The great Matt Galloway (@mattgalloway), who's passion for social media and analytics are downright contagious, has put together a snapshot of Twitter usage in the Sooner state that reveals some very interesting trends, and is likely a good barometer for Twitter usage overall.  Matt was recently featured in an Urban Tulsa article, along with Bill Handy (@billhandy), about using social networking in your job search. 

As a native of Tulsa, I am always interested in news and info from O K L A.  But beyond that, the study that Matt has recently completed presents some useful insights different from anything I have seen on Twitter usage.

Of special interest to me was the estimate that one in one hundred Oklahomans are active Twitter users.  Really?  I guess that makes sense, but I'm still blown away by that stat.  Also the fact that, even though we've heard that the majority of Twitter users are "older", some of the highest concentrations of Twitter use in Oklahoma are in college towns.  And these "college punks" Tweet later at night than the "older folks".  Stats like these are important to staffing professionals and businesses who are interested in targeting college students.

There are many other interesting conclusions that can be drawn from this 8 week study involving 1,503,018 tweets collected from 21,083 tweeps
from March 29, 2009-May 31,2009.  I took the liberty of creating a Slideshare presentation (shown below) of Matt's original document which can be found here.

Thanks to Matt for this very interesting and unique analysis.

This year requests for training on Social Media and Twitter have gone through the roof.  A-List Solutions is at the forefront of small firms using Twitter and Social tools for Marketing, Brand awareness, and Recruiting.  I have trained top recruiting organizations, businesses, and professional groups in DFW and nationally on Twitter and Social Media effectiveness.  I explain how to best utilize these tools for branding, recruiting, marketing, sales, jobs search, list building, etc.  Here are a few comments from previous presentations:

"Excellent presentation: great analogies and you took the fear out of social networking." - Joel Friedman, VPIT, member DFWTENG

"Craig brings deep practical experience in his training to anyone that wants to leverage Twitter or other social media. This is especially valuable to anyone in the staffing/recruiting business. However, anyone can improve their Web 2.0 effectiveness with Craig's help. I found his presentation and ability to answer nearly any question very valuable to the point I am rolling with my new social media strategy! :-)"  - Rick Rene, Professional Services Regional Director at Matrix Resources

"I've had the pleasure of knowing Craig for more than 10 years. He's without question one of the most savvy recruiters in the business. Craig is a complete professional and is someone with a high degree of integrity and ability to get results for those fortunate to work with him. In addition to being a "thought leader" in the recruiting space, he's a recognized leader in all aspects of social media. He's someone I consider to be a trusted expert in this emerging force. Craig has always been willing to take time to share with others his insight and experience, lending a helping hand whenever asked. I look forward to a continued partnership and friendship for many years to come." - Jon Davis, Director, Western Operations, MATRIX Resources, Inc.

"Great presentation yesterday! We appreciate your willingness to present to our quarterly meeting. Many of our team members listed your presentation as the most valuable take-away from the meeting (you're a tough act to follow). We are a lot more knowledgeable now." - Dane Reese, Senior Vice President at Eurosoft

"The presentation was not only very professional, but very educational as well. This was on of the best "Personal Networking" seminars that can really be applied that I have seen." -Steven Flad, Director at Stark Holdings

Here is some additional recognition I have received (my Twitter handle is Fishdogs):

Mashable.com HOW TO: Find a Job on Twitter

Twitter Grader Top Recruiters
#TalentNet and Social Recruiting By John Sumser

ExtremeRecruiting.TV

Featured on The Recruiting Animal Show-highest rated show to date!

The Career 100

http://WeFollow.com/tag/recruiter

I would be glad to train your team either in-person, or remotely by Webinar. 

The ROI of utilizing Twitter correctly is excellent.  Recruiters and companies can vastly increase their visibility and greatly broaden their client and candidate base with just a small amount of time per week.  The consequence of attempting to do this incorrectly is hours of wasted time.  I see a many companies just posting jobs or Marketing/PR info and getting nothing in return.  There are tools and techniques that can help you target your activity with laser precision.  Knowing what they are and what to do with them is as much a key as is your general approach to social networking.

Technorati Profile inh4g8mri2

The way social media can effect recruiting and retention was a hot topic at the recent ERE Social Recruiting Summit held this week at Google headquarters in Mountain View, CA.  Jenny DeVaughn attended and wrote a nice synopsis of her experience that can be viewed on the ERE Community site.  I watched many of the presentations through streaming video that was made available.  And I monitored the conversations that emanated live from the event on Twitter. 

One of the topics that caught my interest was the idea of "relational onboarding" presented by Sacha Chua.  Jenny DeVaughn describes the session:

"Sacha Chua led our next discussion on how we all can have the most awesomest job search ever. Sacha was unapologetically enthusiastic about her love for her current role with IBM.  Sacha described how important "relational onboarding" is to new or potential employees. It is vital to have genuine connections and relationships with your future co-workers before you start working. I agree with @JohnSumser, this is the key to seamless recruiting. Sacha also mentioned, once you are an employee, you are an ambassador. Laurie Ruettimann retweeted one of my tweets during this session while I was sitting two seats away from her. How cool is that?"

Here is a presentation Sasha Chua posted just prior to the SRS:

I touched on this subject in my article for Universum, Organic Branding for Employers.  The idea is that Social Networking should not only be encouraged at work, but that it should now be considered an essential part of the onboarding process and is key to company culture, retention, and job satisfaction.

Also of interest was the presentation by Reid Hoffman, CEO of LinkedIn, who believes that we should all think of ourselves as a small business.  Here are the slides from his presentation:

One of my growing fascinations is the potential for better communication with candidates and clients through Mobile Recruiting.  So you can bet I was dialed in for the Mobile Recruiting presentation by Chris Hoyt and Michael Marlatt.  Per Jenny, "They discussed the mobile myths: mobile is just hype, only used by the youth generation and that it is only a device for spam. They also shared that SMS (a text message to your phone) has a 94% read rate. We all participated in a live step-by-step text (short code) demonstration. In mobile marketing, we are only limited by our creativity; however, one must consistently create value."

Overall it appeared to be a really great event with cutting edge information shared by entertaining presenters.  Once again I was amazed at how easily those of us who couldn't attend could follow so closely through the live stream and on Twitter. 

Local Dallas recruiters and HR professionals will be treated to two low cost events here in DFW this year that will cover some of the same topics and more.  The Texas Recruiters Association - Workshop Seminar and Networking Event will be held on July 16th from 4pm to 7:30pm at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre.  The cost is a very affordable $40.  I will be one of those featured on the "expert panel" along with Chris Hoyt, April Leah Grady, and Dennis Smith.

The next event will be loosely based on the popular Twitter forum for Recruiters, #TalentNet.  TalentNet Live will also feature me, Chris Hoyt, Dennis Smith, and others who will provide training on leveraging the latest tools and techniques to more effectively recruit and grow your business.  It will be held on September 11th at Frito Lay Headquarters in Plano, TX.  Additional details for this event will be available soon.  This local recruiting expo will also be available for a low entry fee, a portion of which is planned to be donated to a charity for the families of firefighters. 

If you are one of the many Dallas area staffing professionals who couldn't attend the ERE Social Recruiting Summit, please consider coming out to one or both of these local workshops.  They will each provide unique and useful information that you can use for motivation and strategy in recruiting.

By: Dan Schawbel | Personal Branding Blog

REQUIRED: A Custom Facebook URL For Your Brand Name | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

At midnight on June 13th, Facebook is releasing custom URL's for both profile and fan pages. This is a big move by Facebook and if you review their announcement this afternoon, there are a few details that you want to pay attention to.  From my perspective, this is perhaps the most important news since Google released their profile pages a few months ago.  I want to take a few minutes to go over what this means for your personal brand, the brands you associate with and, of course, Facebook.

Your personal brand

A custom Facebook URL, or http://facebook.com/YourFullName, is extremely valuable to you. First, since Google is how people find you, including the press, hiring managers, and customers, claiming the results for your name is imperative.  A custom Facebook URL will rank very high in Google and can fill up one of the results for your name.  Second, a shorter URL will be easy for your audience to remember, so if you make a presentation or you want to link to your Facebook profile, it's seamless and obvious.  Third, if you don't claim your custom URL and someone else does, you're out of luck and have almost no chance to reclaim it at a later date.

Recommendation: Friday night, June 11, at 11:01pm CDT, rush to get your custom URL and choose "yourfullname" (one word) instead of the other options Facebook gives you because it's more SEO friendly.  You can claim your user name here.

REQUIRED: A Custom Facebook URL For Your Brand Name | Personal Branding Blog - Dan Schawbel

If you are a Twitter user, you know what I'm talking about.  It's possible that you are one of the group of culprits who, for months, have filled up my Direct Message box with automated welcome messages.  In fact, before I realized what a nuisance it is, I used automated welcome DMs myself to thank new Tweeps for following me on Twitter.  But I, Craig Fisher (aka @fishdogs), officially stopped doing that a long time ago.  And so should you.

The messages usually look something like this, "Hey, thanks for following me!  Check out my web site for great info, www.fishdogs.com.  Let me know how I can help you!"  That seems innocent enough, right?  Well, unfortunately, after you receive a few hundred of these there is no way you have time to click on all those links, much less read all those messages.

These auto DMs are usually created on www.TweetLater.com.  A good site with a good service.  Tweetlater allows you to automatically follow back anyone who follows you.  If you are a power user of Twitter, you may find this helpful.  But if you use that feature, be sure to also use the auto-unfollow feature that automatically unfollows those who unfollow you.  This will help to avoid spammers who like to follow Twitter users until they are followed back, and then will quietly unfollow. 

Tweetlater also allows you to schedule tweets to be posted at various intervals during the day.  This is not recommended for all day/everyday use on personal accounts.  Twitter users get really tired of following robots unless it is stated clearly up front on the offending robot's Twitter page.  But if you wanted to schedule a tweet to request that followers add you to their favorites a couple of times a day, that might be useful. 

My only complaint about Tweetlater is the auto DM.  It's a nice feature for those who keep small networks perhaps.  Then again, if you have a small network, why automate your welcome message?  It's a great feature for marketers who really want to push products or services to those willing to click click click.  But for those of us with large Twitter networks, the automated welcomes are a pain in the caboose.  Here now is the way to opt out of the dreaded auto-DM straight from Tweetlater's web site (http://www.tweetlater.com/optout).

How To Opt-Out Of Receiving Automated Welcome DMs

As you know, TweetLater users can automate their Twitter accounts to automatically send welcome DMs to their new followers.

As a past or potential recipient of those DMs, TweetLater offers you a super-easy way to opt-out and never again receive an automated welcome DM sent by TweetLater.

Please follow the steps below:
1)  Log in to Twitter.
2)  Follow @OptMeOut.
3)  Wait for @OptMeOut to follow you back. @OptMeOut will send you a DM to tell you it has followed you.
4)  Then send a DM to @OptMeOut. (You can write whatever you want in the DM, it does not matter.)
5)  After sending the DM, unfollow @OptMeOut. (This way your opting out remains private since you won't be in the list of @OptMeOut's followers. We will unfollow you as well.)

TweetLater will, within a few minutes of you sending your DM, stop sending you any further automated welcome DMs. You will receive one last DM to confirm that you've been opted-out.

You do not need an account at TweetLater to opt-out. Anybody on Twitter can opt-out.

Your decision to opt-out remains private. We will never disclose it to anybody, unless required by law.

If you ever change your mind about opting out, please submit a Help Desk ticket and ask us to remove you from the opt-out list.

TweetLater users, you will still auto-follow the people who have opted-out. They just won't be sent your welcome DM.