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Hi, I'm Daniela. Welcome to my personal lair on the Internet. This is where I write about storytelling, activism, technology and pop culture. Sometimes I post videos. I update my lair when the mood strikes me. Follow me on Twitter for daily updates (@dcap).

Tag : tips

3 Ways To Get A Job Using Facebook Status Updates

By now we know that it’s possible to lose your job via Twitter and Facebook Status, so I thought I’d share my suggestions on how you might actually get a job by using Facebook Status.

1. Let People Know What You Want

This is a simple but crucial step towards securing employment: State your desire! Don’t be afraid to let your friends and colleagues know what you’re looking for. It might sound crazy, but if you feel comfortable letting your network know you just ate a delicious ham sandwich, there’s no reason to feel awkward about posting an employment goal.

Things to remember:

* Avoid general updates that air on the negative or desperate side

* Try to be as specific as possible

Here’s an example of what NOT to post:

“I can’t find a job … this sucks, no one is hiring!”
It’s highly unlikely that anyone is going to “like” this update or feel motivated to respond with anything useful.

Here’s an example of a useful status update:
“I have been looking for a management position in Portland, Oregon. If you have any friends or contacts in the area who might be able to offer leads or suggestions, I would definitely appreciate any tips.”

In this status update example above, I included two bits of crucial information:

1) What the person wants (a management position in a specific area)

2) A clear request for assistance

Facebook gives the illusion that we can read each others thoughts. Your friends may know that you like ham sandwiches, but they may not know that you are still struggling to find work. Give them the opportunity to assist you by providing clear, specific information. In life, vague requests are rarely answered.

IMPORTANT: Avoid suddenly changing your tone every time you post something job related. If your usual status updates throughout the week are on the whimsical side, feel free to keep your job inquiries casual as well. Facebook is a social space and your tone should remain authentic to you — updates that sound like you’re rattling off your resume won’t go over well.

2. Pick The Collective Brain

Which are the top local networking events for my industry?
Which job boards and Twitter lists yield the best/appealing job listings?
Has anyone recently attended an industry conference that they enjoyed?
Who else is currently looking for work?

These are just some examples of useful questions that you could be asking your network. Cultivate conversations in status response threads and find ways to support your friend’s job searches — exchange resources.

If you and your friends can help each other find a restaurant, decide on a movie or work on each others farms, why not give your friends the opportunity to help you in your job search?

3. Spread The Facebook Love

Your friends have started responding with links to potential job opportunities, sharing their cover letter tips and revealing the best bars to network at. Great! Now’s your chance to return the favor:

A) Look For News Feed Requests
Is anyone posting a status update asking for help with something that you are knowledgeable about? RESPOND. Go the extra mile to be helpful.
It will quickly become apparent if all of your updates are just “gimme gimme.” Keep the positive vibes flowing and find ways to create some Facebook karma.
You don’t need to obsessively check the news feed; a general scan 1 – 3 times per day should be enough to keep your finger on the pulse of what’s going on.

B) Hook It Up!
Do you have some extra Beta invites to a “must have” site? Did you come across a fabulous online-only special on BestBuy.com?
Post the link! You’ll be surprised how appreciative people can be — and their replies give you a reason to follow up with them in a separate (PRIVATE) Facebook message.
Keep the lines of communication open.

C) Encourage Your Friends In Their Job Search

More than likely, you aren’t the only one who is looking. If you come across positions that aren’t a good fit for you but remind you of someone in your network, post it!
The same goes for conferences, job fairs or industry relevant news articles and videos.

Your job search feedback loop shouldn’t only be about you. The more you support others with their goals and show an interest, the better the chances are that they will return the favor.

IMPORTANT: Tread carefully on the freebies line. It’s one thing to share useful links and invites, it’s another to obsessively comment on all of your friend’s updates and feed all their FarmVille Animals multiple times a day. People can tell if your “gifts” have an agenda.

Make it a goal to try to help or inspire a few of your friends each week, with no mental/emotional strings attached.

____________________

Time Magazine’s piece from earlier this summer, “Using Twitter and Facebook to Find a Job,” aptly noted that for all our technology, the best way to land a job is still by having someone who already works at a company mention your name. For all you know, one of your Facebook friends may be friends with your future boss.

In conclusion, social media is what you make it. Twitter went from answering the initially benign question of “what are you doing?” to being a repository for everything from press releases to hybridized storytelling to political subversion. Your Facebook Status update is a reflection of who you are, your relationship to the world and your inner monologue.

Why not make it another tool in your arsenal of job hunting methods?

On My Radar: How To Shoot Your Epic Feature Film With A Still DSLR Camera

If you own a single-lens reflex digital camera (DSLRs) like a D90 Nikon or a Canon EOS 5D, channel your inner Godard and try your hand at a short or full-length film.

That’s right, I said make a full-length film with that digital doohickey you are using to feed your flicker stream.

No, I’m not insane. If you can frame a still photo you can frame your whole movie with the same camera, and Filmmaker Magazine explains how in their recent issue.

The Nikon D90 can shoot in five-minute bursts, holding about 50 minutes per 8GB card, with a 16mm by 24mm sensor.

On the Canon EOS 5D Mark II, the sensor is the same size as a standard film camera frame: 24mm by 36mm. It’s sensor creates larger pixels, with sharper images and the ability to shoot in lower light.

– Nikon D90 image via Robert Kenney‘s flickr

It is totally possible to get a 21 mega-pixel 1080p high-def image from Canon in the palm of your hand for under $2,000, and a growing group of filmmakers are being drawn to the price and flexibility of DSLRs as their primary mode of shooting.

Contributing writer Roberto Quezada-Dardon spoke to Andrew Disney, a filmmaker shooting a feature called Searching for Sonny in Fort Worth, Tex. with a Canon 5D.

Disney told Filmmaker that aside from the cost benefit, the size of the camera reduced crew size:

“We had nothing too big to lug around. The camera’s battery pack lasted all day. It felt easier and we weren’t as tired. Moving the camera and using the dolly was just so easy.”

The 5D’s light sensitivity and image sensor size also appealed to Disney, but of course there are downsides to shooting with a camera not originally designed for feature film making.

4 Challenges of Shooting with DSLR Technology + The Workarounds

1. Camera body will usually overheat after approx. 40 minutes of continuous shooting
Take intermittent 10 minute breaks to keep it cool.

2. No Decent Sync Audio
The internal sound recording with DSLRs is pretty terrible. It’s better to use the internal mono track as just a scratch reference in post. Your best option is to sync up a double-system recording; for ambience use something like a Zoom H2, which provides a four-channel surround recording for building a 5.1 mix.

Record your dialogue with a stick mic and/or wireless kit to a compact flash recorder like Sound Devices 702. To compensate for no audio timecode, use a slate or other way to note a sync mark to find in post.

3. No automated way to make image quality meet broadcast specifications
After importing your files, transcode to Apple ProRes and retime the frame rate from 24 fps to 23.98 fps. Create a droplet in a transcoding program like Compressor.

The last (and probably scariest) issue:

4. Lack of any image stabilization feature
Avoid doing hand held shots – Stick to tripods and dollies. Try a mix of monopods and tripods. If you must have that verité look, be sure to rehearse your scenes as much as possible and be prepared for multiple takes.

Producer and director Zak Forsman gave Filmmaker this tip for keeping a D90 steady:

“The D90 is very comfortable for handheld shooting given its DSLR form factor,” he says. “I hold it securely with my right hand while cradling it and pulling focus with my left. The camera’s sensor does have a slow read/reset, which results in skewing of the image when panning left and right. This effect is minimized in much the same way you soften hand held camerawork — with wide lenses and stabilization. I won’t shoot with anything longer than my 28mm without a tripod. Even so, it takes a good amount of familiarity with the D90 to work within its technical limitations.”

Check out Forsman’s techniques on sabipictures.com and look up his D90 feature Eloquent Graffiti. You can watch the prelude, Model/Photographer, here:

Filmmakers using DSLR cameras reminds me of the cult filmmaking subculture of Pixelvision PXL 2000 users. Originally a video camera designed for children by Fisher-Price, lo-fi lovers have been using it to make short and feature films for years, drawn to the grainy, low-definition images.