“Get your Twit on!”
So says one ad for a Twitter application for the iPhone. Our old friend Twitter is slowly taking over the world so it's time to embrace it. Breaking Tweets has chosen to do just this by turning Twitter into a source of synthesized news…in 140 characters or less. 
Breaking Tweets is a website that approaches Twitter as a viable source of information on current events from a personalized level. The editors of the site sift through the seemingly endless “Twitter universe” to find tweets relevant to current news stories. They even include pictures from stories utilizing the TwitPics application. They then assemble it to resemble your typical journalistic format. 
With the ability for individuals to Twitter using their cellular phones, eye witness reporting is limitless and Breaking Tweets is on the cutting edge by utilizing this. As the staff puts it, Breaking Tweets is “hyperlocal gone global.
With this global idea in mind, Breaking Tweets even includes a handy global map (courtesy of Google Maps) that allows visitors to click locations and see stories relevant to a certain area as its reported by Twitter. Half of their visitors to Breaking Tweets are from overseas. 
John Kristoff, a contributing editor for Breaking Tweets and a good friend of mine, is a Journalism graduate student at DePaul University. His view on the Twitter-craze is this:
“If it was going to disappear, it would have already done so.”
Tweet on that! Twitter is here to stay...until the next big thing comes along. Follow Breaking Tweets on Twitter @breakingtweets.
Breaking Tweets is Breaking Boundaries
Come See How Good I Look
I apologize for the delay in this blog post but my birthday and Spring Break have been, as you could imagine, exhausting.
While walking the Daytona Beach the other day, I had a thought. As I had been researching my grand Floridian adventure, all of the pictures in advertisements had been of individuals with remarkable six-packs carved by Michelangelo himself and bronzing that made them appear to be raisins in the sun.
Then I looked down at my "healthier" (a.k.a. "heftier") physique and realized that I would not be in the next ad campaign for Florida. But then again, as I looked around, many of my cohorts were in the same boat.
Why do these ads have to sell us unrealistic images of what our society looks like? Do we really feel that we will become more attractive if we go where the beautiful people are supposed to be?
Check out a clip from the infamous Bod Body Spray commercials to see what I'm talking about. I always get upset when people video tape me playing soccer shirtless.
PR or Not PR: That is The Question
When I try to explain what I am aspiring to do with my life, it's sometimes difficult. Not having a clear-cut goal is the first problem. I know I don't want to be a doctor or an astronaut. Check.
The second problem is that the world of public relations in particular is sometimes hard to pinpoint in a sea of communication. There is a difference between the publicity-seeking events of certain marketers called "PR stunts" and true public relations. I hope that my profession is more than a fat guy in a leotard doing the "Single Ladies" dance. Because, while that certainly is something that will get your attention, is that something to be proud of? 
That is me on the left. I can also check dancer off the list of future professions.
For more thoughts on this subject, check out Seth Godin's blog post on the difference between PR and publicity. If you're already reading Seth's blog, you should be. 
Also, please feel free to follow me on Twitter @JordanMyers
Networking Made Easy - LinkedIn
In my continued pursuit of a job and an understanding the world of social media, I have found a new ally: LinkedIn. 
LinkedIn has been called by many the "professional Facebook." That is probably the easiest way to describe it. Unlike Facebook, LinkedIn is structured to be professional and cuts out some of the really embarassing parts of Facebook such as the ability to tag people in party pictures. It happens to us all. Yeh, you might want to go detag yourself from that one right now. 
LinkedIn is organized like an electronic version of your resume. There are spaces specifically designated for your work experience, current position, goals and special skills. Instead of "adding a friend," you "make a connection" which is intentionally similar to the lingo used when networking in the real world. You remember real world networking, right? When you used to shake people's hands, make small talk and actually hand them a business card or resume. It is a thing of the past, my friends!
The network function of LinkedIn also gives you the ability to use your network to ask for introductions to other people. With the ability to see the resumes of your connections, you might find they have past work experience at places you’d like to be. Think about it. If you want to be like Joe Somebody, you might want to start by working where he started working 5 years ago so you can be Somebody ,too.
In a blog post last month, Guy Kawasaki talked about this new age form of "schmoozing." Check out his article for 10 tips on how to use LinkedIn to get a job.
If you're not LinkedIn, you'll get left out.
