Discussions about Google+ dominated the online discourse on social sites as June came to a close, but a flurry of other hot topics got their fair share of attention throughout the month, including the Les Paul Google doodle, the Pope’s first tweet and a social media campaign against a ban on female drivers in Saudi Arabia.
Based on figures from Mashable Follow‘s M Share button, the following 25 stories got the most love, with all of them garnering about 250,000 combined shares on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, StumbleUpon and Google Buzz.
To keep track of the most-shared stories at anytime, log into Mashable Follow and click on “Top Stories” next to the Mashable logo. You’ll have the option to view the top stories of the day, week, month or year.
Thanks for reading and sharing our content. We look forward to seeing which stories you share in July.
Which stories will you remember the most as the year progresses? Let us know in the comments.
More About: apple, business, facebook, features, foursquare, Google, Google Plus, iOS, linkedin, News, Opinion, security, social media, twitter
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Flipboard has released version 1.5 of its social newsreading app for the iPad, offering users an improved navigation system and content from new partners The Economist and LinkedIn.
The ability to navigate an increasing number of finely defined feeds, both RSS and social, is transforming the app into more of a magazine-style browser than a simple newsreading app.
This is largely because you can now explore an unlimited number of feeds (previously, the limit was 21) and conduct cross-network searches on a given subject without having to save the content to your main Flipboard feed. You will no longer have to “set up” your Flipboard in what CEO Mike McCue admits was “kind of an elaborate process” — now you can explore, save and share as you go.
You can pull up The Economist‘s feed, for instance, click on a tweet from The Economist mentioning that article to explore the publication’s Twitter profile, and then navigate to yet another article or an external link from its Twitter feed:
The browser-like experience is also enabled by a change in Flipboard’s storage structure. Previously, feeds were preloaded onto the iPad. Now, they’re loaded onto an external server that renders content at a much faster rate. You will still need to save feeds to your favorites to read them offline, however.
McCue says he wanted to achieve three goals in the redesign:
We also have to applaud Flipboard’s improved sharing features (pictured below) and a new “Popular on Flipboard” ribbon that highlights content others are reading.
Already the best among newsreading apps, it just keeps getting better.
More About: Flipboard, ipad, linkedin, media, The Economist
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A new app called Vizualize.me will instantly turn your LinkedIn profile into a stunning infographic, all through the power of code — no graphic design skills required.
Pulling all your career information from your LinkedIn profile via LinkedIn’s API, Vizualize.me creates clean graphical representations of your skills, work history and even your connections in an easy-to-scan format that hiring managers and other gatekeepers love.
To get the data from text to graphics, Vizualize.me scrapes your positions, education, interests, skills, recommendations and number of connections from your LinkedIn profile, assuming all that data has been entered already. Then, attributes such as skills are weighted by the level of expertise you’ve attained and how many years you’ve been using it.
Those “weights” are then used to create a visual representation of your professional experience to date, where each of your abilities is accurately portrayed relative to your other talents.
Best of all, the resulting infographic-like resumes are customizable, too. While Vizualize.me is in beta, users will be able to choose from a variety of different themes and templates, both free and premium. Eventually, users will also be able to specify their own colors and typefaces, too. Think of the app as a Flavors.me for your professional life.
Being able to accomplish this task programmatically was a problem that intrigued Vizualize.me creator Eugene Woo. In an interview with Mashable, Woo said, “We are developing something that intersects software with design in a very big way.”
Woo, who has a background in electrical and computer engineering, pulled the idea out for a recent Startup Weekend event in Toronto. He said the app uses SVG — that’s “scalable vector graphics,” an XML family of specs for static and animated vector graphics — and will continue to do so until HTML5 Canvas becomes more widely adopted.
“I think our biggest challenge isn’t so much the technology but making sure that what we create enough flexibility and options so that the generated inforgraphics don’t all look alike.”
In addition to getting a lot of positive feedback from early users, Woo said he’s also “had a lot of interest from hiring managers and business owners. In the near future, we’ll take it to the B2B segment.”
Vizualize.me will be available as a public beta August 1, 2011. You can sign up early to get early access and free-of-charge premium features when the private beta launches July 25.
For now, here are some sneak peaks at how Vizualize.me can transform textual resume data into easy-to-parse graphics:
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More About: eugene woo, linkedin, startup weekend, vizualize, vizualize.me, web development series
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Monster is adapting its job search functionality to social networking with BeKnown, an app that lets users set up a professional network on Facebook.
BeKnown, set to go live on Monday, will let Monster users import their data to Facebook and set up professional networks there as well. Matthew Mund, global vice president of product for Monster, reasons that since Facebook has around 700 million members, most people are on it already. “This is the path of least resistance,” Mund says. “You can manage your professional identity and your social identity in one place.” BeKnown will also be targeted at recruiters. Mund says Monster gets about 38 million unique visitors a month.
In starting a network from scratch, though, Monster faces a formidable challenge. Most notably, there’s LinkedIn, which has more than 100 million members and has established itself as the premier professional social network. Monster is also not the first to consider using Facebook as a backdrop for a new professional network — BranchOut, which has more than 800,000 users — is trying to do the same thing.
Monster has added a few bells and whistles to BeKnown that it hopes will diferentiate the offering. For instance, users get Foursquare-like badges when they complete certain professional goals, such as graduating from college. Users can also follow companies and get endorsements a la LinkedIn, features not yet available on BranchOut.
The offering comes as the recession has hit Monster’s bottom line. Monster’s net sales have dropped 11% (annualized since 2008) and its stock price has declined 8.9%. However, the company posted a 23% jump in revenues in its first quarter, which ended March 31.
More About: branchout, facebook, linkedin, monster
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In the past year, LinkedIn received about 85,000 job applications — quite a bit for a dedicated global recruiting team of 45. And that number doesn’t even include the lucky group of people that LinkedIn recruiters actively contact on a daily basis.
With such high competition, applicants hoping to get a foot in the door at LinkedIn are better off knowing the ins and outs of the application and interview processes.
We spoke with Brendan Browne, LinkedIn’s director of global talent acquisition, about how job applicants can stand out among the masses and ultimately land a job at the world’s largest professional social network. Read on for his tips and let us know your questions about applying for a job at LinkedIn in the comments below.
The majority of LinkedIn’s recruiting efforts take place on LinkedIn.com. The Work at LinkedIn page and LinkedIn’s very own company page on LinkedIn are the two main hubs for job listings and application information. Interested candidates can also use the LinkedIn Jobs search to narrow down job options by date posted, location, salary, job function, industry and experience level.
Browne suggests that applicants take a look at some of LinkedIn’s other online properties for a deeper understanding of what’s moving the company forward, including:
LinkedIn currently has nearly 200 open positions that run the gamut, but there are two areas where LinkedIn is making the biggest push: R&D and sales.
On the research and development side, engineering, product development and data scientist roles are hot right now. Whether you specialize in web development, database engineering, building mobile applications or manipulating data to solve hard problems, there’s probably a development job that fits your niche.
On the sales side, LinkedIn is hiring at all levels across Asia, Europe and the United States.
Headquartered in Mountain View, California, LinkedIn also has 16 other offices, located in Chicago, New York, Omaha, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Bangalore, Delhi, Dublin, London, Melbourne, Mumbai, Paris, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney and Toronto.
With 100 million users and nearly 1,300 employees, LinkedIn is a public company that reaches more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and is available in six languages.
By most measures, it’s a large company, but Browne’s description of what it’s like to work at LinkedIn makes it sound like a startup in corporate clothing. Yes, it has grown up from its humble beginnings, but its team hasn’t lost its entrepreneurial spirit.
The company is defined by transformation, says Browne — “transformation of the world, the company, oneself and you as a professional.” People at LinkedIn believe that they can “change people’s futures,” whether they are in Sub-Saharan Africa or New Jersey, says Browne. The team at LinkedIn strives to scale the company and cultivate professionals who are also happy outside the office while also making a global impact on how professionals connect.
Many of LinkedIn’s benefits and traditions support these missions — Hackday is one of them. As described by Technical Marketing Manager & Resident Hacker Matthew Shoup, Hackday is “one day set aside each month when employees step away from their everyday job functions to give back to the community, create new rapid prototypes, solve business problems, express ideas and be creative while learning and ‘bending’ new technologies.” Browne says that the variation of projects created on Hackday is wide and that some of the resulting creations have gone live on the site. And not everyone who participates is a hardcore engineer — those from marketing, design and elsewhere bring innovative ideas to the table for leveraging LinkedIn’s platform and data, too.
Hackday is part of a bigger program called inDay, which also includes a speaker series and time for employees to work on projects that they are passionate about and that positively impact the community. Here’s what Mario Sundar, LinkedIn’s senior social media manager and chief blogger, told Mashable about the monthly shindig:
“One of the elemental pieces of our culture is the monthly inDay where folks from across the company are given a ‘No Meeting Day,’ to focus on projects they are most passionate about. This ranges from the very productive Hackday (started by Adam Nash) to the TED-like Speaker Series where we bring in transformative professionals ranging from MLK III to Suze Orman to speak. Education is an oft-repeated theme as we get to hear from the game changers in that space like Sal Khan (Khan Academy), Charles Best (DonorsChoose.org), etc. Many times these events lead to our colleagues contributing towards some of these worthy causes. For example, one of our engineers, Alejandro Crosa, built out DonorsChoose.org’s first iPhone app after listening to Charles Best, the CEO, speak at an inDay where Charles announced their internal hackday contest.”
Sundar splits his time between LinkedIn’s Mountain View and Toronto offices, “so I get a sense for an emerging unified culture across the globe,” he says. “Frankly, I think projects like inDay actually translate well across different cultures, languages, etc. and get teams working toward a common cause outside of the daily work environment. This lends to a more collaborative environment when it comes to work as well.”
LinkedIn’s interviewing process begins with a phone screening in which a recruiter conducts a “high-level assessment to really understand [a person's] motivations … and to make sure they have some of the key qualifications and competencies we need,” says Browne.
“Assuming that goes well, there’d be a phone call with, typically, the hiring manager,” continues Browne. “If it’s a more technical job, there will probably be a technical screen on the phone. Or if it’s non-technical, the discussion might be pretty functional.”
After passing the two phone call screens, job candidates move on to the on-site interview. While the format of the interview depends upon which group the candidate is applying to, Browne says that the common theme across all interviews is that “most people are coming in and displaying their problem-solving ability real-time, tackling real issues or acting in a real-life scenario. On the sales side of things, people need to come in prepared to pitch in a pretty formalized way … On the technical side, people are given real problems to go tackle. So, it’s a creative conversation in which the applicant is problem-solving in a conversational manner with the interviewers.”
If the on-site interview goes well, applicants typically meet a few senior LinkedIn executives toward the end of the process. The discussion is generally focused on career development and “where LinkedIn can take them in terms of their trajectory,” says Browne.
Browne described in great detail exactly what traits his recruiting team looks for in applicants. Here’s a quick overview and our biggest takeaways from the conversation:
In short, LinkedIn recruiters like to see that applicants — whether technical or non-technical — take ownership of their work. They build and do. Showcase your entrepreneurial side on your resume and in interviews, focusing on how you’ve worked with strategy, planning and management, as well as gotten your hands dirty in the process of building a product.
Don’t apply for a position at LinkedIn without having a LinkedIn profile — you’ll look ridiculous. At the minimum, complete your profile, including your job history, education and photo, and make an effort to build a network of connections.
“We often look at who you are connected to,” says Browne. If you are connected to “people that we know are pretty awesome” that means a lot, he says.
For brownie points, update your LinkedIn status with interesting information within your field and blog about relevant topics. Whether you’re an influencer in your space or not, having an active voice on LinkedIn will help you stand out.
“Even if there isn’t a position available that’s a fit for you, start building a relationship with the company now since LinkedIn is always looking to talk with passionate, authentic, wickedly smart people who want to solve very hard problems,” says Brendan. “Blog about the LinkedIn products you’d love to work on, reach out to people on the team that you’d like to work with and see if there are any projects you can collaborate on. Join LinkedIn Groups that other folks in your ‘dream’ department are a member of and chime in on the discussion threads.”
If you’re applying for a job at LinkedIn, Browne also recommends that you leverage your LinkedIn network to see if you have a second- or third-degree contact that will help open doors for you. As an added tip, if you make it to the interview process and figure out via LinkedIn that you have a contact in common with your interviewer, start off the conversation by asking how they are connected and explaining your own relationship. That simple anecdote can show that you understand the value of LinkedIn and how to use it for networking.
Let us know what questions you have about applying for and landing a job at LinkedIn, and we’ll do our best to get you answers.
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Image courtesy of Flickr, Nan Palmero, LinkedIn, MPortraits
More About: Brendan Browne, career, career hunting, job search series, jobs, linkedin, trending
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Facebook is experimenting with a new type of ad that invites users to comment on a question posed by an advertiser.
The format, which mirrors a status update on a branded Facebook Page, but doesn’t depend on users signing up, invites a dialogue. The first advertiser to try the so-called Comment ads, Allstate, used the Mayhem character from its commercials, who asked “What’s the worst thing your kid’s ever done in the car?” Another advertiser, Hallmark, plans to ask, “How do you make summertime a special occasion?”
According to Advertising Age, the ad was the result of an AdExpo Facebook held last year. The Chicago ad agency Leo Burnett came out with the winning idea.
The format is the latest attempt by Facebook to adapt advertising to social media communication. In January, Facebook introduced Sponsored Stories, which show user interaction with brands in the form of checkins and “Likes” in the right-hand ad column. If a user in your network, for instance, visited Starbucks, you might see that activity as an ad if Starbucks paid for the placement.
Facebook’s new ad format comes in the same week that Twitter execs shared plans to include Promoted Tweets in users’ timelines and LinkedIn announced new ad units that included mention of users’ follows and recommendations.
More About: advertising, facebook, linkedin, Sponsored Stories, twitter
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Twitter is considering placing its Promoted Tweets in consumers’ timelines and introducing Groupon-style offers, according to a report.
The Financial Times, citing “people with direct knowledge” of Twitter’s plans, reports that company executives plan to migrate Promoted Tweets from searches to users’ timelines, a move that is likely to irritate some users.
Twitter introduced Promoted Tweets last April and drew advertisers like Coca-Cola and Virgin America. Though some users feared a spam-like intrusion into their conversations, most were either neutral or in favor of the ads. Since then, Twitter has tested putting Promoted Tweets in users’ timelines on HootSuite.
Twitter also experimented with a “QuickBar” in its iPhone app, which displayed one Promoted Trend at the top of the screen. After user protests, Twitter removed the feature.
The FT also reports that Twitter is in discussion to include Groupon-like, time-sensitive deals somewhere in its service, though the report didn’t offer any further details.
Matt Graves, a rep for Twitter neither confirms nor denies the report. “We are always talking with marketers about ways they could potentially get more out of Twitter. Some of these discussed concepts may materialize; others will not,” he says. Earlier this month, Adam Bain, Twitter’s head of revenue, told Mashable that the company has experimented with all kinds of advertising ideas, even banner ads on Twitter’s homepage in Japan. Other recent experiments include short, text ads on the homepage. Twitter is also said to be considering offering company-branded homepages.
Twitter’s not the only social media company looking into new ad formats. LinkedIn on Thursday also announced new ad units that leverage users’ activity on the network, including follows and recommendations.
More About: advertising, linkedin, promoted trends, Promoted Tweets, twitter
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LinkedIn has introduced new ad formats that integrate member activities into advertising.
The changes, announced in the company’s official blog, include the Facebook-like inclusion of relevant people in your network in banner ads. For instance, a recruitment ad could show people in your network who could refer you for the advertised job.
Another new format is LinkedIn Ads, which bolsters the advertiser’s credibility by showing how many people have recommended or follow the company. LinkedIn Ads is a self-service solution, meaning the process of buying the ads is automated. So far, the ads have only rolled out to a small portion of members.
Like Facebook, LinkedIn is grappling with the question of how to employ advertising solutions that exploit the social nature of its network without compromising users’ privacy. On June 10, LinkedIn began giving members the opportunity to opt out of being featured in advertising when they follow or recommend a company.
LinkedIn, which went public in May, posted $79.3 million in advertising revenues in 2010, about one-third of the company’s overall revenues and more than double its take in 2009.
More About: advertising, facebook, linkedin
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LinkedIn has introduced new ad formats that integrate member activities into advertising.
The changes, announced in the company’s official blog, include the Facebook-like inclusion of relevant people in your network in banner ads. For instance, a recruitment ad could show people in your network who could refer you for the advertised job.
Another new format is LinkedIn Ads, which bolsters the advertiser’s credibility by showing how many people have recommended or follow the company. LinkedIn Ads is a self-service solution, meaning the process of buying the ads is automated. So far, the ads have only rolled out to a small portion of members.
Like Facebook, LinkedIn is grappling with the question of how to employ advertising solutions that exploit the social nature of its network without compromising users’ privacy. On June 10, LinkedIn began giving members the opportunity to opt out of being featured in advertising when they follow or recommend a company.
LinkedIn, which went public in May, posted $79.3 million in advertising revenues in 2010, about one-third of the company’s overall revenues and more than double its take in 2009.
More About: advertising, facebook, linkedin
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Men are generally better networkers, except when it comes to industries like tobacco and ranching.
At least, that’s according to findings by LinkedIn‘s analytics team. The researchers also found that men were better networkers in the cosmetics industry.
LinkedIn determined the “networking savviness” of the sexes in various professions by comparing the number of connections that men have to the number women have, and looking at the ratio of male to female members. For example, LinkedIn labeled an industry that was 45% female, with women having 70% of the connections, as “female savvy.” Neutral industries were the ones in which the percentage of women in the industry equaled their percentage of connections.
Since LinkedIn doesn’t require members to register their sex, some guesswork was involved. As Scott Nicholson, senior data scientist at LinkedIn, wrote on the company’s official blog Wednesday, “We can guess a person’s gender using their first name and some previously established techniques using a database of baby names.”
More About: battle of the sexes, infographics, linkedin
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