THG @SXSW: Helping Cancer Patients Connect with Each Other

on March 6, 2012

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In the days leading up to SXSW Interactive, we’ve been looking at the Hired Guns and Hired Guns pals who will be there. Up today: social-media innovator and “wannabe entrepreneur” Brandon Lee:

Social Networking: Giving Cancer Patients a Voice
Monday, March 12, 3:30
Presenter: Brandon Lee

Your Twesume
(your resume in 140 characters or less):
I’m a wannabe entrepreneur and I like to get my hands into everything. I studied journalism and web and graphic design at TCNJ. I am a black belt in tae kwon do and a drummer.

Why did you want to speak at SXSW?
I wanted to speak at SXSW to see how the bright and creative minds reacted to my nonprofit. I also know that SXSW is a very popular venue so I wanted to speak about social networking for cancer patients to as many people as possible. Cancer in general is a topic which is extremely important to me and has changed my life.    Read More →

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Help Wanted: Why You Can’t Replace Your Resume with Social Media (At Least Not Yet)

on January 30, 2012

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Last fall, Fred Wilson’s venture capital firm, Union Square Ventures, had an investment analyst position it needed to fill. But instead of asking for resumes or cover letters, it instead requested “links that will help us get to know you… anything from a Twitter account to a blog or Tumblr to a project you hacked together — whatever represents you best.”

It also wanted two short videos, submitted through the website of a startup called Take the Interview — the videos, done instead of screening anyone by phone, were to answer two questions: “Why are you interested in the analyst role at Union Square Ventures?” and “Which web or mobile services most inspire you?”

No cover letter. No resume. But a video?! Is this the start of a trend? Maybe, but don’t ditch your resume and start panicking quite yet.    Read More →

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Sree Sreenivasan on What Social Media Weekend 2012 Has in Store

on January 24, 2012

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In advance of Social Media Weekend (starting this Friday!), we asked its founder, Sree Sreenivasan, and the journalist Patricia Kitchen what events and speakers are especially worth looking forward to. If you haven’t bought your tickets yet, day passes for Saturday and Sunday are still available.

The Hired Guns: It seems as if you could throw a rock in any direction and hit a social media conference. Why come to yours? In other words, who’s it for? Am I here to manage my personal brand or the brand of my company? Or both?    Read More →

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Bullet Points: The Question Every Interviewer Should Be Able to Answer

on September 29, 2011

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Bullet Points: Nice Guys Finish Last; Social Recruiting Blossoms; Is Middle Management Going Out of Style?

on August 15, 2011

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  • “[Agreeable] workers earn significantly lower incomes than less agreeable ones,” writes Rachel Emma Silverman in the Wall Street Journal. The gap, which is larger for men, is discussed in a paper presented at this year’s meeting of the Academy of Management.
  • Professor Lynda Gratton’s book The Shift predicts the end of middle management. But the Economist marshals some facts and decides that “there are still reasons to believe that theirs is not a wholly useless profession“: “it could be argued that the demise of the middle manager correlates all too suspiciously with the rise in the cult of the CEO.”
  • Recruiters’ love for social media isn’t going away: it’s just too good at finding those appealing “passive candidates.” [Baltimore Sun]
  • NPR looks at the companies who will guarantee you a certain number of Twitter followers—for a price.
  • The advice is for those in finance, but we think it’s got a much broader application. “Stop doing dumb stuff,” says Steve Player. “Much of this ‘dumb stuff’ masquerades as standard finance processes,” but stopping it is the “only way you can find the time for doing critical things that can add value.”
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    Bullet Points: Social Media Blahs; the Dangers of Pretty; Patent Trolling

    on August 12, 2011

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  • It’s hard to be pretty. Despite what you might think, being attractive might actually hurt you when you’re being interviewed by someone of the same sex, says a psychological study cited in Business Insider.
  • Andy Baio looks at the “Twitter clone” Heello, which is evolving into a looking-glass version of real social media. For instance, the fake Heello version of CNN Breaking News REALLY LOVES CAPITALS, and its “Mark Zuckerberg” asks “Did this many people have birthdays before Facebook?” and “What’s your Facebook account so that I can ban you?”
  • In related news, some overly plugged-in people are getting a little fed up with all this social media nonsense. [NYT]
  • NPR looks at so-called “patent trolls,” whose business model isn’t looking so slick these day, in light of a recent hefty court fine.
  • M. Kenneth Oshman, a founder of one of the earliest Silicon Valley startups and a major influence behind the work hard/play hard culture that’s still part of the Valley today, has passed away at age 71.
  • Cheesy music. Glacial loading times. No menus (or at least no prices), but lots of big photos of flowers and the chef. It’s hardly news that most restaurant websites are awful. Over at Slate, Farhad Manjoo gets to the bottom of why they’re so bad, and why they’re unlikely to improve anytime soon.
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    Bullet Points: The Downside of Low Turnover; Making Your Company Resilient; the Point of Social Media Experts

    on August 9, 2011

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    Bullet Points: Office Propaganda; Hiring Social Media Savvy; Actually Fun Corporate Retreats

    on July 26, 2011

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    Bullet Points: LinkedIn Goes on Defense, and Who Owns All Your Online Job Contacts Anyway?

    on July 8, 2011

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    Bullet Points: “Social Media Backlash” Edition

    on May 26, 2011

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    • “I will never hire a ‘social media expert,’” writes Peter Shankman in a much commented-on post that’s been tearing up the Twitter charts in the past few days. “Social media, by itself, will not help you,” writes the social media entrepreneur.
    • Social media strategist Alan Wolk writes a column defending those gurus, whoever they are.
    • Ricky Engelberg, Nike’s Global Digital Innovation Director calls the “Like” button the most valuable thing on the Internet. A billion cat videos beg to differ.
    • If allowing people to Like your products and therefore lead others to them is valuable, it isn’t yet that valuable in the mundane make-some-bucks way. As Peter Yared at VentureBeat puts it, “Most products have too short a shelf life to accumulate many Likes. In addition, very few people are clicking Like on a product since it is broadcast to all of their friends, and instead are using the ‘email to a friend’ feature so they can ask a select set of people if they like an item. Email is really making Facebook miserable when it comes to e-commerce.”
    • If people avoid Liking companies’ products, it might also be because they’re not really that into what companies have on offer. According to a recent study by IBM, companies mostly think people want to be friends with their brands, but what they really want is a good deal: “… a majority of consumers say the top reasons they interact with companies via social sites are to receive discounts and make purchases, but companies rank those as the least likely reasons customers will follow them.”
    • All that social media probably is taking up valuable time that could otherwise be spent at the proverbial watercooler or perhaps even working–as PC World puts it, Social networks distract at work. Seriously.

      [Image: Stallio/flickr]

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    Product Management, User Experience, Information Architecture, Interaction Design, Usability Testing

    Project Management, Program Management, Production, Content Production

    Animation, Art Direction, Creative Direction, Corporate Identity, Flash Design/Dev, Graphic Design, Web Design

    Content Strategy, Editorial, Copywriting, Copy Editing, Research, Blog Outreach

    Brand Management, Business Development, Sales, Product Marketing, Event/Conference Planning, Promotions, Marcomms, Corporate Comms, Direct Marketing, E-Marketing, Public Relations, Market Research

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