Power of Social Media – Gaining a Competitive Edge
Posted by Tom Humbarger on January 15, 2010
Power of Social Media Presentation by Karl Kasca Sponsored by the Career BridgeBuilders Group at American Martyrs Church
Social Media expert Karl Kasca gave a presentation last night on the “Power of Social Media – Gaining the Competitive Edge through LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook!” For me, the content was interesting and confirmed what I have already been living for the past several years. But what intrigued me was the turnout and level of interest for a presentation sponsored by our church’s career outreach ministry. There were well over 100 attendees and for many, this may have been their first exposure to using social media tools for business and career networking purposes. Almost all of the audience raised their hands when asked about Facebook and many had a LinkedIn profile. Far fewer were on Twitter and a smaller handful were active bloggers. My point is that the attendance from such a wide cross-section of people proves that social media is reaching a tipping point that goes far beyond the early adopters.
Here are a few of the ‘new’ website, tidbits and reminders that I picked up last night:
- Pipl – an interesting (and free) site that purports to be “the most comprehensive people search on the web”; for example, here is the Pipl search for Tom Humbarger
- Tweepsearch – a way to search who is following a Twitter user and a way to search bios of members
- Omgili – a neat way to search across community forums
- Social reputation – I like the reminder to think about social reputation (see slide 14-16)
- Facebook privacy settings – Karl also reminded the audience to check their Facebook privacy settings which were recently changed on a global basis by Facebook
- Using Google to search LinkedIn and Facebook – the presentation has some interesting examples of how to power search these sites with Google
Jill Easton said
Thanks for posting such a good recap of Karl’s presentation. Due to my work commitments, I was unable to attend the event but have heard it was fantastic and I am well aware of Karl’s excellent reputation.
As you mentioned, it’s a great service to church members and the community at large for American Martyrs and other places of worship to help so many expand their competitive skill set. My church has been offering courses in job search, resume rewriting, financial planning, etc. My brother said that his church has been offering similar free events with very high caliber instructors.
I look forward to hearing and reading even more about Karl’s presentation and what attendees felt were the most salient points. For me, being in advertising, the impact of Social Media Marketing is profound for my industry. Thank you for taking the time to post what you found to be the high points.