Until now.

Just last week, LinkedIn developed a new app called the Creative Portfolio Display. This app allows creative professionals from the advertising, digital media, or film industries to showcase their portfolios more easily.

Scott Belsky, the CEO of Behance created the LinkedIn app and emphasizes the importance of using the LinkedIn portfolio as the place to display professional work alongside the professional profile. This new app allows users to display creative projects in their LinkedIn profiles after simply adding these projects to the Behance Network.

This new feature is exciting for creative professionals in the media industry. Advertising executives can now create one central portfolio on LinkedIn and the service is absolutely free, allowing users to upload an endless number of multimedia projects.

Check out Chris Crum’s article at WebProNews for more information on this new app:

http://bit.ly/ct1aYp

Here’s the idea behind the installation:

“The Murmur Study by Christopher Baker and Juhász Márton András constantly searches Twitter for phrases like eww, argh, hmph and grrr and then prints the guilty tweets on one of 30 thermal printers. The endless ticker tape gathers on the floor below. The purpose of the installation is to analyze the prevalence of human emotion through technological sources such as Facebook and Twitter.”

Murmur Study from Christopher Baker on Vimeo.

Check out more photos and Public School here.

Mosaic illustration by Jennifer Daniel for the New York Times

Are 5,001 Facebook Friends One Too Many?

By Aimee Lee Ball for The New York Times

THE British anthropologist and Oxford professor Robin Dunbar has posed a theory that the number of individuals with whom a stable interpersonal relationship can be maintained (read: friends) is limited by the size of the human brain, specifically the neocortex. “Dunbar’s number,” as this hypothesis has become known, is 150.

Dear Bev: How Should I Use Social Networking In My Job Search?

By Beverly Weinstein

Creating a strong online presence is key to a successful job search in the digital media industry. Not only is social media an integral tool for recruiters to find viable candidates, but it’s also a great way to show an employer that you’re well connected and versed in the space.

A recent Career Development event held by Advertising Women of New York addressed this subject for job seekers and media executives looking to build a professional reputation online. I gathered a few new pointers from fellow recruiter, Regina Angeles.

LinkedIn
You probably have an account on this site already, but so do 65 million other members. So how will you be found in the sea of profiles? Keywords.

When searching for candidates, recruiters and employers plug relevant keywords into LinkedIn’s search function and develop leads for potential candidates. If you’re profile isn’t chock full of all the important words that describe who you are and what you do, you’ll probably get lost in the shuffle. Think about what value you can add to an organization or department. Is it revenue generation? Team leadership? What are your key skill sets? Sponsorship sales? Cross-platform marketing? Get specific with your keywords and experiences and you’ll be on your way to optimizing your profile.

Another way to increase your visibility on this network is by getting your professional network to recommend you. With the click of a button, you can request a brief recommendation from your colleagues and clients. They serve as a quick reference guide for contacts in the industry and how well-respected you are. Also, having three or more recommendations makes you three-times as likely to pop up in search results. Take the time to request them; it’s worth it.

Twitter
You’ve heard about the importance of this social network a million times. Still struggling with how exactly it pertains to you? You’re not alone. But if you’re a job seeker, there are more than a few tangible ways that Twitter can help. Don’t be afraid to make an account and learn the ropes.

Angeles, multicultural recruiter and CEO of TALENT2050, offered great Twitter tips, like the new site www.tweetajob.com. Sign up to receive relevant job postings sent to your Twitter feed. Likewise, most big job boards have twitter accounts that you can follow to make your twitter feed a veritable real time feed of all new opportunities you might want.

Job Boards vs. Social Networks

Speaking of job boards, don’t forget about these tools as well. But dig deeper than Monster and CareerBuilder, there are a multitude of more focused niche sites (Angeles recommended IvyExec and Doostang.) But don’t just rely on seeking jobs, start seeking employers.

This is a point I make to candidates repeatedly and one that Angeles mentioned, too. Use sites like Linkedin to research companies rather than just positions. Find out about the kinds of companies you want to work for and use your professional network to find someone there to connect with. This is where the networking really comes into play.

Use LinkedIn and even Facebook to network as you would in the real world. Send people messages rather than passing a business card. Reach out to see if they can provide you with a helping hand. Getting your foot in the door is a lot more likely with a personal connection, while responding to a job posting on one of the big job boards rarely produces results.

Don’t Wait to Be Found

So you signed up for Facebook and LinkedIn and you made your first tweet. Why aren’t recruiters knocking down your door? You need to engage with social communities, not just become a stagnant member. Actively using these tools is key to making them work for you. Update your status on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter with a link to an interesting article. Start speaking to your network and they’ll speak back.

Angeles wisely emphasized knowing your audience within your social networks. Are you looking to find a job in digital media? Show that you know the space by sharing relevant information about news in the industry. Looking for consulting clients? Speak to that audience by establishing yourself as an expert in your field. Share valuable industry information, perhaps a blog post you wrote on new industry trends. (Hint: blogging is another great way to engage in social media. There are plenty of free sites to help you get started: wordpress.com, typepad.com, and blogger.com are just a few.)

Another great tip Angeles provided: Link your social media networks all together with a service like HootSuite. Update your status or post a link on one site and it will push the update to all of them, saving you time and making social networking more manageable for a busy schedule.

AWNY will be holding 2 more events on Career Development. Check out www.AWNY.org for more information.

Find out more about improving your social media presence at www.dearbev.com/services

Read the column on MediaPost.

Recently the Wall Street Journal published an article with tips on resigning on good terms. According to the story, 60% of employees say they intend to leave their jobs when the economy improves. That’s a staggering amount of people who will be turning in their letter of resignation. The WSJ offers some good advice on maintaining good relations with your ex employer and some more obvious tips like, um, don’t steal office supplies on your way out. Here are some of the highlights:

“Make an appointment. “Be formal and make an appointment with your boss,” recommends Tanya Maslach, a San Diego, Calif., career expert who specializes in relationship management issues. “Prepare what you want to say. Be direct and engaging—and be transparent,” Ms. Maslach says. She also recommends offering to help make the transition easier; ask your boss how you can best do that. After the discussion, put your resignation in a hard-copy letter that includes your last day and any transitional help you’ve offered.

• Stay close. Consider joining an employee alumni association, which often serves as a networking group for former employees. It can be a good way to keep up with changes in the company and industry—and find leads to new jobs down the road. Keep in touch with coworkers you worked closely with; they may end up in management roles.

• Be honest but remain positive. Be helpful during the exit interview but keep responses simple and professional. Don’t use the session to lay blame or rant about coworkers, bosses or the workplace.

• Scrub your digital footprint. Clear your browser cache, remove passwords to Web sites you use from work, such as your personal email or online bank account and delete any personal files on your work computer that aren’t relevant to work. Don’t delete anything work related if you’re required to keep it.”

What shouldn’t you do when resigning? You probably shouldn’t tweet that you’re leaving before you turn it that letter of resignation. Yesterday, Jonathan Schwartz, now former CEO of Sun Microsystems, tendered his resignation in the form of a Twitter haiku saying “Today’s my last day at Sun. I’ll miss it. Seems only fitting to end on a #haiku. Financial crisis/Stalled too many customers/CEO no more.”

An original and very post modern way to quit, to say the least. But today’s Media Post Online Daily Newsletter references Schwartz’s resignation in a cautionary article on using social networking in the workplace, citing more companies cracking down on employee’s web chatter with rules and regulations regarding any company information. In other words, be careful what you tweet.

Unfortunately we’ve been hearing that this holiday season brought more than good tidings and mirth. For many it also brought the unwanted gift of unemployment. (WSJ) A great way to put a damper on the holidays, but don’t let it ruin the new year! While everyone has had big hopes for 2010 to be a better year for media and a better year for employment in general, the end of the fiscal calendar always leaves companies trimming and reorganizing for a new year. You’re not alone and don’t lose hope, because with the new year comes, of course, resolutions!

There are the typical resolutions we all make…read more, exercise regularly, take up a new hobby, maybe lose a few pounds. We’re all concerned with bettering ourselves for a brighter future. So why not look at your job search as an extension of yourself? After all finding that new job is all about a new future. If you resolve to go for a run every day to take better care of your body, why not resolve to take better care of those job search tools too and put your best foot forward both literally and figuratively?

Phyllis Korkki at The New York Times had this same spirit of renewal in mind when she wrote a guide to re-energizing your job search. Here are some highlights and tips:

Your Resume: Korkki says, “When was the last time you took a word-by-word, letter-by-letter look at your résumé? Make sure it’s completely up to date and tailored to the types of jobs you are seeking. (After all, your situation might have changed since you started looking.) Now is also the time to create alternate versions, to reflect different types of positions.”

You may also want to look into hiring a resume writer if the document needs a lot of attention and you haven’t created one in years.

Your References: “If you have not talked to your references lately, call or e-mail them. Make sure they are still in the same jobs, and tell them you’re still looking. This helps expand your network, because references may know of job openings. It’s also a good time to consider whether to add or remove some people as references,” she wrote.

Digital Presence: And we can’t stress this one enough! “Check and update your LinkedIn profile and make sure that it’s consistent with the information in your résumé and any other online presence you have… Hiring managers look at LinkedIn, and any discrepancies could be red flags..Review your contacts on LinkedIn and reach out to new ones. Check whether anyone new can write a recommendation for you on the site. And, while you’re at it, Google yourself and check Facebook or other social networks to make sure that nothing embarrassing shows up.”

These are just a few ways to get serious about your future. Stay tuned for more advice in the coming posts!

Read the rest of Korkki’s tips at the New York Times.

It’s a good question. You don’t want to seem desperate by broadcasting your eagerness to find an opportunity, but you also don’t want to seem like you’re stretching the truth about your employment once someone investigates you a little further.

This very topic was tackled by Brad Attig on his blog, MyRetailCareer.net. Brad blogs about careers too with a focus on the retail industry and was also an executive recruiter in the past thus he has the experience looking at resumes and placing candidates to know that honesty is always the best policy. I tended to agree with his point of view which was not to lie, but not to be too desperate, ie. skip the full page ad in the NY Times advertising your availability.

One thing I’ll add that wasn’t really touched upon was that putting an end date to your most recent position in your profile isn’t screaming out that you’re unemployed… unless you want it to. Fellow colleagues and business connections will only see that you made this change if you’re privacy settings are so that any updates or changes you make to your profile are broadcast to your network in the updates portion of their homepage and in periodic LinkedIn updates emails. You can adjust this if you want to in “Account & Settings” section, always located in the top right hand corner. Or you can choose to have it broadcast to those connections so that people see you’re change in situation and maybe want to lend a helping hand on your quest to employment. It depends on which camp you decide to settle in.

As far as recruiters and potential employers checking out your profile, if they’re not connected to you anyway then they wouldn’t be notified of your change in status. They would only be looking on your profile because they found it for another reason. Most likely that reason would be that you showed up in their search results based on your experience and compatibility with the job they’re filling. Recruiters are trying to find the best possible fit for their clients and with so many people out of a job these days, they know that unemployment can mean very little about a candidates talent. What counts is what you can do for their client. Don’t let lying be the first attribute they find in you.

Take a look at what Brad had to say on the topic and let me know what you think about it. Any suggestions on how to ask your network for help without seeming desperate?

Go To Applications in the Bottom Left hand corner of the Facebook browser.

Then click Browse More Applications.

In the left hand column of options, the last one reads Prototypes. Click here.

Now you’ll see a listing of new tools and features still in beta that you can try out.

Facebook warns that many of them still have bugs and kinks to work out, but if you want a glimpse at the future of the site, give them a whirl.

One I’m trying out is Enhanced Event Emails which gives you the ability to save Facebook events to your Outlook, iCal, or Gmail calendars right from the invitation email you receive. I tried it out and the Google Calendar option did not work, but I saved it to my iCal without a problem and now won’t have to keep track of my events in two different places. Nice!

Give them a whirl and let me know which ones you liked and which you didn’t.