Tweeting Your Way to a Job

Keep in mind, we only really have one example in this article. It’s kin of like looking at the NFL and picking one rags to riches story and forgetting about the 10’s of 1000’s of men who never got there shot. You have to be the best of the best to even be considered. One piece of advice I can give; Use social media for your enjoyment. Build your personal community. Get out of the house or office and network with the people you connect with. If making a buck from it is going to happen, then it will.

nytimes.com – “IT is my mission in life to get this job,” said Amanda Casgar, who is better known to executives at Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma County as applicant No. 505.

@WHIZ Christi Day of Southwest.
Three weeks ago Murphy-Goode began a search for a “social media whiz,” a wine enthusiast interested in moving to Healdsburg, Calif., for six months to promote the vineyard’s malbec and chardonnay on blogs, Facebook and Twitter. The job — which comes with the official title “lifestyle correspondent” — pays $10,000 a month, plus free accommodations at a private home within walking distance of the tasting room. Ms. Casgar, a former magazine marketing executive, has been endorsing herself as enthusiastically as she would a bottle of petit verdot.

Already an occasional Twitterer, she increased the number of tweets she posts; they are mostly about wine. She created a Web site, “Goode Times With Amanda Casgar,” to chronicle her job quest. Like about a half-dozen other eager applicants, she has started a fan group on Facebook, buying ads for 50 cents a click to generate traffic.

Read the full article at nytimes.com.

Can Social Media Help Michael Vick?

Man what a hot button topic. I personal think if he wasn’t Michael Vick, He never would have seen the inside of a prision cell. His fame made him a martyr for the cause. They striped him of his title, yanked his money and locked him away, but I digress…

Social media can be good for a rep or bad, it just depends how it’s used. I don’t think MV the person needs SM right now. He needs to pick up the pieces, be happy to be free, and repair the relationship in his life in person. SM could be way too over bearing in this case… my two cents.

mashable.com – There was a time when Michael Vick was one of the most popular athletes on the planet. Of course, today sees Vick in a far different circumstance, as the former Atlanta Falcons quarterback was released from federal prison (and will finish his 23-month sentence under house arrest) and awaits a job making $10/hour in construction.

For now, Vick’s football career is in doubt, as he remains suspended by the NFL, and signing the athlete would be a huge PR risk for any team. But Vick is already taking steps to try and rebuild his image – in addition to his humble blue collar job, today it was announced that Vick will be working with The Humane Society to help stop dogfighting.

Read the full story at mashable.com.

VVM Sites Now Get 40 Percent Of Traffic From Blogs

This is actually quite a transition. Those involved in traditional media can understand the challenges of transforming 1 news organization around… print staff becoming web savvy, retail finding and shifting to new forms of revenue, IT staff gearing up for a complete digital transition… now try that times 15. We have a dedicated organization driven to succeed in this new arena. Thank you techcrunch.com for giving us a little pimpin’

techcrunch.com – The future of the weekly city paper is the daily blog. Hints of this future can already be seen at Village Voice Media, which owns and operates 15 of the top weeklies in the country, including the Village Voice, SF Weekly, and LA Weekly. Bill Jensen, the director of new media who oversees all the Village Voice Media sites tells me that 40 percent of pageviews comes from the blogs on the sites, up from 20 percent a year ago. Some of the more popular ones include columnist Michael Musto’s blog, Nikki Finke’s Deadline Holywood Daily, and Topless Robot.

Of course, the sites feature music listings, restaurant reviews, and articles from the print editions as well, but the blogs are driving an increasing portion of the traffic. The online and print newsrooms are combined and everyone is expected to post on the Web. Long gone are the days when a music reviewer could attend a rock show and turn in his copy three days later. “I don’t care how drunk you are,” says Jensen, “you post by 9 AM.”

Read the rest of the article at: techcrunch.com