How To Network

I am posting an interesting read from Silicon Alley Insider that interviews some high powered folks in Silicon Valley about how to "network like a pro." If you are working on your networking skills (and we all should be improving them), this is a good read for you.

JV

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-network-like-a-pro-2010-4

Using YouTube To Find A New Job?

Especially in this uncertain economy, there is a lot of anxiety for those that are looking for jobs--how do I compete with the other candidates? There are so many candidates vying for few jobs--how do I separate myself from the others? How can I find a job in this tough economy? These are a few of the questions that I receive from students, especially those that are graduating this Spring.

I will often work with students on ways that they can leverage their expertise and experience by using the internet to advertise. The conversation will typically cover using such sites as Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze, to name a few. But I just read this article about how a Canadian College Football player went undrafted in the NFL Draft. He prepared a recruiting tape with a collection of his vital information along with a "best of" compilation of his games. He posted it to YouTube, and the Cleveland Browns found it, brought him in, and he is now signed. What a success story. The full story can be found at this link on Silicon Alley Insider.

Now, obviously this may take some massaging to adapt to other industries and careers, but it does open some new possibilities! I'm not completely sold on making a promo video for YouTube yet, but I am going to do some more research and report back to you on my findings. Done right, I think this has some promise!

JV
http://www.businessinsider.com/undrafted-football-players-youtube-video-gets-him-a-contract-with-the-cleveland-browns-2010-5

How Non-Profits Are Using Social Media

I have recently spoke with a number of students that have an altruistic purpose in their career direction--that is, their ambition is to help people. For some, this means that they will be working for non-profit organizations to help people. While this is certainly an admirable goal, it can be hard to get your foot in the door with a reputable organization. What's more, applicants need to bring skills--they need to add value to the organization, especially if it is a paid position. (almost by definition, non-profits usually don't have a ton of cash to throw at employees)

I have been working with a few students on how they might build their skillsets to make them more appealing to non-profits. One way is to learn the latest trends, and skills on how the organization may spread the word or cause to a broader audience. A natural way to do this is to take advantage of the internet, and specifically, social networking sites. Done well, this can be an effective way to reach a broad audience with little money and time.

I have posted an article that I recently read on Mashable.com about this very tactic that is becoming more popular with non-profits. This is a good read for anyone, but espeically those that are interested in going into this sector!

JV
http://mashable.com/2010/05/03/non-profit-social-media-results/

New Facebook Settings-Must Read!

At their developer conference, Facebook recently announced they are making their user' "interests" and "pages" public. The idea is that they can make your web experience better by making associations with your interests and pages. They would also be able to help advertisers help target people better, based upon your interests. This is a shrewd move by Facebook, as they look to increase their presence on the internet to increase advertising revenues. Unfortunately, their default privacy settings are now left at share all information with others. If this is not what you intend to do, you must go back and change them to private settings. This is different than the privacy settings you may have changed back in January! You must go back and change these as well.
In a detailed article in Silicon Alley Insider, the step-by-step instructions to change your privacy settings are listed. Please click on the link to this article to learn how to change your settings!

JV

http://www.businessinsider.com/careful-facebooks-new-settings-publish-your-interests-even-if-theyre-private-2010-5

Cleantech!

I recently attended a Cleantech Panel at UC Berkeley, where I listened to 4 industry people talked about the recent "emergence" of the cleantech industry. What I found itneresting was the perspective of these people, they were able to talk about how they got to where they were, what space they are in, and also give a perspective of the direction and current trends of the industry and a few sub-categories of the industry. It was very informative, I definitely encourage those of you who are reading this to broaden your knowledge by learning more about this industry. To me, it has the feeling of the 1990's when the technology industry was really starting to explode along with the popularily of the internet. Some of the "cleantech" technology has been around for some time, but it seems as if the perfect storm of events are happening to act as a catalyst to propel the industry into the forefront of discussion and political agendas.
To this, I have accrued a list of different cleantech energy related sites that are devoted to cleantech news. If you are looking to do research or just to read up on the industry, some of these sites may be a good starting point. As always, feedback on these are always appreciated!

JV

•GreenTech Media
www.greentechmedia.com
News website covering solar, smart grid, enterprise, events, and market research

•Mondo Times:
http://www.mondotimes.com/2/topics/5/business/31
CleanTech News Site Aggregate

•GreenWire
http://www.eenews.net/gw/
Energy and environmental policy news

•Energy Central
http://www.energycentral.com/
Energy news website covering utilites, energy generation, storage, smartgrid, and end-use

•Renewables Biz:
http://www.renewablesbiz.com/
Business of renewable and sustainable energy

•Alternative Energy Stocks
http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2007/06/the_launch_of_cleantech_news_1.html
Following the financials of alternative energy companies

•Cleantech Blog
http://www.cleantechblog.com/2006/01/cleantech-news-californias-3-billion.html
Cleantech site for commentary on news and technology relating to cleantech, greentech, energy, climate change and carbon, and the environment

•Venture Beat
http://green.venturebeat.com/
Follow Cleantech venture capital funding

•Alternative Energy News
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/
Alternative energy news and information resources about renewable energy technologies

•Green Energy News
http://www.green-energy-news.com/
Covering technology, issues, policy, and the business of clean, efficient and renewable energy

•Energy Industry Today
http://energy.einnews.com/
News service for energy industry professionals


•Energy Source Guides
http://energy.sourceguides.com/news.shtml
Renewable energy resource: news aggregate

•Renewable Energy World
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/home
Renewable energy portal that contains relevant news, blogs, finance, products, companies, events, and jobs

•Wind Energy News
http://www.windenergynews.com/
Wind Energy News is a comprehensive source of news about wind power issues and projects from media sources from around the world, as well as an international marketplace of people, companies, products and services connected with the wind energy industry

•Alt E-News
http://www.altenews.com/ Alternative Energy News Site Aggregate
Alternative Energy News Site Aggregate

•Department of Energy
http://www.energy.gov/

•Next Energy News
http://www.nextenergynews.com/
Alternative energy news website

•Solar Buzz
http://www.solarbuzz.com/
Solar energy website covering industry, corporate, people, products, and jobs

•Energy Daily
http://www.energy-daily.com/
News website covering alternative energies such as biofuel, wind, solar, and nuclear power

What is the Future of the Internet, and How Will It Affect Businesses?

Another interesting blog title, eh?
I read another article from the Pew Research website that talks about the direction of technology, more specifically the internet, and how the direction may affect business in the future. What is the direction of the internet? And do you think the internet will drastically change business models in the next 10-20 years? These are a few of the questions that were asked of a sample of business executives. The insight is interesting, and worth a read.

What do you think???

James

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Impact-of-the-Internet-on-Institutions-in-the-Future.aspx

Will The Internet Make Us Stupid?

An interesting and catchy title, I know.
But there is an interesting series of articles that are on the Pew Research website that address this question, as well as some other pertinent ones. (like recent internet trends, polls, etc)
This is a conversation that I have had with friends--in my opinion, one worth having. Will sites like Google and Wikipedia make us more lazy or complacent, or curb learning? Will this trend of finding quick information slow the research methods that encourage depth in learning? Will texting and emailing, expecially with the Millenial generation lead to lower English composition skills and reduced understanding of grammar and sentence structure? I think there is an argument on either side. Click on the link below (or the title of this blog) to read the article on Pew Research's site.

What do you think?

James

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Future-of-the-Internet-IV.aspx