutions become available. In fact, it is already possible to create 95% of the needed functionality for an initial job/career social networking website out of freely available software and services (Google, Blogger, Yahoo Groups, etc.). See www.resumeblog.com for a straightforward example.
For more information on the above topics please read other posts in my blog, visit the ResumeBlog blog, my professional website at Typaldos.com, and the ProfGuilds/Software Product Marketing website.
I would love to get a small amount of funding for my concept – ProfGuilds – but unfortunately women entrepreneurs only receive 4% of venture funding. My team and I are looking for corporate funding instead.
Wednesday, November 12, 2003
Today I updated the post about Connections and Validations (dated Thurs Oct 30th). The post mainly links to an actual specification on Job/Career Networking Connections and Validations which I also updated.
I'm hoping to get some feedback.
Cynthia
cynthia@typaldos.com
I'm hoping to get some feedback.
Cynthia
cynthia@typaldos.com
Friday, November 07, 2003
Social networking is mostly silly
All of the rabid interest in social networking, and the use of the internet to do so, got me thinking about the real value provided. The whole concept may be flawed since "it´s who you know not what you know" is really a proxy for a measure of your competence, experience, and knowledge. That is, if someone is willing to recommend you (for a specific role) then that recommendation is a way of measuring whether in fact you have the knowledge, experience, talent, contacts, dedication etc. to actually accomplish whatever needs to be done. With the internet´s ability to allow you to actually demonstrate what you can and have done, and with validations by others that this is so (see my next post), WHO you know may actually be LESS important since you can demonstrate much more effectively WHAT you know and how you have successfully applied yourself in the past.
All of the rabid interest in social networking, and the use of the internet to do so, got me thinking about the real value provided. The whole concept may be flawed since "it´s who you know not what you know" is really a proxy for a measure of your competence, experience, and knowledge. That is, if someone is willing to recommend you (for a specific role) then that recommendation is a way of measuring whether in fact you have the knowledge, experience, talent, contacts, dedication etc. to actually accomplish whatever needs to be done. With the internet´s ability to allow you to actually demonstrate what you can and have done, and with validations by others that this is so (see my next post), WHO you know may actually be LESS important since you can demonstrate much more effectively WHAT you know and how you have successfully applied yourself in the past.
Thursday, October 30, 2003
Here’s a specification for the social networking links for professional guilds (career/job) based around a member’s work history. I’m interested in feedback.
Here's the intro, go here for the entire document.
Career/Job Social Networking: Relationship Management of Connections and Validations
Here's the intro, go here for the entire document.
- Job/Career Networking
- Paying members are able to develop a reputation thru the use of connections and validations. This, along with the ability to do activities, is the main functional difference between paying members and non-paying members. For more on this concept see the presentation on a similar system proposed to Napster on my website at http://www.typaldos.com/presentations/monetize.file.sharing/monetize.file.sharing.12.5.02.12pm_files/frame.htm titled “Monetizing File Sharing Services” dated 12/5/02 but actually developed over a year or so earlier (along with a prototype).
- Even though non-paying members are not able to develop a reputation (because their connections and validations are not visible), they can still accumulate these connections (but not validations) at the request of paying members. Again, this is simply another example of the basic reputation-based subscription service laid out in the original presentation prepared for Napster. Once a non-paying member pays, the accumulated connections which were hidden (to peers) become visible.
- A working prototype has been built by me and Patrick Neeman. For access to the prototype please contact me. Be prepared to do a business deal rather than just exchange ideas.
Connections & Validations Specification
Original Document completed on 4/23/03 by Cynthia Typaldos
Slightly edited on 10/10/03 and 11/12/03
See also www.typaldos.com
This specification documents how to do the social networking part of a Job/Career website. Keep in mind that social networking isn’t everything for a successful job/career website, but it is important. There is a lot more information to be found on my website www.typaldos.com, my blog www.typaldos.blogspot.com, the SPM (a.k.a. ProfGuild) website at www.softwareproductmarketing.com, and also at www.resumeblog.blogspot.com.
There are several key points:
Career/Job Social Networking: Relationship Management of Connections and Validations
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Linkname: resumeblogsearchbox
Importance of Search Box in ResumeBlog Blogroll
(see my ResumeBlog)
ResumeBlog Blog
I'm just realizing how important the search box is (and the member links too) in the column on the right. The more ResumeBloggers we have the more likely it is that a hiring mgr/recruiter etc. will find one of our ResumeBlogs in a general search. But there is a LOT of stuff out there, so doing another general search with slightly different terms might not even get near a ResumeBlogger. However, once the googler finds the search box, s/he is now searching ONLY within our membership.
So, contradicting common sense, having more ResumeBloggers increases the probability that an individual ResumeBlogger is likely to be found. Another factor that rolls into this is millions (maybe billions?) or searches are made, anytime one of those connects the googler with a ResumeBlog, there is the possibility that s/he will abandon the general search and do the specific search.
I'm sure there is a mathematical algorithm here that would show at which number of members is optimum. However the algorithm would have to take into account the total number of pages on the internet that would show up as being relevant. Since that number is extremely high for almost any relatively general search, I suspect that the number of ResumeBloggers (in an industry/function) could be very, very high, maybe even include everyone in that industry/function.
Monday, October 06, 2003
Professional Guilds –
using the ResumeBlog™ to “Hang out your Shingle”
Linkname: hangoutshingle
This document is also at http://typaldos.com/word.documents/shingle/
What is SPM and how and why is it expanding?
SPM is a two-year old professional guild consisting of software, networking, and telecom marketing and business development professionals. Right now our main offerings to our members are a very targeted job posting service and an active discussion board about doing the job. Hiring managers, recruiters, and HR personnel who post to SPM repeatedly tell us that our members are highly qualified. This is quite different than less focused job boards or the sites such as Monster.com which will return literally hundreds of resumes with only a very few qualified candidates. Many job posters prefer SPM because of the smaller number of submitted resumes, and the much higher match of those that do apply. Numerous quotes from satisfied job posters can be found on our homepage at www.softwareproductmarketing.com.
We are actively branching out and creating additional professional guilds – and not just for software professionals. The new guilds and SPM will all be part of a larger whole call ProfGuilds.
However, posted jobs are only a small part of the total jobs open. We felt very strongly that we needed a mechanism to get our members in front of the hiring manager for the unposted jobs, which could be a very large percentage of the total. And our mechanism is the ResumeBlog™.
ResumeBlogs are a way to “hang out your shingle”
White-collar professionals had a big wake-up call in this current recession particularly in the technology industry where there have been thousands of layoffs and many people are into their third year of unemployment. Companies have been evolving to be more efficient, through outsourcing, streamlining, and depending more on part-time workers. But the typical white-collar professional was still sitting in his/her cubicle, working away, oblivious to the changes. And when that professional was thrown out like unwelcome guest, s/he realized that s/he hadn't developed the skills, nor had the resources and visibility to become a "business of me". Which is today's new reality – very eloquently discussed in the book "Free Agent Nation: The Future of Working for Yourself". Small business owners, and many of the members of professions such as accounting, medical, legal, and academia have long understood that they have to make a name for themselves independent of where they are working, because what they do next will not simply be the company handing them a promotion – they have to go out and find the next project themselves.
Blogs arrived in the nick of time to help us out. Within a few minutes, any mildly computer-savvy professional can create a good-looking "ResumeBlog™ which is the equivalent of "putting out a shingle”, that is, signaling that you are ready for business, and equally important, ARE a business.
Why are blogs so uniquely suited to being the professionals’ “shingle”?
There are 5 key reasons that blogs are much superior to having a website or using a webpage consumer service.
- First, blogs are designed to be shared. It's easy to set up a blog where multiple people can post, comment on each other’s posts, and even edit each other’s posts. This is critical in today's world where the ability to collaborate, especially virtually, can mean the difference between getting a job or not. And it allows the blog to be not just about me, me, me, but also about me as a member of the professional community, and a member of a team.
- Second, blogs are much, much easier to create and maintain than a website. I have several (OK lots) of blogs and two websites (www.typaldos.com and www.softwareproductmarketing.com). Both of my websites are hard to maintain. It is difficult to share the workload, and doing even something trivial is not easy. For example, to update my website to include this text involves starting up Dreamweaver (a complex program in itself), figuring out what page to put this information on (or create a new page or a new section), getting it into the right format using several of the 10 or so little Dreamweaver toolboxes that randomly dot the computer screen, saving the page, firing up an FTP (file transfer protocol program), going the right spot in the website to update the page, transferring the updated page, testing it (I really should have a staging server), and so on. Actually, it's not even that easy. But for me to put this into a blog is completely trivial. I just log into my blog, put this all into a new post, push the publish button, and it's done. Now the formatting of my blog won't be as nice as it could be unless I am willing to do a little bit of HTML coding, but if you look at my website www.typaldos.com you will see lots of places where I tried to do nice formatting with Dreamweaver and somehow created a mess instead. As long as you know how to do the simplest things in HTML– bold, web links, headers, email links and bulleted lists, you will be fine.
- Third, because blogs are easy to create and maintain, there are lots more of them. And that means you are more likely to have a colleagues and information that you want to link to that make your blog more integrated with the other blogs and websites. Traversing links is the basic lifeblood of the internet – links are the fodder that fuels Google – and are what makes your blog not an island, but part of a tapestry. With appropriate links pointing to and from your blog, as people browse the internet, they are likely to come upon your blog in the right context.
- Fourth, it's easy for software developers anywhere in the world to design add-on tools to be designed for blogs. This means that lots of clever people are out there creating great tools that can then be incorporated into your blog. For example, we use a blogroll to maintain a list of all the SPM ResumeBlog members. We embed that tool in every single member's ResumeBlog (by having them use our standard template). For instance, in my ResumeBlog at www.cynthia-typaldos.blogspot.com you can find links to other members’ ResumeBlogs in the right-hand column. I doesn't have to maintain that list; it is pulled in real-time when his ResumeBlog is accessed. Incredibly, by using a trademarked keyword embedded in the blogroll, and a simple Google search box available free from Google's site, we have created a keyword searchable database of all of the ResumeBloggers! And we have done this without any software engineering, any purchased database software, and any hosting service! But we haven’t sacrificed quality – we have some of the best tools in the world at our fingertips – e.g. Google is our database search engine. Instead of outsourcing we have basically done away with the whole kit and caboodle of IT. Now, certainly someone is handling these issues for us...we use combination of tools from Blogger (now part of Google), Google itself, Yahoo, Quickbase (part of Quicken), CreateSurvey and so on. You can find the list of tools and services at http://typaldos.com/presentations/cybersalon/.
We are very pleased with having these companies as the basis for our ResumeBlogs, because these are some of the best companies in the business! We haven't compromised at all by not doing anything except the assemblage. Now, it does take quite of bit of cleverness to put these tools together in ways that make sense, and we also have to constantly stay up on what's new (and what's gone stale) and provide support. We believe members will pay a small (medium iced latte) monthly price for that service. But since our costs are nearly zero, we don't have to charge much!
- Fifth, the 21st century is going to be more and more "self serve", a trend that began in the 20th century with the cafeteria. It's often so much easier to just do something yourself than to spend the time to explain to someone else what you want and then interact with them as they attempt to deliver the goods. Hiring managers, even at the level of the CEO, are prowling the web for the BEST person to do the job. And they are just like us; they start by going to Google and typing in a bunch of key words. Let's say you wanted to find someone with skills in social software, at a CEO level, which is now or has been an entrepreneur. Reasonable search terms are: "social software" entrepreneur ceo. You may not believe this, but I did NOT check Google before I came up with those search terms. Then I went to Google and typed in the keywords. My ResumeBlog comes up as item #7 in a list of 240 items. Why is my rating so high? Because I belong to the SPM Guild and by linking to each other (in ways that matter), Google recognizes my blog as relatively important. So, by being part of a guild, everyone gets more of a web "presence". Which makes sense. In real life an isolated worker with few or no business relationships is not going to be someone that everyone knows about.
What are some productivity statistics or share some success stories of how Blogs have been able to find work for a candidate?
We are just implementing the ResumeBlogs now, but already in the first few weeks approximately 10 (out of 125) ResumeBloggers have been contacted by a hiring manager, HR manager, or recruiter about a job. In today's market, having someone call YOU about a job is almost unheard of. If you apply for a posted position, your resume goes into a black vortex. Our beta ResumeBloggers are thrilled...several have even gone for interviews that came out of these contacts. And, as we expected, the person with the job was just plopping in keywords to Google and seeing who came up. For several of the ResumeBloggers, it wasn't their ResumeBlog that came up first, but the googler also explored the links of other ResumeBloggers and found them by traversing the links. Now, as I explained above, there are a lot of things at work here that enabled this to happen...the ResumeBlog had to exist of course, but that ResumeBlog also had to be part of a tapestry that is in essence the community of professionals in software marketing.
What is the difference between belonging to a “professional guild” and being an “employee”?
Right, it’s changing your orientation from employee at XYZ Corporation who happens to be the controller, to being a controller in the automotive industry who happens to be working at XYZ Corporation. Interestingly, there are professors at several of the top schools in the country (MIT, Stanford, UC Berkeley, etc.) that are studying the (re)emergence of professional guilds. References coming soon. Being part of guild includes networking with others in your guild (e.g. other finance people in the automotive industry, and other types of professionals automotive industry and even other industries. It’s all about developing an expertise and they aggressively seeking out rewarding opportunities to use and enhance that expertise.
What are two or three gems of advice you would give someone wants to change jobs?
- 1) You should always be thinking about the next job. That's a cliché, but it's truer than ever. That means you should have your "shingle" out on the web (using the ResumeBlog for example) you should be participating in activities that raise your Google presence (e.g. making presentations, writing articles, etc.), and you should be working part-time with others on consulting assignment where you can develop an expertise (or where you are already an expert). Your goal is that when the person with your perfect job types in the four or five keywords for that job, your professional presence (e.g. blog) comes up very near the top of the list.
- 2) Find a way to interact once/month with professionals outside your core competency, and even outside your industry. This will add to your “weak ties”, that is, your number of acquaintances. Professor Mark Granovetter, now at Stanford University, studied the use of social networks as professionals sought new jobs, and discovered that the acquaintances were the best source of opportunities. For more about Granovetter’s “strength of weak ties” please visit http://www.softwareproductmarketing.com/about_spm/pg-weak_ties.asp
- 3) Develop an unusual expertise along with your must have skills. With the internet it is actually possible to fill the perfect job with the perfect person, because every professional can make him/herself findable. Again, as an example, suppose I need a finance professional who is an expert in stock option programs for venture-backed startups. I don’t want just your average Joe or Jill; I want the best there is. So into Google go the keywords:
finance “stock option” venture
The first 100 references show only one professional
http://www.hitechlawyer.com/index.html
He’s not a finance executive, but he’s got the right experience.
Don’t you want to found too? If yes, start ResumeBlogging at http://www.resumeblog.com/
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