When I heard that Cushing Academy had decided to remove their school library in order to move into the digital age, my heart broke a little bit. The Boston Globe piece shares that what used to be a library on campus will now be a learning center with everything from e-readers and big screens for data viewing to a $12,000 cappuccino machine.

I have never been to Cushing Academy but I am an avid reader who values the feel and weight of a book in my hands. Of course I say this only a few hours after I started to seriously think about purchasing the Amazon Kindle. The problem with being an avid reader is that I have stacks and stacks of books since my bookcases are filled to capacity. The stacks are getting a little overwhelming so I am looking for a solution.

There are so many advantages to the use of an e-reader. Cutting back on printing and shipping are good for the environment and drive down the cost of the text that is transmitted to the device. It’s a great way to cut down on the pain and strain of carrying a heavy book or two in a purse or backpack. I also love the idea of downloading the book instantly instead of going to the bookstore or ordering from an online vendor.

The convenience is also a double-edged sword. As I’ve learned from iTunes, easy access can lead to  impulse purchases (yep, I admit it, you’ll find a little Miley Cyrus in my music collection). There’s also something to be said for the ability to write in your book and make notes and highlight passages you want to come back and read again. I’ve also mentioned how much I love the weight of a book in my hands and after a full day in front of a computer screen, it’s nice to enjoy something that isn’t digital.

That’s my dilemma, am I ready to go that digital. Withe so many enthusiasts on both sides of the debate, I mentioned my interest in purchasing the device on Twitter. Bub.blicio.us contributor, Michelle Lentz, had the best tip on how to enjoy the best of both worlds*:

*Yes, that was an intentional Miley Cyrus reference

Sourced from PR 2.0, “Casting a Digital Shadow: With Social Media comes great responsibility…”

While speaking at the intimate and immensely valuable Zappos Insights event (Zappos Live), I shared thoughts of how the culture of any company or brand is as strong as the individual personification of it.

Everything starts and fortifies with you. Your actions and words online are indeed extensions to how people interpret, perceive, and react to the brand your represent. Concurrently, you also represent your personal brand – the digital identity that’s established through the collection of digital shadows you cast across the social web.

During my discussion, I asked those in the room to stop and think a bit about what it is they stand for, believe in, and aspire to become and whether or not the search results in Google, twitter.com/yourusername, Search.PeopleBrowsr.com or Collecta might reinforce their intentions or paint an unexpected and possibly surprising picture.

Everything we share online is indexed on the Web for years to come. When we Tweet, upload videos and pictures, post on blogs and comments, update our status on social networks, we cast a digital shadow that parallels our activities and mimics our convictions in real life. This digital shadow is strewn across the web only to be reassembled through the search pursuits of others – whether they’re prospective partners, employers, employees, customers, influencers, or stakeholders.

Curiosity Killed the Candidate?

A recent study performed by CareerBuilder.com validates the behavior of identity sleuthing and year over year patterns forecast subsequent ubiquity.

The professional network asked 2,500 hiring managers whether they search Facebook or other social networks to discover information about prospective employees. An astonishing, but not unexpected, 38-percent of respondents said yes. In comparison, only 22% of hiring managers acknowledged searching social networks in 2008.

You can bet that Google is part of the process as well.

In addition, 24%, which represents one in four hiring managers interviewed, conceded that the results contributed the decision to hire a candidate. 34% however, dismissed candidates based on what they uncovered.

This is a trend that’s years in the making however.

In 2006, a survey of 100 executive recruiters conducted by ExecuNet surfaced the shocking truth that Seventy-seven percent of recruiters reported using search engines to find background data on candidates. Of that number, 35 percent eliminated a candidate because of what they found online.

The reality is that that individuals who are currently employed are also at risk of losing their job based on their behavior on social networks and what they share online.

Earlier this year 16-year-old Kimberley Swann posted a series of updates that revealed her discontent with her menial tasks on Facebook:

“first day at work. omg (oh my God)!! So dull!!”

“all i do is shred holepunch n scan paper!!! omg!”

“im so totally bord!!!”

Two days after her posts hit the social web, she was fired.

British Airways staff created a webwide uproar when they called passengers “smelly and annoying” and Virgin Atlantic fired 13 for complaining about passengers on Facebook.

Of course, there’s also the widely discussed example of the “Cisco Fatty” incident.

Connor Riley took to Twitter after receiving a job offer from tech giant Cisco, “Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”

Moments later, Cisco employee Tim Levad saw the update and responded, “Who is the hiring manager? I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the Web.”

The incident evolved and unfolded on Twitter. She later apologized on her blog and noted that she already turned down the offer. Cisco remained supportive throughout the ordeal.

In the case of Philadelphia Eagles employee Dan Leone, he was fired after posting his unhappiness with the Eagle’s loss of player Brian Dawkins to the Denver Broncos, “Dan is [expletive] devastated about Dawkins signing with Denver … Dam Eagles R Retarted!!”

The D.C. Department of Employment Services fired a contractor who worked with the city’s youth summer jobs program after a string of TMI Tweets that referred to his job location as “ghetto” and his ability to clock hours in without working:

“In america’s ghetto anacostia… If I get scared i will just yell chinese carry out! They will not shoot me.”

“thank goodness my boss is making things easy, he told me to pretend to do work so he can mark me down for hours.”

I think we’re all aware of the careless and reckless Dominos employees who posted a YouTube video that showed a cook disgustingly defiling the food designated for customer orders.

And, there is certainly no shortage of firings because of MySpace.

Non-tenured high school teacher Jeffrey Spanierman was fired after hosting an inappropriate MySpace page that contained nude photos of men, foul language and inappropriate conversations with students. He sued and later lost his case.

Two employees of Houstons Restaurant were canned when managers received access to information in a private MySpace group that divulged derogatory statements about managers, customers, and also private information about upcoming product knowledge tests. The two filed suit claiming invasion of privacy. Hillstone Restaurant Group, which owns the Houstons chain defended its decision with a statement to CNN, “This is not a case about ‘cyber-snooping,’ the First Amendment, or privacy. It’s about two staff members who were let go for unprofessional conduct, including disparaging comments about our guests, and sharing a product knowledge test before it was administered. This misconduct was voluntarily brought to light by a member of the online group.”

While we enjoy freedom of speech, we must still be mindful of what we publish and share. Even if it’s in a seemingly private and protected environment

And, it’s not just a crystal ball for employers. Everyone searches the names of those who either intrigue them or emerge as a potential contender for collaboration or interaction.

Why not? It’s only smart business to gather intelligence and research before an introduction or engagement.

Kaplan Test Prep released a report last year that indicated that one in 10 colleges and universities explore social networks and common search engines when considering aspiring students for admission.

Fortunately or unfortunately, this practice of investigating people will not dissipate. The only elements that will change are the increases in the total percentages of search queries performed by decision makers.

It’s not all bad news however. The truth is that the search experience related to you is defined by you. Acceptance of this reality represents half the distance to crafting a more strategic and effective representation of who you are and what you stand for online and in the real world.

Deleting your profiles is not the answer. Deleting offending material and updating your privacy settings, on the other hand, is a good place to start. The truth is however, that it takes more than editing what exists today. In order to truly shape our personal brands as they’re viewed remotely, from a distance, and without our explicit input, we must take the reins and contribute to its silhouette at the very least.

We are in control of the digital shadow that materializes when the spotlight is cast upon us.

Take this opportunity to showcase accomplishments, strengths and talents. Reinforce what it is you stand for as well as what moves you. In many ways your profiles and the material you share online contribute to a digital resume, whether you agree or disagree. It’s there, right now, talking about you, without your direction. Opportunities that may have presented themselves to us never materialized because of our digital shadows. So, do something about it. Just don’t lose who you are in the process.

Yes, we’re still human beings. Yes, we have fun. Yes, we do things we don’t want the rest of the world to know about.

Decide whom it is you’re trying to impress with your social profiles and updates and realize that answer may change over time. Just “think” about what it is you’re sharing and why before you upload to the public Web. Anything not conducive to the reinforcement of a strategic outward facing personal brand should be relegated to the private viewing of your bona fide, genuine social graph. Again, there are privacy settings within each social network and you govern who sees what. Let the privacy controls and the corresponding content serve as the church and state of your online persona.

There are benefits and consequences associated with each bit of content you share, even if they’re not immediately discernible.

And parents, it’s never to early or too late to help guide your children.

Start monitoring their online behavior as soon as they start spending significant time online. Actively Google them to assess the results. Help them create and craft content that serves as a placeholder for their identity now and in the future.

Who we are and who we want to be often reside at opposite ends, where the space between is distanced or narrowed by our actions, content and words.

What does your profile or search results say about you?

UPDATE: For those looking for a social network to help present your experience (other than LinkedIn), please true Resumebucket.

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—

Now available! (click to purchase):

by Brian Solis

His vision: The Digital Family Reunion (DFR).

On Thursday, December 11th, the Digital Family Reunion united Southern California technology and business communities at the Skirball Cultural Center for one, absolutely epic event. In association with some of the region’s top trade associations and real world social networks, the DFR rekindled old relationships, sparked new alliances, and set the stage to kick off 2009 with a bright new hope and a head start.

The DFR aimed to fuse 1.0 + 2.0 to connect one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large.

The theme?

“If we knew how connected we all are, how would that change everything?”

I’ll let the pictures tell the rest of the story…

Alexandra Mokh, Amanda Coolong, Heather Meeker

Laurie and Sean Percival

Desdemona Bandini

Ilija Ognenovski and Dragana Ognenovska of WorldSings.com, Sean Percival

Jeff Henderson

Becky Ryan wearning 1928

Nicole Jordan, Jackie Peters, Lotay Yang, Kurt Daradics, Andrew Warner, Francisco Dao, Sloane Berrent, Serena Ehrlich, Paige Craig, Shira Lazar

Matt Singley, Kurt Daradics, Matt McCartie

Cristina Cinque, Michael Pilla, Tony Adam

Dwayne Larring, Ryan Tallent, Jimmy Nelson, Scott Shavoni Parker, Kurt Daradics, Kurty D’s Mom

Joe Said, Heather Meeker

Stephanie Agresta and Mike Prasad

Jason Wilk & Carson Bowley

Francisco Dao as Elvis, baby

Nicole Jordan, Shira Lazar, Jackie Peters

Jackie Peters, Francisco Dao, Paige Craig, Lotay Yang, Robyn Nicole Cohen, Todd Cohen

Mark Jeffrey of Mahalo and Nicole Jordan

Becky Ryan, Heather Meeker, Serena Ehrlich

Sponsors

For more pictures from DFR08, please visit my album on flickr.

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by Brian Solis

When a good friend of mine, Kurt Daradics, gave me a call and asked if I would help him organize a tech holiday party, I have to admit, I was a bit reluctant – time has been a bit tight lately. But, when he shared his vision for connecting pioneers of 1.0 with the catalysts for 2.0 wrapped in a holiday theme, I was more than inspired to contribute.

His vision: The Digital Family Reunion (DFR).

On Thursday, December 11th from 5:00pm to 10:00pm, the Digital Family Reunion is uniting Southern California technology and business communities for the holidays at the Skirball Cultural Center. In association with some of the region’s top trade associations and real world social networks, the DFR will reignite old relationships, spark new alliances, and set the stage to kick off 2009 with a bright new hope and a headstart.

The DFR creates the optimum conditions for 1.0 + 2.0 to synergize with one another and inspire opportunities that will serve our industries, our region, and our society at large.

“If we knew how connected we all are, how would that change everything?”

Join us for this unique business networking event, which includes a leadership panel forecasting 2009, a conversation with the recipient of the DFR “Outstanding Achievement Honor”, promotion of an important non-profit initiative, showcase tables from over 25 technology associations and networking groups, entertainment and much more.

Register now…

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What’s in store for PR’s future, and how does it relate to Digital Advertising?

At the AdRevenue08 Conference on Friday November 14, I was able to catch up with PR executives from Horn Group. The following is my interview with Ben Billingsley, Managing Director (New York), and Martha Feingold, Vice President and Media Director (San Francisco).

Corbis

Marissa Louie: At the first conference panel, I asked the leading ad network executives what they thought was in store over the next 5-10 years for the online advertising industry. The consensus was that there would be a trend towards media becoming more addressable and efficient. In that light, what do you think is the future of PR as it relates to digital advertising?

Martha Feingold: If you look at it from a micro perspective, the PR landscape changes every 6 to 12 months. Over the next 5-10 years, we’ll tackle how to blend into the conversation. We’ll tackle how to help companies communicate.

Ben Billingsley: As all media becomes social, we’re going to have to change from being information gatekeepers to becoming information brokers. As more media becomes digital, media becomes more quantifiable.

ML: How have you seen PR change recently?

BB: PR no longer stands for Public Relations. It now stands for Public Relationships. Still, the objective is the influence opinions and engage in conversations.

ML: How do you capitalize on the Web 3.0 (Semantic Web / Intelligent Web), and tie it into your PR efforts? As PR is so much about communication.

BB: This is a question we’ll tackle and stay on top of as the new technology is rolled out.

MF: Everything has evolved so much over the past 2 years that we’re really just keeping up with that.

ML: At the conference, I pointed out that data collection and management is essential for digital advertising strategies. How do you take advantage of data collection and management in PR?

MF: PR 2.0 is about managing customer relationships and data trends. PR is continuing to find ways to manage those two modalities. I agree that data collection and management is becoming increasingly important.

ML: Why are data collection and management important to you?

BB: It gives you a share of voice. In a digital world, the ability to think analytically is very important.

ML: Which tools do you use for data tracking?

BB: We use Omniture and Google Analytics as our basic tools to measure influence, plus a few other additional niche tools for data collection. We’re also using various different tools to manage.

ML: Which metrics do you use? What matters most?

MF: It’s much easier to figure out the reach of traditional media than the reach of social media. Essentially, the formula for calculating reach is:
Reach = (how many times you were mentioned) * (audience reach of the media, i.e. subscription base)

BB: It’s about thinking about your business strategy and mapping it back to your PR strategy. Develop communications to map between them.

ML: What do you think of the AdRevenue08 conference today? What objectives did it accomplish?

BB: It helped create thought leadership, incorporated the ad optimization category, and helped define the current online advertising ecosystem.

MF: I think there was a lot of concern in the economy with online advertising and what’s going to happen in the first half of next year. It clarified the difference between different players in the online ad industry. Overall, I think the industry is going to continue to head in a positive direction after a few bumps in the road.

ML: Thanks, guys!

NOTE: For more on the future of PR and communications, I also recommend reading PR 2.0 by Brian Solis of FutureWorks PR. Check out his innovative formula that calculates the allocation of resources (time, personnel, budget) to conversations in The Essential Guide to Social Media. He also defines action items for leading companies into future of integrated communications in The Social Media Manifesto.

Marissa Louie is the Founder and CEO of AD Village (http://ad-village.com) which helps bloggers monetize and advertisers optimize. Her previous entries include The Wheels of Viral Marketing, 10 Types of Ad Targeting, and 10+ Funniest Angel and VC Blog Posts. She also announces Entrepreneur 2 Entrepreneur office hours via Twitter.

by Brian Solis

The W Hotel, Westwood

I flew to Los Angeles for 24 hours to serve as the lunch keynote speaker at PR 2.0: Breaking into the Conversation. Following the event, and a full day of work, a few of us decided to host an impromptu Tweetup in The Backyard, poolside at the W Hotel in Westwood. It was a beautiful night, which was complemented with some very incredible people.

I’ll let the pictures the rest of the story…

Click here for the names of a few of those who joined us

Shira Lazar

Kurt Daradics and Mike Prasaad

Nicole Jordan and Todd Cohen

Rafat Ali of PaidContent and Patricia Handschiegel

Jackie Peters

Sean Percival, Shira Lazar, Nicole Jordan

Kurt Daradics

Damon Alexander Young and Nicole Jordan

Laurie Percival

For more pictures from the LA Tweetup @The W, Westwood, please visit my album on flickr.

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by Jackie Peters

The Disruption in the Music Industry session at Web 2.0 Expo NY was one I wanted to make sure I attended. I have a keen interest in the way that the social web is effecting the music industry.

Brothers, and iLike founders Ali Partovi and Hadi Partovi are two pioneers who genuinely understand the potential of the social web to reshape the music industry. While old-school industry heavies have been doing their best to avoid the impending transformation, the Partovi brothers have embraced the opportunity presented and offered artists new ways to monetize and strengthen their brands through closer engagement with fans.

The brothers Partovi gave a clear and concise breakdown of how the shifting landscape in online music has diminished more traditional monetization opportunities, but at the same time created new, and potentially more lucrative ones. While physical record sales are tanking online record sales are growing, and new revenue streams are surfacing.

Downloads
The brothers highlighted emerging trends in the online music space that offer new opportunities. DRM-free music is one trend that they highlighted, sighting that the format allows for expanded innovation and the signal that labels are finally embracing technology.

Artists as Channels
Artists can now establish a deeper level of engagement, and additional monetization models by creating what they referred to as “direct to fan media channels” – artist channels that utilize blogs, video messages, live streaming performances and interviews to create personalized, syndicated streams that fans can tap into and share. Players in this space are channels like MySpace, iLike, Kyte, Nabbr and ReverbNation. Revenue can be generated from advertising as well as subscription models. As an example, the Partovi brothers sighted the band U2.

U2 has leveraged the iLike platform to create a space where their fans can feel more connected and engaged with the band, and it works! The band has nearly 3 million fans on iLike, versus just under 200,000 friends on MySpace. iLike offers a suite of tools to leverage the passion of fans and extend that passion out to their social circles on a variety of networks in addition to the main iLike site.

Live Performances
While album sales are taking a nose dive, ticket sales are at an all time high, and there is a clear path to monetization; sales of physical goods being more reliable than advertising or subscription models. Platforms like iLike, LiveNation and StubHub take advantage of social discovery, alerts and recommendation engines to help bands connect with their fans and fans connect with each other to generate awareness, excitement and attendance for live events.

Streaming
According to the brothers “streaming is the new downloading.” Sites like Pandora, LastFM/CBS, AOL, Video YouTube, Yahoo, Rhapsody, iMeem, MySpace and iLike all offer streaming music. Revenue opportunities in this space come from advertising and subscription models. New opportunities highlighted are mobile and syndication.

Announcing the iLike Music Platform
The brothers also announced the new iLike Music Platform, a developer platform that will allow anyone to add playlists and iLike functionality to their own websites and Facebook applications.

It’s refreshing to see the music industry finally starting to wake up and take notice, thanks to innovators like Hadi and Ali who recognized opportunities early and rose to the challenge. I like to think that the music industry is an early indicator of the direction other industries are heading in. Music makes the most sense as an early entrant as it’s main products can be produced, warehoused, sold and distributed entirely electronically. I think it’s time for other industries, including film and consumer goods to get an early jump on things and take heed to the lessons taught by the music industry.