There’s a great story in the Wall Street Journal today that sums up some of the top job-seeking/job-board sites out there.

For those of you who don’t have time or the inclination to read the Journal, I asked my intern to check out the websites the reporter mentioned and boil down what they offer job seekers, beyond job listings:

By Katherine Guiney

In these harsh times, everyone is feeling the economic strain and losing your job is nothing to be ashamed of. Even Tiger Woods got laid off. With one year left on his 10-year Buick endorsement contract, General Motors pulled the plug on the deal.

But Tiger and all you job seekers out there have more resources than ever to help you land a new gig. With the jobless rate at a 14-year high, many new job search engines have popped up and existing ones have enhanced their features in an effort to help the out of work find employment.

Where can you go?

MarketVendorJobs.com
This new job site has a resource center with overviews on interview techniques, resume writing, salary negotiation, networking and resigning.

CareerBuilder.com
In addition to letting you post your resume and get job alerts, CareerBuilder.com features a pop up on the right of the screen with jobs in your area, categorized by industry. In February, the site launched BrightFuse.com, where professionals can network and, coming next year, highlight skill sets and upload samples of work.

Vault.com
When looking for jobs on Vault.com you can search by industry or company. This site includes most job industries, but seems to focus on finance, law and consulting. In addition to samples of expert resumes and cover letters, message boards and a tab for colleges, the site offers something called “The Vault Recession Survival Package.” The package does cost, but it includes two 45-minutes coaching sessions, resume and cover letter work, and the Vault guide on finance, law or management consulting.

Glassdoor.com
A salary-review and employee-review Web site. It offers salary data for positions at numerous companies, so you can estimate what a certain position should make.

Indeed.com
The simple homepage asks you “what” want and “where” you want it, and then lists responses in a very Google-like fashion. Simple, but effective as it allows you to specify exactly what you are looking for.

Monster.com
In addition to the standard job search, Monster.com has information on money, furthering your education and job fairs.

Dice.com
Dice.com calls itself “The Career Hub for Tech Insiders” and is targeted at technology professionals. Before you even search, a list of jobs that may be of interest given your location is posted in the top right hand corner of the page.

eFinancialCareers.com
This site is geared toward finance-industry workers. It launched an emergency toolkit in September, which contains tips and articles on networking, interviewing and resume writing for finance professionals specifically.

OK, now for the surprise job-seeking source — YOUR LOCAL LIBRARY!

No, I’m not kidding folks.

Once upon a time, before the Internet, people who were out of work would head over to their local libraries to get information on companies around the country, including an address and contact information. I know this seems so Stone Age, but we used to have thumb through thick reference books instead of clicking on a computer key board.

Ever since cyber mania became the norm for job seekers, many of you have just forgotten about that big building in your neighborhood crammed with all those dusty books.

Time to rethink the local library.

The Brooklyn Public Library, in particular, is getting out the word on all the great stuff they have for the jobless.

The BPL offers assistance through its Education and Job Information Center, which provides library members free job training and career guidance.

Here’s a rundown on what’s available at the BPL and many other libraries around the country:

- Assessment software (sigi) library patrons can use to determine which careers would be a good match
- Print collection of books on careers, colleges, entrance exams, etc.
- Series of programs that help assess your skills/career development training
- Proctoring for paper-based exams for students
- Learning express library software: Database allows patrons to take practice tests for college entrance exams (like CUNY) for civil servants and GED
- Skills, Training and Employment Program (STEP) offers one on one assistance with trained staff member who reviews resumes, take them through referral brochures which they can consult for training or job search help, etc.
- Offer access to Career Cruising, a Web site that patrons can utilize for free to explore different occupations. This site is not free if you try to access it outside the library.
- Provide referral guides that list recommended resources for searching out financial aid and scholarships
- Provide free access to Career Cruising, a website which people can access to explore different occupations and search for scholarships.

And the best part of the library as job resource is you get to get off your big butt and head out into the real world where you are forced to interact with human beings. You’ll need that kind of exposure if you want to be on your toes during a job interview, especially if you’ve been out of work for a while and have no one to talk to but your dog or cat.

There’s a great way to use social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn that few of us think about — making friends at work.

A colleague of mine recently told me another woman in her office sent her a Facebook friend request and she accepted. She didn’t know this woman very well, other than passing hellos in the hallway, but after the cyber friend connection they started talking in real time — you know, face to face.

“She’s really cool,” my colleague told me recently. “We never would have become friends if it weren’t for Facebook.”

We both marveled at how cool it was, but then she told me about another person who works for her company that also sent her a Facebook friend request. It came from a weird guy that sort of creeped her out. And she was told by other women in the office that the guy liked to friend request lots of women. She figured she should accept or risk alienating the colleague, which could cause some awkward work moments.

But now she had “friending” regret. The guy keeps writing strange things on his Facebook page and she’d rather weed him out.

The conundrum? How do you de-friend a non friend without disturbing the cyber gods and creating hell for herself at work?

It’s hard enough de-friending, or not friending, a non friend who lives in another state, or is a long lost friend you really didn’t want to reconnect with. (Check out this great story on that topic by a colleague of mine at MSNBC.com)

But de-friending a workmate, that’s a whole other story. It can actually impact your job, work, career.

I emailed social-networking guru Jason Alba, CEO of JibberJobber.com and author of “I’m on LinkedIn – Now What?” and coauthor of “I’m on Facebook – Now What?”, because this riddle needed Batman caliber brains.

Turns out there’s a way to de-friend someone without them knowing you ever did, he explains:

In Facebook, I go to the person’s profile page and scroll to the bottom of the left column… you’ll see a link that says “Remove from Friends.”

In LinkedIn, click on Contacts, then towards the top right you’ll see a link that says “Remove Connections.” Click that, choose all the connections you want to remove, and then finish by clicking the “Remove Connections” button.

In both cases people won’t get a notification that you have removed them, and I’d argue most people will never notice.

But, he adds, if the friend is a coworker, or worse, a boss, “who asked you to connect, that might be problematic, but even then they might not know you aren’t connected anymore.”

He blogged about this issue on Facebook here. And on LinkedIn here.

I asked him two followup questions that related directly to my colleague.

What if the person you de-friend checks up on you and asks, “did you read my message about the work thing, or party?”

Some people might avoid the issue by saying “I didn’t see that,” or “I missed that,” or “I didn’t notice.” I would say “I was cleaning up my Facebook Friends and unfriended a bunch of people, I might have unfreinded you. Will you send me another invitation?” I would only ask for another one if I think I’d be interested in following them again, and since they asked they show they are actively using it as a communication medium. However, I’d make it clear that if they want to send work stuff, to send it to my email.

What if it’s the creepy guy in your office and you don’t want him bugging you?

I would definitely say “I was cleaning up my Facebook Friend list and deleted a bunch of connections. Sorry.”

Do you guys have a social networking friend/connection conundrum story you want to share? Do you need help? What did you learn from it?

It amazes me that people still think you can upload your resume to a jobs site and instantly land a job.

You have the credentials, the experience, so why the heck wouldn’t the Internet gods just bestow you with a coveted job after your resume hits cyber space?

It’s not a magic resume folks.

My column this week on MSNBC.com looks at how you can go about getting a job working for Barack Obama at any level.

I talked about how important it was to figure out who you know that’s connected to the Obama campaign. While Obama’s team has already set up a website where you can post your resume, Change.gov, and there are other sites that will also post government jobs, including USAJOBS, I stressed that job seekers would have to pull out all the networking stops if they were going to realistically have a chance at working for the President elect because a flood of applicants are expected to pour in.

Maybe you volunteered for the President elect in your home town, or know someone who knows someone on Obama’s transition team. It’s a smart move to reach out to these people and get your resume in the right hands.

Makes sense no? Not to everyone.

I was shocked to see some of the responses to the piece on Newsvine.

The comments went something like this:

WOW Obama really does bring change… want a government job… what contacts or “good ‘ole boys” do you know? Oh no one… send a resume but, by the way, make sure it is longer than necessary so already chosen team can spend extra time reading it and point to your explicit experience just in case you fail, their asses will be covered.

YEP the Obama administration will sure bring a change to the white house and politics! I can see that.

and

Are you the best qualified person for that position??? To bad you are not getting that job. Sorry you do not know the “right people” maybe if you hob nobbed in the right (or is that left) circles you could be interviewed. What you were to busy working.. Well then if you are making at least 250,000 a year you will help us anyway, even if you do not want to. Thanks for your upcoming financial support. Your a friend of Bill Ayers?? In that case we should definitely be able to interview you at least. Thanks for applying. Obama administration a somewhat equal employment opportunity.

I know there’s a tinge of political anger out there, especially if you voted for the other guy. (I’ve already gotten a few “Eve-you’re-Godless” emails.) But the cold reality is, especially in this tough economy, you need every advantage you can get when applying for jobs. The Obama administration will be no different.

And today it’s easier than ever to figure out if you’re connected to someone thanks to the Internet.

Pick any one of Obama’s transition team and research their background by Googling them, going to Facebook or LinkedIn. You can figure out where they went to school, and you can also see all of their connections and their connections’ connections.

There was a story in my local Delaware newspaper a week ago about some bigwig in the Obama campaign that grew up in the tiny state. I’m sure there are a lot of Delawareans who went to high school with the guy. Look him up. Why not?

You need a leg up people in almost every job you apply for today.

Is it fair? I can see why some of you would think it sucks. Our work, our merit, our education, our experience should speak for itself. That would be nice. And sometimes that happens when your resume lands in just the right hands and it ends up on just the right desk.

But let’s be realistic. Hundreds, thousands and even millions of resumes are now electronically heading for automatically-monitored jobs sites throughout Corporate America and the government, and your resume is just another needle in this cyber haystack. If no one sees it, it’s like you were never there.

Who knows things about you that you’d rather not share with the general public? That you drink two or three martinis every night. Maybe you like to call in sick when you’re really not sick to play basketball with the kids. Or maybe you’re prone to punching in walls when you fight with your spouse.

I’ve written a lot about digital dirt lately. You know, the negative information about you on the Internet you don’t want your boss or prospective employers to see.

Well, here’s a minefield you better keep an eye on — Your own digitally savvy kids that seem to spend every waking moment of their lives sending weird things to eachother on Facebook, or MySpace.

The owner of ReputationDefender.com, Michael Fertick, recently told me of a new phenomenon he’s discovered in his quest to help people everywhere protect their online reputations. The company helps individuals by searching the Internet for bad stuff about their customers and then finding ways to get rid of it. Sometimes it’s as simple as calling a blogger and asking that something negative be removed, and in other cases it requires writing lots of good stuff about a client so it drowns out the bad stuff.

The bad stuff usually comes from disgruntled girlfriends or boyfriends; people criticizing something you wrote or a project you worked on; or maybe you got rowdy at a football game and the local paper wrote about you.

But Fertik was surprised when he discovered a new source for the bad stuff — his customers’ own kids.

Turns out some tweens, teens and even 20 somethings out there are writing about private family matters on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, and also sharing their pain on blogs. And they’re naming names.

“We’ve seen discussions by kids of parents’ incomes,” he says. For example, ‘Dad makes $75,000 per year’. They also write about their parents’ relationships, “‘Mom and Dad are fighting pretty hard tonight’, of career news ‘Mom didn’t get the promotion she wanted’; and even social habits or qualities, ‘Dad is such a d–k,’ or ‘Dad is a friggin’ alcoholic.’”

Parents shouldn’t be too surprised that their children are sharing this stuff on the Web. Kids have always had to vent about family issues to their friends, but before the Internet, conversations were kept out of the public forum, for the most part.

Fertik’s advice: Talk to your kids and check out their FaceBook accounts now. “Let them know whatever they write is a tattoo that can stain them and you (the parent), possibly forever,” he adds.

We’ve all been so worried lately that our kids may end up writing something about themselves, or sharing suggestive photos of themselves on social networking sites that could end up hurting them when they go out into the job market. None of us thought about what they may be writing about us.

Is there something your kids know that could come back to haunt you?

I know many of you who have lost your jobs in the financial sector are angry. But think twice before you start trashing your former employer or the industry on Facebook, LinkedIn, or even Twitter.

If you’re sending out resumes and are wondering why you haven’t gotten a response despite your years of success in fixed income, M&A, etc., it might be a good time to clean up house, I mean your social networking house.

Turns out many hiring managers head right over to your LinkedIn or Facebook page to check you out before they even call you for a phone interview.

In the past two years, there’s been a 17 percent increase in the number of HR professionals using social networking sites for everything from verifying resumes to looking at where you stand on social issues.

A Society for Human Resource Management survey just out found: “Negative information on an applicant’s social networking profile, such as personal views or values contradictory to the hiring organization, negative or slanderous discussions of current or former employers, friends, or co-workers, and excessive alcohol use, have a greater impact on hiring decisions than positive information.”

And it’s a good time to Google your name to find out if there’s anything in cyber space that you don’t want a prospective employer to see. This type of digital dirt will be damaging not only to those of you looking for a job in finance, but workers who still have jobs at firm’s and division’s recently bought by J.P. Morgan Chase, Bank of America, etc.

The merger integration teams at these financial institutions are scouring their newly bought assets for those employees they want to keep and those they want to let go. So the last thing you need is a half naked photo of yourself in Cancun popping up as one of the top Google search results.
Technorati Profile

I know most of you have been watching members of Congress, the president and a host of financial regulators scrambling to figure out how the bail out Wall Street. And many of you are probably wondering — “What the heck does this mean to me, the average working stiff?”

OK, here’s the low down:

1. If you have a retirement plan with your employer, basically a 401(k), and you’re retired or about to retire, this financial mess will hit your investments hard. (This is why getting rid of traditional pensions was a stupid idea.)

2. Collapsing financial firms, including some of the biggest investment houses in our nation, immediately led to job losses and more are on the way.

3. Layoffs in other sectors have also increased, everything from autos to technology, and alas, more tightening is expected.

4. Finding a full time gig right now will be harder because many employers are opting to hire temps instead of taking the plunge and hiring a permanent employee that gets benefits like health care. And if you have health care through your employer, expect to start picking up more of the tab next year.

While most workers will keep there jobs, get ready for a financial squeeze. “Average workers will mostly be feeling the crunch from personal finance concerns and household budgets; within the workplace, employees will likely see decreased bonuses, annual reviews and perks. As employers are trying to cut costs and spend only as necessary, the only employees who are likely to see substantial compensation increases will be the highest performers,” says Michael Jalbert, president of MRINetwork.

And it’s not just Wall Street bankers that will face problems.

“Most workers will care because these problems trickle down hard to the lowest wage earners,” says Michael Hayes, owner of Momentum Specialized Staffing, that specializes in recruiting employees for industrial, clerical and sales. “When capital is tight, sales slow, companies lay people off and this put undue pressure on their household budget. You can see the result with food banks and charities running out of food baskets and money.”

Lynne Eisaguirre, a workplace consultant, offers her tips for dealing with the dive:

1. Hold onto your job! Now is not the time to be changing jobs, unless you have a clearly better option. It is the time to network your heart out by going to industry events, conferences and lunches, meeting people who might help you get your next job or improve your status in your current job.
2. Focus on relationships. When job cuts arrive– as they may with this Wall Street crises– those who survive the layoffs will be those who have clearly understood their boss’ goals and helped he or she achieve them. Studies show people would choose to work with someone more likeable over someone more competent.
3. Turn off the media. It’s easy to panic and be unable to do a good job at work. Limit your media diet and focus on things you can control, such as doing your very best every day in your current job.

And for those workers that aren’t nearing retirement, it’s time to face the reality that we’ll have to be bankrolling our golden years and not necessarily be able to just rely on our employers or the government.

It sucks folks, I know. You come to work everyday, do your best to support yourself, your family, and then whammo! Smart guys that should have known better allowed greed to take over and we’re all paying for it now.

You can be mad. But don’t act like victims. Keeping, searching and doing well at a job all require strength and a positive attitude that tells you — “I’m going to make it.”

What if a computer program monitored every move made by Kay Krill, the CEO of retail chain AnnTaylor? What if it tracked all the time she wasn’t actually working during her work day…that cup of coffee with her CFO, or the trip to the bathroom?

And what if that computer spit out information that would allow AnnTaylor’s board members to cut back her hours as a result of the findings, let another executive handle her load, and dock her pay accordingly?

You guys probably think I didn’t have enough coffee yet this morning. But it’s not lack of caffeine that’s got me pondering this scenario.

It turns out AnnTaylor is using such a system but not on Krill. It’s being used on the retailer’s sales force.

There are few things that get under my skin more than treating workers like their animals to be whipped.

Performance metrics. Efficiency boosters. All this lingo translates into a lack of respect for the rank and file.

The Wall Street Journal today has a story on how retailers, including AnnTaylor, are using these types of systems to squeeze every productive second out of their workers.

This is the actual headline: “Retailers Reprogram Workers in Efficiency Push.”

I know the headline writers at the Journal are trying to be witty, and I guess the headline is, but it’s also insulting, insulting to all free-minded workers out there.

The writer of the story Vanessa O’Connell makes a case for how these types of systems will become a mainstay in retail and 15 million workers in retail better get ready.

She does a great job showing both the management and employee side of the story.

Such “workforce-management” systems are sweeping the industry as retailers fight to improve productivity and cut payroll costs. Limited Brands Inc., Gap Inc., Williams-Sonoma Inc. and GameStop Corp. have all installed them recently. Some employees aren’t happy about the trend. They say the systems leave them with shorter shifts, make it difficult to schedule their lives, and unleash Darwinian forces on the sales floor that damage morale.

This in an industry that already pays workers barely above minimum wage, and benefits are a rarity since so many of the people that take these jobs only work part time.

I know businesses all across this country are struggling but sticking it to workers isn’t a nice or smart thing to do.

Basically, the system tracks what workers are selling on average per hour and then assigns the big money makers to the busiest times of the day. For one worker quoted in the story who tends to spend a lot of time with customers and gets big pay offs one hour, and little the next, she’s pretty much screwed and eventually left the company as a result of the new system.

Even management knows this is a jerky thing to do to its workers.

AnnTaylor calls its system the Ann Taylor Labor Allocation System — Atlas for short. It was developed by RedPrairie Corp., a retail-operations software firm based in Waukesha, Wisc. “We liken the system to an airplane dashboard with 100 different switches and levers and knobs,” said AnnTaylor’s Mr. Knaul. “When we launched that, we messed with five of them.” Giving the system a nickname, Atlas, he said, “was important because it gave a personality to the system, so [employees] hate the system and not us.”

I have news for you Mr. Knaul, your workers aren’t stupid. They know exactly who to hate for the stupid system and it’s not an inanimate object.

A blogger took a cheap shot at me recently. He said one of my stories was “sloppy journalism.”

It really sucks when you come across information about yourself and it’s anything but flattering. Maybe someone blogs about what an idiot you are because they don’t like something you said in a blog, or in a research paper. Or maybe you have skeletons in your closet and someone’s decided to expose those in cyber space; or you got in trouble with the law and when someone Googles your name a small story from a local paper about what you did comes up. Or those suggestive photos of yourself you put on MySpace when you were 17 are now making the cyber rounds.

I was researching a story on how to erase negative information about yourself on the Web and a source made a good point about how you can combat bad things without actually erasing information.

“What to do when you don’t like the impression given by your online persona?,” asks C. David Gammel, a corporate technology consultant. “The counterintuitive response is the best: post even more content about yourself online.”

However, he adds, “the content should be of a nature that is at least neutral at best positive for your career prospects. Blog about your professional interests. Discuss research you have conducted yourself on a topic of interest. You get the idea. Since Internet skeletons are forever you have to bury them in more content that creates the impression you wish to have online. Once the less savory items are pushed off your first page of ego search results on Google you’ll be fine with most people. That’s why you have to post more, not less, to get rid of the impact of those skeletons.”

So, back to someone dogging the CareerDiva on the Web.

I came across a blog post written by Mark Story, a communications expert and adjunct faculty at the School of Continuing Studies at Georgetown University, that blasted a story I had written for MSNBC.com about social networking overload.

Here’s the post:

OK. Now I have to write about it.

Two people have sent me an article from MSNBC from last week entitled “Beware of social networking overload.” The author is Eve Tahmincioglu (imagine having to pronounce that last name for your teachers), but this article is maddening to me.

I am of the school that increasingly, “traditional” journalism is more about having headlines designed to garner eyeballs or sell papers — and this article proves my point. Among the things that Eve brings up are the following points:

Here’s what people have been asking me lately: “Is it enough just to be on LinkedIn and Facebook?” “I just got an invite from a friend who’s on Plaxo. What is it and should I join?” “Will I dilute my networking effectiveness if I’m on MySpace, LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter?”

I know, there’s a hint of desperation in the air because of the tough economy, and everyone wants to have lots of connections just in case layoffs are looming. But beware. You might end up with social networking overload.

AAAARRRGGGGHHHHH.

I have said this in my class before and will say it to anyone who will listen: THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS “INFORMATION OVERLOAD” IF YOU DO NOT ALLOW IT TO EXIST.

Point #1: plenty of people, myself included, choose to be on Facebook, LinkedIn,Twitter and other social networking sites (I am experimenting with Identi.ca too), and I have a blog too. These are opt-in/optional tools, however. Sure there are some of my Tweeps out there who spend way too much time bouncing back and forth, but no one is twisting their arms. And almost every single social media relationship into which I have invested time and effort has led to meeting someone in “first life.” And I don’t mean dating, I mean things like participating in Blog World Expo (shameless plug, but I’ll be speaking there in September).

Point #2: this is sloppy journalism. There are plenty of aggregator sites out there like FriendFeed that do the work for you and pull all of this together. I check the automatic email or the site once every couple of days to see what the people in my online social networks are up to. Aggregator sites put everything in one place.

Point #3: “There is desperation out there about the economy?” Nice tie in. Sure, there is. But being on a social network is only (if you are lucky) ten percent of what is required to get a good job - and many postings on things like Facebook (keg stands) can have the opposite effect in terms of getting in the door for an interview.

Final point: do your research, Eve. Overload only exists when you choose to let it. And there are plenty of ways to pull everything into one place so you can keep up with all of your buddies online.

Mark

Oh man, did I get angry when I read this. I sat there wondering what to do. Should I respond on Story’s blog or just send him a nasty email? Or should I do nothing? I’m a journalist after all and we need thick skin. I’ve been called worse by people in the business world and beyond.

But then I wondered about how the blog post might be perceived by others who came upon it. This guy taught at Georgetown for heaven’s sake. What he had to say really didn’t help my reputation.

When I calmed down I decided to write a response on his blog. I’m a blogger after all and should put all the information I can out there, especially about my work and my reporting.

Here’s my comment:

Hey Mark,

I don’t enjoy being called sloppy but I’m open to any criticism if I can learn from it and get better at what I do. I’m not sure your criticism here really helped me out but I’d be interested in hearing more.

It’s great to hear you’re able to keep up with so many social networking sites, but alas, not everyone can, aggregators or not.

I have gotten tons of emails from people who believe they need to have hundreds of friends on every site out there and the thought of it is driving them crazy. The bottom line is they don’t.

Because of what we do we have to luxury to play around with all these new great sites, but there are many professionals out there scrambling to keep their jobs or find new ones that don’t.

If I had time, I would definitely attend the Blog Expo, being I’m a blogger myself. I would have stopped by to say hello.

And by the way, my name is pronounced, tach-min-gio-lou.

Best,
Eve

I waited a bit to see if Story would post my comment, and he did in fairly quick order.

“That was the end of it,” I thought. There are many schools of thought on how you should respond to negative info about you on a blog. Some worry that you may be goading a blogger into write even more bad stuff about you if you take the blogger to task. Others believe you should always get your side out no matter what the cost.

I decided to write my piece and let the Internet gods judge.

To my surprise I got an email from Story a couple of days later. The email actually made me a bit misty.

Hi Eve,

I posted on your blog (couldn’t find a contact me link - could just be me), but the bottom line is that your polite and measured response to my post cemented the fact that what I wrote was a cheap shot. And I apologize for it.

Where I come from, when you make a mistake, you own up to it. And I will. Expect a post, to be published on Monday, with a big apology in it. My response to your comment is here at the bottom: http://tinyurl.com/64jtmq.

And now that I have visited your blog, learned more about you and your experience, I have a big, fat egg on my face. And I will make it right.

Best,

Mark Story

OK, I have to admit I was totally shocked. I never imagined he’d even email me, let alone admit to going a bit too far.

His response meant several things to me.

First off, it renewed my faith in journalism. The profession has taken a beating lately as traditional media tries to adapt to the ever changing digital world of information. There’s a lot of bad journalism filling the cyber airwaves and you wonder if all this information is really sparking an inclusive debate for the citizens of the world, or if we’re just making each other dumb and dumber. But he gave me hope. Here was Story, his readers and me having a conversation. He questioned me. I questioned him, and ultimately, we had a deeper exchange about social networking.

Secondly, it shows that countering bad stuff about youself on the Web can sometimes payoff. When someone comes across the “sloppy” post they’ll also see Story’s mea culpa. So get out there and start getting your story out.

And thirdly, despite the recent rancor between Democrats and Republicans vying for office, we don’t live in a world where everyone is so tied to what they freakin say and believe that they won’t listen to the other side.

I know, this post I’m writing now would be a lot different if Story had responded to my post on his blog with a “bite me Eve.”

But he didn’t so this is how my post ends.

My hats off to Story, who really did write another post on me today.

Here it is:

I Was Wrong. Sorry, Eve.
September 08th, 2008 | Category: In the news, Online public relations, social media

In a moment that was likely based on blogger hubris and too much caffeine, a few weeks ago, I blogged about an MSNBC piece on social media overload and called it “sloppy journalism.”

The point that I was attempting to make in the post is that there are enough tools and aggregators out there to eliminate social media overload. FriendFeed and other tools can put it all in one place. Almost as soon as I wrote it, some regular readers chimed in and politely took me to task; the article was note written for propeller-heads such as myself, but for people for whom social media may indeed create overload.

Among the initial comments were:

* Jonathan Trenn said: You’re an online strategist, a PR pro, a social media practitioner. Being networked on all these sites is in your professional blood. In addition, you likely feel somewhat required to take part in all of these networks because it’s tied into what you do for a living. She’s likely writing that piece for a lot of the working professionals who are getting all sorts of information on this network, on that service, etc.
* Jenn Zingsheim said: I agree that this seems to be sensationalist journalism, but Jonathan has a really great point. I find that when I’m talking about what I do to friends & family, they get quickly lost when I’m describing all the different networks. They like to package things neatly into boxes (”…ok, so Flickr does photos, LinkedIn is professional, Facebook is college…what? It’s not just college? and you have professional connections there too?…I thought that’s what LinkedIn was for…” etc.)

And then, yesterday, the author of the original article, Eve Tahmincioglu wrote a polite and measured response to my posting which was critical of her piece (which I am listing in its entirety):

*

Hey Mark,

I don’t enjoy being called sloppy but I’m open to any criticism if I can learn from it and get better at what I do. I’m not sure your criticism here really helped me out but I’d be interested in hearing more.

It’s great to hear you’re able to keep up with so many social networking sites, but alas, not everyone can, aggregators or not.

I have gotten tons of emails from people who believe they need to have hundreds of friends on every site out there and the thought of it is driving them crazy. The bottom line is they don’t.

Because of what we do we have to luxury to play around with all these new great sites, but there are many professionals out there scrambling to keep their jobs or find new ones that don’t.

If I had time, I would definitely attend the Blog Expo, being I’m a blogger myself. I would have stopped by to say hello.

And by the way, my name is pronounced, tach-min-gio-lou.

Best,
Eve

Just like the old saying goes, if one man calls you a jackass, pay no attention. If three people call you a jackass, buy a saddle. So I am going saddle shopping later today.

I’ll say publicly what I posted in the comment thread and what I emailed: my post was a cheap shot and Eve responded politely and without rancor. And the fact is that Eve, Jonathan and Jenn were right: it’s easy for me to dismiss social media overload because I live in a different world. Given time to think about it, my response is akin to my accountant saying to me, “There’s no such thing as difficulties in doing your taxes because Microsoft Excel is so easy to use.”

I was wrong, period, and am eating a big crow sandwich. After I researched Eve a little, I discovered that she has her own blog, has published a book, and is well-thought of enough to have column on MSNBC and is clearly somewhat of an expert in the career field.

And to top it all off, when subject of a pithy post, Eve is unfailingly polite.

So where I come from, when you’re wrong, you apologize. Sorry, Eve.

Mark