On The Job Hunt – How You Can Help

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Jesse Luna

After the layoff, I’ve thought a lot of about the role of fear in my life. I’ve realized that if one only listens to fear, it covers up who we really are, our essential nature.

Part of living in fear may include an inability to ask for help. Fear tells us that we shouldn’t ask for help because it will make us vulnerable and show that we’re weak. Fear also tells us that asking for help will make us look selfish and feel stupid because we can’t do it all ourselves.

Fear tells us these things but we know they are not true. Most of the people I respect and admire are those who knew the power of asking for help and used it to build movements and achieve transformational change.

I’m looking for job opportunities and I’m asking for your help. I listed my job search areas below and some helpful bits of information that demonstrate my experience in each area. You can help by connecting me with possible opportunities, spreading the news, and by just saying hello and sending encouraging words. I’ve already received a great amount of support and I’m grateful.

Are you also on the job hunt?

If you’re on the job hunt as well, I encourage you to ask for help. If you have your target job areas posted publicly, go ahead and put a link to the page in the Comments below. This will help others reach out and connect you to opportunities and to spread the news.

My Job Search Areas

My personal mission statement is to empower people through technology education. This includes empowering individuals and small businesses.

I’m primarily looking in Ventura Country and Southern California, but will consider moving to the Bay Area or other locations if the salary & growth opportunities are there.

My LinkedIn is at: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jpluna
Visual CV: http://www.visualcv.com/jesseluna
My blog: http://www.jesseluna.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/jesseluna

I have three main search areas:

Technology Training/advocacy,
Online Marketing Manger, and
Community Manager

Details and experience in each area:

Technology Training/advocacy

I taught elementary and middle school for seven years in El Monte, Redwood City, and San Francisco (Mission District)
I was a “user advocate” and tech systems trainer for CDI for the first three years with the company, in addition to doing web design and programming.
I was a lecturer at Cal State Channel Islands for over a year, teaching Business students the ins and outs for Information systems management and teaching them to blog and build Web sites. I have an MBA and a Masters in Computer Information Systems.
In 2009, I created an online blogging class. The class was created using the WordPress platform.
I’ve also done volunteer Internet consulting work for non-profits (low-income law advocacy, alumni group, social justice groups, political campaigns, sustainability)

Online marketing manager

I’ve worked in this role for the past seven years. Includes online advertising (including Google AdWords), product marketing, email newsletter creation and delivery, SEO, e-commerce site design
I created and managed over 500 online promotions
Have also done a lot of offline activities such as print/signage design for marketing collateral and trade shows
I’m seeking a position that includes social media management.

Community Manager (in social media)

I introduced social media to my previous company and we took a stepwise approach to folding it into the business
I managed the company’s Twitter account (@cdi) and created a Facebook group for the company
I helped set up the company with a blogging infrastructure. We created our first group blog a year and a half ago and now the company has several people blogging. I trained everyone on how to use WordPress.com and WordPress.org sites.
I was an active part of #Eric campaign, an effort to save a young man’s life. More information is available on the Eric’s Law site and you can see my interview with What Gives on the campaign via my Visual CV page.

I appreciate your help and you can reach me via email at jesse [dot] luna [at] gmail [dot] com.

Photo Credit
Andries3 on Flickr – Creative Commons license

Post To Tumblr from Tweetdeck

Posted on May 21, 2010 by Jesse Luna

The latest version of Tweetdeck, a popular Twitter client, now allows users to post to their Tumblr and WordPress.com blogs.

In this video, I review how to set up a new Tweetdeck account and post to a Tumblr blog. This is the same process that you would use to post to a WordPress.com blog. See my notes below the video.

Will you use Tweetdeck to post to your blogs?

Notes

To post to Tumblr.com, the Twitter Base URL setting is “http://tumblr.com”
For WordPress.com, the Twitter Base URL is “twitter-api.wordpress.com.”

BlackBird Pie – A Quick Way To Serve Up Tweets On Your Site

Posted on May 5, 2010 by Jesse Luna

Assignment: Capture a tweet and display it on your site or blog.

BlackBird Pie is a little script created by @robinsloan at Twitter Media that allows site publishers to easily display tweets.

The usual process for displaying tweets is to type them in then hyperlink to the original tweet. Or, maybe a site will go farther and take a screen shot of the tweet page then crop the image and add a hyperlink to the original tweet. It takes time.

With BlackBird Pie, I was able to capture a tweet by following these steps:

Go to a Twitter profile via Twitter Web and find a tweet to display.
Click on the time stamp link to see the individual tweet then copy the tweet’s URL.

Go to the BlackBird Pie page
Paste in the URL and click on the “Bake It” button.
Cut and paste the resulting script and paste it into your web site or blog wherever you want to reference the tweet

Here’s there resulting tweet:

Don’t just provide value to your customers, provide *irreplaceable* value.less than a minute ago via webJesse P. Luna
jesseluna

Quick Notes
Apparently, this script does not work on Tumblr blogs, according to the Twitter Media site.

Review:
We just learned a simple way to reference an individual tweet on our site or blog.

Do you think you’ll start using BlackBird Pie when you reference a tweet? Why or why not?

How To Add Twitter Hovercards To Your Blog [VIDEO]-UPDATED

Posted on April 15, 2010 by Jesse Luna

[Update: I mentioned "WordPress.com" in the video a couple of times but hovercards DO NOT work with WordPress.com, only with WordPress.org blogs and sites that allow for JavaScript.]

Twitter rolled out its new @Anywhere site and developer resource yesterday. @Anywhere allows you to integrate Twitter with your application or site.

Today, we’re going to trick out our WordPress blog by adding the Hovercard feature. Whenever I type in an “@” plus a username on this blog, site visitors will be able to mouse over the hovercard link and see the Twitter peep’s mini-profile. You may have seen this feature on the Twitter.com web site.

Here’s a quick test – my Twitter friend @heykim rocks! You should be able to mouse over @heykim and see her profile information. Cool, no?

Ok, time to grab your small bowl of popcorn, pump up the volume, and enjoy the tutorial. Then roll up your sleeves and try this out on your blog. Enjoy!

Twitter To Add Ads – The Good, The Bad, And The Uglies

Posted on April 13, 2010 by Jesse Luna

According to Techcrunch, the New York Times, and AdAge, Twitter will be premiering its new ad platform on Tuesday.

Twitter’s “Promoted Tweets” ads will work in two ways:

1) Ads will show up in Twitter search and hashtag results. Good for Twitter! This is a no-brainer and something it should have been doing ever since it bought out Summize back in 2008.

Of course Google’s been making oodles of cash by placing little tiny ads next to its search results. The ad model works. GOOD.

2) In the future, Twitter will insert ads into our tweet streams. For those of us that follow a lot of peeps, this may end up being a drop in the bucket and something we can ignore.

But for those people that only follow a few folks, this is going to be a major turnoff. This is going to be the difference between a limo ride with friends and taking the downtown bus with a cart load of strangers.

I’m thinking this second ad method explains the horribly executed Retweet feature. The Retweet was preparing us to see random strangers in our tweet stream. BAD.

So we have the Good and the Bad. The “Uglies” would be Twitter’s decision to gunk up our tweet stream with random tweets. The primary purpose for using Twitter is to read relevant and timely tweets from sources we subscribe to via a Follow. When one of my followers starts spouting out ad-only information, they usually get rewarded with a big UNFOLLOW.

And, when I get unsolicited and automated “@” reply tweets based on my previous tweets, they are promptly ignored. So why is Twitter trying to build an ad system out of poor Twitter practices? UGLIES.

A better way to implement the tweet stream-based ads would be to keep them pinned at the top or bottom of the Twitter.com or Tweetie tweet screen. That way the tweet will be in an obvious ad spot where it can still be read but not confused for a “real” tweet.

When all is said and done, Twitter owns the site and they can do whatever they want with it. I have no disdain for advertising. That’s a major part of my day job. But users have a voice and the value of a network is in its users. Tweet us right Twitter.

Photo Credit:
Clay Kessack

Find Local Tweeps Using Instant Tweetup iPhone App

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Jesse Luna

Instant Tweetup is a free iPhone application that allows users to find nearby Twitter users and send them tweets.

How Does Instant Tweetup Work?

Once launched, the application requests permission to use your current location. By providing your location, the application can scan your immediate geographical area and find Twitter users who:

1) Have set their “Location” settings in that area or,
2) Have their “Tweet Location” option on and have “checked in” nearby.

This “Tweet Location” feature is an opt-in feature that was added to Twitter a few months back. You can turn this on by going to Settings > Account > then checking on the “Tweet Location” checkbox. I tweet from home a lot so I have this turned off.

Once you use the application to find nearby tweeps, you can “@” message them an invitation to meetup with you and optionally include a bit.ly map link with your current location. You do not have to be following these Twitter users. The message is a simple “@” reply, not a Direct Message.

Possible Uses

1) Find nearby tweeps to follow. This works best if you already know the people. For example, you can follow nearby friends, schoolmates or workmates that you haven’t connected with on Twitter.

I personally follow a broad range of people on Twitter, but have also tried to find people in my home county to follow. This has worked well for me in terms of business networking. However, following people within a one to ten mile range (the Instant Tweetup range) in my small town is a bit too close for comfort. Imagine following someone and discovering they live on the same block. That could get strange.

2) Use Instant Tweetup to announce product or service offerings if you are a business. You wouldn’t want to blast it out to everyone all the time since some people will show up because they live nearby, not because they are looking to shop. For example, if you are the local sub shop, you could use Instant Tweetup to offer a special to nearby tweeps who are talking about lunch. If they are following your business this is an instant win, but if you haven’t connected with them yet then this could be considered spam.

3) Tweet out a business offer at a major event. If you’re at the Staples Center watching the Lakers wipe the floor with Seattle, for example, a concession stand or volunteer booth could tweet out an offer to those who are obviously at the Center.

4) Use it for an instant tweetup. Yes, if you have a group of friends in a nearby location, you can message them all and set a meeting place. “@MyGoodFriendJoe In line at Pinks in Hollywood, come and join me if you’re hungry! bit.ly/maplocation.”

One thing to keep in mind is that if you are tweeting these messages out with the map locations, you’re providing your location to the world.

Enhancements I’d like to see

1) Provide a way to filter out random people and only show Twitter followers. Depending on the context and the message, tweeting invites and your location at random people in your immediate vicinity can be both spammy and creepy.

I contacted Keith Moon (@keefmoon on Twitter), Instant Tweetup’s developer, and he said that he plans on adding color-coding to the results list to indicate if someone is a follower. That’s a step in the right direction.

2) Provide an opt-out feature. Right now, to “opt-out” of the Instant Tweetup application, a Twitter user would have to turn off their geolocation setting and also remove their Location setting. This would be an important feature request if people started using the application in a non-targeted manner. If a local business started sending out tweets at me every single day at lunch time, I’d eventually want to turn it off.

QUESTIONS

Do you have any other suggestions on how to use the application? Is it something you would use? Leave a comment.

JesseLuna.com

Moving people to action with social media

Category Archives: Twitter