Amazing things are happening in the world of HR.  For instance, I am posting this report from high above New Mexico in a plan en route to Las Vegas to cover SHRM 2011.  More importantly I got to preview a really cool tool earlier this week that was debuted today at the SHRM conference.  I love cool tools and I love social media.  So I was particularly intrigued by this one.
It's called BeKnown.  And it's Monster's take on integrating with Facebook.  The app is similar to Branchout in that you can import your profile or resume easily and build a professional presence on Facebook.  With Branchout, you you import your Linkedin profile.  With Beknown, you import your Monster profile.  This is the exact connection I have been expecting job boards to make for a couple of years.  Now it's here.

I love it when people question the way I build my social networks.  "Why would you want to be friends with so many people?"  "How can you keep track of so many?"  My answer, always, is simple.  Why not?  It's good for both business and personal networking. 
You don't have to actually interact with, or track, everyone, all the time, in your networks on Facebook, Twitter, etc.  You can easily categorize people into groups or lists to keep track of them, and segment them within your social platforms.  I target who I connect with either by location or by niche interest.

I have been blogging for a few years now at Fishdogs.com and TalentnetLive.com, as well as micro-blogging on Twitter and Facebook.  I write primarily about social media for sales, recruiting, HR, and job search - and some silly stuff about my kids.  This has taken me to unique places, new clients, and speaking engagements.  And now I'm even "press coverage" for large events.
I was honored to be asked to cover the last two HR Demo shows in Las Vegas as part of the "blog squad".  And next week I will be back in Vegas, as press coverage, when over 13,000 HR professionals from around the world attend the SHRM Annual Conference. 
The Society for Human Resource Management has been in existence, in one form or another, since the 1940's.  But this will be the first SHRM national event that I have ever attended.  Over sixteen years in the recruiting industry I have been a devout SHRM non-participant.  But my job has evolved, and so has SHRM. 

In May of this year I was honored to present at the Recruiting Innovation Summit at Linkedin Headquarters in Mountain View, CA. I showed my methods for recruiting and employer branding through Foursquare and other location based check-in services.
I got to meet some key people from both Linkedin and Facebook (two of my favorite companies). Special thanks to Lance Haun and David Manaster of ERE Media for inviting me and organizing a great conference. I've posted here the video from my presentation.