UKSourcers' Posterous

Twitter Tip: Replies and Mentions are not the same

I was inspired to write this post after presenting on "Twitter & Recruiting" at The FIRM's Social Media event yesterday. 

We all know that referencing someone's twitter username with an @ symbol infront creates a link to their profile in your tweet. 

Did you realise that where you place that @username can have a big impact on the visibility of your tweet?

When a tweet begins with @username Twitter interperates this as a Reply. Only those following both you and the person you are refernencing will see the tweet in their timeline. 

If you go and check out my twitter profile, you will probably see me talking to a bunch of people you don't know in tweets you've never seen. Aren't you glad you didn't have to see me chatting about the weather to a total stranger?

Here's an example of a reply: 

When you mention someone - referencing their @usermane in the body of your tweet, everyone can see it.

This is why you sometimes see people putting a full-stop in front of a reply - so that it is visible to all of their followers. 

Here's an example of a mention: 

(Thanks Wendy *blush*)

So, if you're just shooting the breeze with your friends and colleagues on Twitter, use replies as normal. 

If you're trying to spread content far and wide, make sure you reference @usernames in the body of your tweet, not at the start, so that all your followers see.

 

The Google+ Population #infographic

One of the most interesting things to me about Google+ is that all the profiles on it must be fairly up to date.

According to this infographic, Google+ has 26 million members. I have also seen accounts that suggest it's more in the region of 50 million. LinkedIn now has 120 million members. It wouldn't seem too far fetched of me to suggest that these two platforms could have a similar number of up to date profiles.

Take a look at the demographics on Google+ too. Lots of Engineers and developers as oposed to executives. Interesting.

Inforgaphics_googleplus_identyme_w600

Source: IdentyMe

Every 60 seconds on the Internet #infographic

A week might be a long time in politics, but it’s even longer in online recruitment.

Perhaps you ran a search last week and didn’t find a suitable candidate on a job board, or no one was tweeting/blogging about the software your client needs expertise in. A lot has happened on the Internet since then.

In just one minute there were 100 people signed up to create a LinkedIn profile and 98,000 tweets were sent, 600 new videos on YouTube and so much more.

When you search the web this week, it’s a very different place than the one you searched last week…

Internet-60-seconds-infographic

Infographic found via the dlvr.it blog.

Sourcing Lessons From Hogwarts

I am a big Harry Potter fan and I am a sourcer - you might have noticed that I am part way through a monster Harry Potter marthon this week! I’ve tenuously linked the two together in order to impart a few talent sourcing tips – enjoy!

DEFENCE AGAINST THE DARK ARTS

Alistair “Mad eye” Moody had a point – it doesn’t hurt to always be vigilant. I’m not talking about keeping an eye out for Death Eaters or dark magic, but for sourcing opportunities. I like to play a game when I am on the train where I try to work out what people do for a living. I feel it keeps me sharp – one day I’ll find someone I want to hire, and then I’ll probably panic and make a mess of it. There are sourcing opportunities everywhere – when checking in on Foursquare, when shopping on Amazon and while watching TV. If you can’t work out how – CONSTANT VIGILANCE!!

CHARMS

“Accio!” When Harry wants to find something, like his broomstick, he uses this handy charm to summon it. This isn’t the only charm he knows though; there are hundreds that will help him in his day to day life, his future career and any dragon avoidance he may have to engage in. Similarly, it’s important for a sourcer to know about lots of tools – it’s no good just using Google and LinkedIn all the time and never trying anything else. As handy as it might be to make a troll’s club float, sometimes it would be much more useful to know how to unlock a door or mend your glasses. So try out Bing and Ning and Xing as well.

POTIONS

If you mix ingredients together in the wrong way it can be dangerous. Why do you think Snape is such a grump? He’s trying to stop the dunnerheads in his class blowing his dungeon sky high! Nothing as dangerous will happen if you get your Boolean in a twist, but if you mix ingredients together in the RIGHT way – something Magical can happen. Sometimes you need to mix your search terms in a different way – or think of some new keyword ingredients. Sometimes you need to add another tool into your sourcing mix. Have you tried mixing followerwonk (to search twitter profiles) with knowem (to see if that twitter handle is used as a username elsewhere) and then following the trail of breadcrumbs? You might need to throw in a little pipl (people search) to cross reference some more, or you might not.

CARE OF MAGICAL CREATURES

Some magical creatures, like hippogriffs, can be really dangerous if you don’t know how to treat them, but really useful (for transporting fugitives) if you do. In the same way, some websites can seem scary/complicated/useless when you first visit them. If you take the time to learn what they’re all about, visit the ‘help’ pages, poke around on their blog and don’t forget to bow, you just might figure out how to harness them in the fight against Voldemort (or at the very least, in the war for talent).

DIVINATION

Working out where talented people might be hiding can sometimes seem a bit like gazing into a crystal ball while drinking tea and falling asleep in a warm tower… well, it does if you work in a tall office and get free tea bags that regularly split during the brewing process. Guess work is ok when you are sourcing – you are not expected to be all-knowing. Look under a few rocks. But remember, if something isn’t working – modify your approach rather than continuing too far down a rabbit hole.

Have you learnt any sourcing lessons lately?

Opportunities Spotted on Twitter in June

People looking for work - do you have something for them?

A job seeker in the wine business - London

Internal Comms Professional - South East UK

Strategic Management Consultant (Interested in cloud computing) 

Security and Visualisation Emgineer - Berkshire

 

Opportunities for UK recruitment types:

Researchers -  Basingstoke

Senior Consultant, Technical/Engineering Recruiter - Leeds

Please let me know if this list is at all useful :)

Katharine
@TheSourceress 

 

UK Social Media and Internet Events 2011

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Here is an updated version of the Social Media and Internet Events list that I posted last month. I keep this list myself and thought I would share as I'm sure others will find it useful too. I use various sources, like Mashable's weekly event guide (where a lot of the aditional info is lifted from), LinkedIn, Lanyrd and generally keeping my ear to the social media ground.

I try to attend a few events and monitor those that I don't via Twitter and blogs etc.

June 2011

2 June - London, UK
Social Media in a Corporate Context - the only conference solely dedicated to social media and web 2.0 for corporate communicators. Organisations at the cutting edge of digital communications have discovered new and exciting ways to engage with stakeholders. Why not join them?

14 June - London, UK
20 social media experts will be speaking at the Social Media Results Conference – From Engagement To ROI. Procter & Gamble, Barclaycard, Nokia, Virgin Atlantic Airways Ltd, MTV Networks UK & Ireland, Mothercare, Lonely Planet, American Airlines, Kodak Ltd, Comic Relief, Vue Entertainment, Cisco Europe, Phones 4u Limited and many more will be discussing their real-world, actionable social media insights on how to drive the customer journey with consistently genuine interaction and fully integrated, targeted social media campaigns.
Twitter: @SocMedResults 
LinkedIn: http://events.linkedin.com/Social-Media-Results/pub/562560  

16 June - London, UK
The Augmented Reality Summit is designed to explore this new dynamic reality and provide delegates with the perfect opportunity to uncover Augmented Reality in full and explore the opportunity’s AR brings any brand or company. The AR Summit is positioned at the forefront of this exciting continually developing new industry. Whether you are a Brand, Advertiser or Agency, Technology provider or Developer looking to meet key industry figures, keep up with the latest developments, technology’s & tools or simply to network with other from the world of AR
Twitter: @ARSummit
LinkedIn: http://events.linkedin.com/Augmented-Reality-AR-Summit/pub/511104

30 June - London, UK
Social Recruiting Conference - #SRCONF is a forward thinking Europe's Social Media in Recruiting conference, with case studies. It gathers leading Employers, HR and Recruitment Industry professionals, to passionately discuss and practically demonstrate the possibilities of Social Recruiting.
Twitter: @srconf #srconf
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/srconf
LinkedIn: http://events.linkedin.com/srconf

July 2011

16-17 July - Portsmouth, UK
WordCamp UK is an informal gathering of WordPress publishers, designers and developers based in the United Kingdom.
Twitter: @wordcampuk #wordcampuk
Upcoming: http://upcoming.yahoo.com/event/7665283/

September 2011

21-22 Sept - London, UK
ad:tech London is the UK’s essential free to attend event for professionals seeking to stay ahead of the latest interactive media, advertising and marketing trends. The event unites advertisers, media owners and agencies to harness the power of digital and deliver real marketing ROI. Alongside the exhibition, there is also a conference featuring 100+ international speakers for serious digital innovators and marketers.
Twitter: @adtech_london
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?home=&gid=1987314

October 2011

18-21 October - Exeter, UK
Likeminds is more than just an event, it's a community of likeminded people. The event has grown into a four day extraveganza. Through insights, workshops and lunches, an average 300 participants (not delegates) engage with new people over new ideas, and forge the connections to most importantly make those ideas happen. The first Like Minds Conference was in October 2009, with our second in February 2010, and our third scheduled for October 2010.
Twitter: @wearelikeminds #likeminds
Facebook: http://facebook.com/wearelikeminds

November 2011

1-2 November - London, UK
mediaPro 2011 is a FREE to attend exhibition and seminar programme about delivering effective integrated communications across digital, social and print media

Is this list of use? If so, I'll keep it updated, and post again next month. Please let me know :)

Katharine Robinson
@TheSourceress