Photo: Look Up Page

• Facebook isn’t just a fun time waster anymore, but a tool that can also be used strategically in your job search. Personal Branding expert Beth Campbell-Duke suggests creating your own professional Facebook page in your job search so you can protect your personal information and reach out to companies you want to work for as your professional alias.
• Tumblr is today’s hottest microblogging platform. In a recent comparison between WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr, Tumblr came out on top in page views and attention on blog sites by a long shot. Create a Tumblr blog in an area of your interest, then blog and share content consistently so you can brand yourself as the expert on the topic.
• Twitter is an opportunity to get your message out in 140 characters or less. One of the most valuable ways to use Twitter is to listen to influencers, engage with people, and send traffic to your blog by sharing your content. Don’t underestimate the value of a tweet either! The University of Iowa recently awarded a $37,000 college scholarship for a 140 character Tweet essay.
• about.me. Since you have social media profiles all over the web, about.me provides you with a free splash page where you can put up a bio, profile picture, and link to your blog and your assorted profiles from one place. You can also track the people that are coming to your about.me site.

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Happy 5th  Birthday Twitter!

Just 5 years ago today one of the  cofounders of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, sent the very first tweet. Since then, business has been booming! Today there are nearly 140 million tweets sent every day. Seems like he must have been on to something. If you haven’t joined the twitter trend here are some reasons why you should.

1. Connect with Professors: May professors these days are adding twitter tags to their “contact me” portion of the sylabus. Don’t hesitate to use this method for quick questions or compliments you might have about the course. A tweet reading “I really enjoyed today’s lecture.”- can never be a bad thing.

2. Network with Professionals: Twitter is one of the fastest growing ways to network. Did you do community service for a class? Make friends with the organization on twitter!  Spend your summer interning for an awesome company? Keep them in your twitter contacts. Twitter will keep the connection fresh and you never know when you might need them.

3. Virtual Job Shadowing- Twitter is a great way to see what your major will actually entail. Find a twitter user that currently works in that profession. Reading their tweets will give you insight to what their day-to-day lives are like.

4. Get Deals and Discounts- If you’re in college I guess we can assume that your not completely loaded with money. There are several Organizations you can follow on twitter that will notify you of stellar deals in your area. Many local restaurants will offer deals and tweet them out to their followers so make sure to get in on this. 50% of pizza can totally make a study group bearable.

5. Stay in touch with your college- Most colleges and universities now have a presence on twitter so you’ll be able to receive relevant tweets to your particular campus. Make sure you don’t miss out on campus activities or notifications by following your school.

6. Collaborate on Group projects- We’ve all been there before. You’re assigned a group project and you all need to collaborate outside of the classroom but you’re not so sure you want them all to have your phone number or be friends on Facebook? A twitter name swap is much less committal and just as easy to use as a simple text message.

7. We’re on Twitter! …and you should follow us. @MyColleges

For other stellar collegiate tweeps check out our list the Top 35 College Twitter Feeds.

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