With a simple idea and excellent execution, the boys over at StandOut Jobs have created a great little recruiting site that fits nicely into this world of “Web 2.0.”

Started by a partnership of Montreal-ers including friend and fellow entrepreneur/blogger Benjamin Yoskovitz, they’re “changing the face of recruiting.”

How? In a word, video. In their words:

• The job market is broken.
• Online job sites don’t work.
• Hiring people should be an ongoing process.
• Hiring people is about having conversations not bureaucracy.

Well if that’s true, then the best way to learn more about their company is to watch one of their own recruiting videos:

They’re on the lookout for more postings, as well as videographers from all over Canada and the U.S. to shoot and edit the recruitment videos.

Check out their blog too, where they share the latest postings as well as news about the company and their own insights into the tech job market.

::Bonus BarCamp connection: The trio that started the company came up with the idea at Barcamp Montreal.

The episode of The Lab that we taped last month will air on August 7 on G4Tech TV (news about the Google Video “release date” coming soon), and I have been invited back to tape another segment on July 12, on the subject of using social media to promote your business.

So, in the true spirit of community, I’m polling everyone (rather informally, just use the comment form below) to find out what social networking sites you like, and how you use them to promote yourself (or your company, where applicable).

I’ve already drafted some notes on:

• Facebook
• LinkedIn
• Virb
• Flickr
• and Bebo (which I actually know very little about. Erno? Can you help?)

Any tips or hints you want to share? Any others that deserve top billing in a lightning-fast, six minute talk on social networks? Linda, I’m counting on your input here.

I welcome any and all comments and suggestions.

I’ve been pretty silent about it until now, but I was selected as one of the 50 bloggers to receive a Nikon D80 DSLR camera for a review period of six months. The camera arrived yesterday ( coincidentally on the same day as a scheduled Gastown Photowalk- photos below), and now I’m finally going public about my involvement.

I suppose it’s likely that I was chosen because of my photography hobby in part, but I assure you that nobody is expecting any photographic magic from me. It’s more likely that I was selected because I’ll take an active interest as much in the campaign as in the camera itself. Or maybe they just didn’t want the list too heavily stacked with talent .

I’ll go into my take on all of this in a second, but to avoid any confusion, here are the facts, as I understand them:

Nikon hired the MWW Group to create a blogger relations program that they’ve called “Picture This.”

50 bloggers were chosen, 48 (To date, 46) of whom opted to participate

The trial period is six months, after which the camera can be purchased (at a discount, with the funds going to charity), sent back or kept for an additional six months.

There is no obligation or even expectation to blog about it, the only rule being that if we choose to, we must disclose that we are part of the program. Already, there’s some controversy over the program, which critics say is unethical. They wonder how a blogger could possibly be objective with such a generous loan in the equation?

It’s possible that sending me a camera will make me go ga-ga and cause me to start singing the virtues of Nikon, sure. But that is why there is only one rule: that I disclose my involvement, so the reader can take my opinions and feedback with the proverbial grain of salt. This mandated transparency is what separates this campaign from many of the others that have been under fire for avoiding this extremely important factor. As always, it’s up to the readers as to whether anything that I write rings true for them, and as long as they have all the facts they can make an informed decision one way or another.

I suspect that the dissenters share this one in common with me; we both wish we’d thought of this campaign first. But whether I had been selected or not, I would agree that it is a great way to spread the word online and is perfectly legal and ethical. The only thing that is different in this case of this campaign is the middle man has been cut out. The middle man in this case being the MSM (main stream media).

This time, the consumers are having their say, and have been contacted directly for their opinion. This has rattled the feathers of a few PR types, mostly because the model that they’ve “always used” has been abandoned. After all, what kind of future is there for the PR industry if there’s no need to kowtow to the media anymore? We’ll have to address that one another day, but for an example of how to adapt, start reading this post again from the beginning.

Now that I have been completely up front about my involvement and my feelings about all of this, I can move on to why we’re here; the camera in question. But first, a few more short words about the campaign. The box arrived via courier, accompanied by a hand-written letter on Nikon letterhead from a Senior Director at MWW. In the letter, they offered to give me a walk through of the camera’s features at my convenience. Even if I were being extremely critical (which I often am of attempts at blogger outreach) I have yet to find fault with the way they’ve conducted themselves.

Now, the camera. As I mentioned, I am a bit of a hobbyist photographer, and I used to shoot sports on the weekends while still in high school and between semesters of college. Since getting a new Olympus Evolt E-500 for Christmas, I’ve been trying to relearn the art, this time in digital. So although I’m not completely uninformed, running out on a Photowalk with nary a clue as to how to use this new tool was an interesting adventure. I took a bunch of shots, and I published them in their unedited form, in a set made specifically for my involvement in the program (equal parts disclosure and evangelism). Check out my first attempts with the D80 on our Photowalk by clicking this image:

I will continue to disclose my involvement each time I blog about this subject, and the meta data on my Flickr photos is all the disclosure I feel is necessary as to what camera took what shots (including my webcam, we now have four cameras in the house).

I welcome all feedback in the comments below. There are obviously a number of differences of opinion on all of this, and I’d like to hear them all.

That is the question asked by a new series of funny videos from Elastic Path, a local e-commerce software developer here in Vancouver. Here’s a sample:

Full disclosure: I am an acquaintance of a few of the Elastic Pathers, and the firm that produced the spots as well. That being the case, it should be noted that the email I received containing the link was a terrific example of blogger relations. Here’s an excerpt from the email from Darren Barefoot:

Hi Jordan,

How goes the Barcamp organizing? If that date is secure, I’m optimistic that I’ll stick around for a week after Gnomedex to attend.

I’ll spare you the usual pitch, but I thought you might be interested in these videos we made for Elastic Path.

We’ve done our best to make ecommerce funny (a tall order, I think). There’s a nifty jingle, and the second video prominently features a turnip. I have a bit part as the search engine in the first video–I apologize in advance for my dodgy performance.

Doesn’t sound anything at all like the emails that one usually sees from PR companies pitching bloggers does it? Exactly.

With Paul’s permission, I’m taking a conversation that we had via email (below), and re-publishing it here, edited for length.

Paul lives in the UK, where he says the new media phenomenon has yet to catch fire among the marketing community. There simply aren’t enough Pauls or Hughs to go around, it seems. Recently, Paul has found himself without employment, and has publicly blogged about his search, his struggle to find just the right fit, and the question of whether to publish one’s CV online.

Paul Fabretti

Paul’s Blending the Mix blog has always been a great read. Like me, Paul spent many months at the beginning reading, reflecting and commenting on the many new media marketing lessons published on the web each day, before beginning to publish his own original thoughts and ideas about marketing on the new web. All of this over a two year time span, give or take. In short, Paul gets it, and has had plenty of time to put much of “it” into practice. What’s more, he has a direct marketing background that helps him understand the dynamics of the old way of “pushing” information, and the new way of using information to “pull” visitors to you.

Since it hasn’t long since I was in a similar position as Paul, at the crossroads, I wanted to add some perspective for both him and his prospective employers about the value of what Paul already understands. And so begins a peek at our conversation:

Paul: In all honesty, most people I get interviewed by tell me I don’t have enough online experience. 2 years is nothing compared to most people I hear get interviewed so how do you show you have the knowledge without having anything to show for it?…How do you pitch what you do to clients by the way? How do you persuade the skeptics who think it is mumbo jumbo?

JB: To the sceptics who say two years is not enough, I say two years is an eternity in new media. How far have we come since we both starting blogging, etc? How much experience could one be expected to have in such a new and rapidly changing biz? Added: (Wanted: Facebook Apps Developer with 3-5 Years Experience! Joke stolen from kk+)

As for pitching clients, I sell them on what I know they want. Forget about the technology, the tools, the strategy, and first address this simple fact: The web allows them to put their already great (hopefully…) relationship building process online. And they can create and track word of mouth online, as long as they join the conversation with the best of intentions. Reaching more people, and creating lasting client relationships; that’s the return.

Web content is more important than ever, and if they have no strategy to manage it, they’ll get left behind. Years of experience managing “Web 1.0″ campaigns are less relevant, in my opinion.

Paul: You make a great point about a fast-changing environment providing little opportunity to gain experience. To be honest, I think it is one thing to use new tools (like blogging or twitter for example) but quite another and much more important, to understand how these tools should and should not be used for commercial purposes. I fear that the UK is not as aware of most of the tools I know and understand, and as such any experience i do have seems largely irrelevant! As you say, with new ideas cropping up all the time it is as crucial to keep track of it all. I also like your take on knowledge sharing on the net. There are always people out
there to share the knowledge and experience with.

JB: Paul, it sounds as though you’re in a perfect spot to help more companies discover this stuff, and your take on the fact that they are merely tools and not strategies will be infinitely helpful to the first smart employer who snatches you up.

It’s a shame that more companies in Paul’s neighborhood (Manchester) don’t already see the value in the kind of knowledge he possesses. Still, being the first with a great idea has its advantages.

Please join me in wishing Paul the best of luck in his search, and feel free to add your suggestions and comments to the discussion.

Lee Lefever has done it again. Along with his wife, on the Common Craft Show, Lee has produced another great tutorial to explain a concept that internet newbies have yet to wrap their heads around: wikis.

The concept of an editable page, as Lee explains, is easy to use but a little tricky to explain. He puts in plain English, here:

Click To Play

Well said! Lee’s original post here.

Today I received an email from The Tyee, an independent news blog here in Vancouver, BC.

It was a pitch of sorts, asking me to check out their new video, and spread the word. It must have worked, because here I am posting about it, just minutes later. Watch the video, then check below for my postmortem of the campaign and pitch:

Pretty entertaining video, especially to those of us in Canada who recognize the antagonists depicted in the short, among them Izzy Asper and Conrad Black. Both are famous for making big bucks while doling out little or no credit (or pay!) to the dedicated folks creating their content. I didn’t laugh while watching the video, but I smiled and nodded up and down several times.

Breaking down the campaign and pitch

The Pitch: Although it was a form letter, the email alerting me to this campaign was addressed to me, and acknowledged the fact that I have commented at the Tyee in the past. The letter also indicated that there was incentive for forwarding it along; a number of different prizes, all in conjunction with the “green” theme, including carbon-neutral goodies and a pair of flip-flops made from recycled tire rubber.

Lastly, since this is to get the word out about The Tyee, the fact that the page containing the video also has a full explanation of The Tyee, its people and its message, one only has to follow this one link to find out everything they need to know.

Ideas for Improvement: A shorter post slug on the campaign page, so it looks cleaner. Plus, I suggest a more personal letter of approach for “blogger outreach,” even though the letter from Editor David Beers was quite good. While I’m at it…The Tyee could afford to cut the word count of most of their posts in half, and increase the number of characters that appear in one’s reader via the feed.

The Verdict

Whoever is responsible for the campaign should be proud of themselves.

Reader, If you’re an American, and the unabashed Canadian sensibility of both the video, the campaign and The Tyee itself has escaped you, then just trust me when I say that this is exactly what our country’s media landscape needed. Tyee, you are indeed “A Feisty One Online.”

*For the uninitiated: “Tyee” (wikipedia entry) is a reference to a large salmon, usually a Chinook, and doubles as a cry when said fish finds itself at the end of a lucky angler’s line. “Tyee! One on!”

Every once in a while, I rewind to the very basics of how to catch yourself up on everything that’s happening on the web.

My readership has gone up since the last time I did a “What in God’s name is RSS” post, so it was high time I revisited the topic; if nothing else for the expanding network of Facebook contacts who will see this “imported note,” wonder how the hell it got there, and maybe even tune in to learn something new.

Well this time the job of explaining how RSS feeds work has been handled brilliantly by Lee LeFever, travel blogger, podcaster and web guru. Lee’s “live action animation” adds charm to his step by step tutorial. View his original post here.

So get to it, newbies. Watch it twice if you have to; but this is a complex and potentially life-changing concept, boiled down to the very simplest of terms, in what Lee calls:

RSS in Plain English

Click To Play

“There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don’t. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don’t know where to start.”

Well said. Hat tip to James.

One of the greatest brands in my neighborhood to embrace the social media concept is that of our beloved Vancouver Canucks.

Although I do follow the team throughout the year, I don’t post about them very much. I had the pleasure of attending three games this year, including Game One of the Western Conference Quarter Final against the Dallas Stars on Wednesday night. For those who don’t already know, the game was a franchise-record 138 minutes long, and resulted in a 5-4 Canucks win. Big thanks to my darling wife for getting us the invite to Rod’s executive suite for the most exciting game I’ve ever watched.

Which, on its own is enough to want to write a blog post about. But the reason I’ve waited all this time to write about the Canucks is not merely because they could use the moral support as they continue after taking Game 3 in Dallas, (ahead 2-1 in the series) but because the Canucks have truly embraced social media, and it’s bringing the community of their fans closer together.

Case in point: The Fan Generated Content Challenge, which includes several categories with prize packs associated with each. View the “Round One” winners at that link, or just click one of the YouTube vids below.

In other “engaging social media” news, the Canucks almost treat podcasters like the media that they are; giving access to practices and interviews (and of course sidebar widgets) to the likes of the Crazy Canucks, who collectively host a Canucks podcast and blog, and several other fan sites and podcasts as well. Hey, Canucks front office! Give these cats some tickets to sit amongst the fans, and bask in the glory of the customer evangelism that results.

(Canucks Ultimate Fan Search sidebar widget)

Between periods and during TV timeouts, the massive screens above the ice at GM Place display some of the videos photos that have been submitted by fans.

Or take the much-debated but undeniably community-minded slogan of the Canucks this year: “We are all Canucks.” They have certainly re-embraced the fans, in the wake of an assault lawsuit and an epic lockout.

And so it is with a warm heart and a healthy dose of Canucks nostalgia that I present you with the four winners of “Round One” of the Canucks’ Fan Generated Content Challenge, followed by my own submission, at the very bottom:

The Ultimate Canucks Sacrifice

Two-Year-Old Ultimate Canuck Fan

“Trapper’s Delight,” The Canuck’s Rap

Canucks Chase Flames

And The Crowd Goes Wild!

(Shot by Alex Lee Behan at Game One of the Western Conference Quarter Finals)

We are all Canucks, etc.

Facebookers, MySpacers, YouTubers, and bloggers of all kinds, hear this!

If you put something on the internet, people will read it. And I mean everyone; not just your friends and online contacts, but your employer, your pastor, your ex-boyfriend and maybe even your mom. Mine certainly does .

I don’t mean to instill fear, or dissuade anyone from sharing information online. I am obviously a major proponent of all things online networking-related, and there is little about me that you can’t read about online. And then there are the photos. But it’s important to remember that if you put it out there, it will be seen.

This topic comes up at just about every blogging-related conference I’ve been to (yes, several thank you very much) and those in the know tend to agree; there is “no security by obscurity,” to paraphrase Roland Tanglao (I think it was). Meaning, you can’t assume that the internet is such a massive space that the photos from your drunken exploits on that Thursday that you called in sick won’t be found by the boss you lied to, eventually.

My generation is the last that will have to experience a paradigm shift here; us “grown folks” have had to decide whether we’re comfortable with “putting ourselves out there.” The young ‘uns seem to have a reckless “devil may care” attitude with a lot of what they publish online, and my message to them is simply this: tread carefully.

Recently, over lunch with Six Apart’s Anil Dash, this very topic came up, and he said that they screen the MySpace pages, YouTube channels and blogs of every job applicant they get at the company, and anytime he talks to school groups, etc. he’ll bring up this fact, just to watch their reactions. “Shock and awe” pretty much sums up his description of the ensuing discussion and question period.

Of course, sometimes maintaining a public profile puts you at risk as well, as evidenced by certain goings-on in the blogoshpere of late (no link until the dust has truly settled). Just as in the “real world,” there are always a few bad eggs out there who seem intent to ruin the fun for the rest of us. But we shall overcome, and all that. It’s a lot of fun here on the ‘internets,’ and I want nothing more than to see everyone join the party, and be themselves, without fear.

Just remember that you are in public, and you should act accordingly.

(image credit: “New Issues of Privacy” from the New Yorker by NYCMotherPie)