The search giant has done it again.  We are witnessing a fundamental shift in the way we will interact with search.

The news around the web today is the Real Time Search functionality from Google.  For those of you who are getting on the boat late, which means 24 hours after it was launched, let me start off with a quick video that I came across that does a really good job of explaining what Google Real time search does.

So what does this mean?  This validates the importance of social media.  For all those of you out there that thought social media was a fad… check out the below video:

This means that the world has shifted its focus away from the idea that companies or blogs should be the source of information over to the idea that the people are the true source of information.  This should have a large impact on your personal branding efforts.

In order to get your name on the top of search results it is important be active in your social world and to engage your community so that others will continue to talk about you.  In the advent of Google Wave and now Social Search, Google has pointed out that real time information is the shift of the web.

It will be interesting to see what this changes in how Google treats older content on the web. What are you thoughts on Social Search as it relates to your personal brand? Do people see this add-on as useful or just more noise in and already noisy world?

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Technorati recently published the 2009 State of the Blogosphere Report and man was it a year for blogging.

“Since 2004, our annual study has followed the growth and trends in the blogosphere. For 2009, we took a deeper dive into the entire blogosphere, with a focus on professional bloggers. This year’s topics include: professional blogging activities, brands in the blogosphere, monetization, twitter & micro-blogging and bloggers’ impact on US and World events.”

Blogging Revolution

The State of the Blogosphere highlights the effect that blogging has had on subjects ranging from revolutions and elections to personal brand building. The report makes it abundantly clear that during a time when just about everything in the world seems to be changing, blogging continues to thrive  and appears to be more than recession proof.

The report gives undeniable proof that the influence bloggers have on business, politics and communities is growing rapidly but some of the most telling information in the report is the responses bloggers gave when Technorati surveyed them directly.

The results of the survey show that blogs are helping more and more people build their own personal brand while simultaneously boosting the brand of the business’s they work for. Over 70% of bloggers surveyed said they have much greater visibility in their industry because of their blog.

As for the companies they work for: 63%  said they converted prospects into purchasers through their blog, and 56% said their blog brought  their company recognition as a thought leader in the industry.

Long story short: blogging is here to stay and IT PAYS TO BLOG. We’re obviously not just talking monetarily here because the largest value add is clearly the brand-building potential blogging holds, both on a personal and a corporate level.  We all know that money does talk pretty loud however, so be sure to check out the section of the report on “Monetization and Revenue Generation.” to get a better idea of some ways people and companies are managing to bring  in cash by blogging.

Evan Watson is an independent writer and the Chief Evangelist at Brand-yourself.com. At Brand-yourself.com Evan Watson combines his passion for writing, entrepreneurship, and making meaningful connections with new people.

Evan Watson is also a self-proclaimed adrenaline junky and enjoys kite-boarding, snowboarding, and wakeboarding. For Evan, family comes before anything else, and he attributes his success and growth almost entirely to being raised in an extremely eclectic, multi-cultural family.

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Over here at Brand-Yourself.com we have been chugging away creating new functionality and materials to give YOU the best experience possible. Over the past few months we have taken all of your thoughts, ideas and feedback to create the best system possible to manage your online reputation. Our site right now is currently up and running but will be completely updated in the next few weeks to make sure we meet your needs. Thank you to everyone who has been involved in the process, it has been one amazing ride. Now, onto news that you should be aware of!

• Facebook hits 300 million users, says it’s cash-flow positive: This is HUGE news for the social media/networking world as Facebook continues to be the most dominant one out there. With over 300 million users, not only does this give you the unparalleled power at your finger tips to meet almost anyone you want, it also means that anything you put on Facebook can be viewed by just as many people; double edged sword. Now for all the tech based start-ups and entrepreneurs out there, this proves that the social networking business model can work at some level, woot!
• We were on Hott 107.9 yesterday with the 40 Below Summit http://su.pr/A3wbmc: This was to help promote the 40 Below Summit that will be taking place in Syracuse next Friday, September 25th. The 40 Below was created to connect, engage, and empower young adults in Central Upstate New York. As such, we will be giving a presentation on “How to Market Yourself in the Facebook Generation” in the IMAX theater, it’s massive! This is something that we’re really excited about, so if you’re in CNY next week please stop by and support us, you won’t regret it.
• The Collegiate Entrepreneurs’ Organization (CEO) has chosen us to be a speaker at their conference: It has been our dream and aspiration to be able to speak to such an amazing gathering of students, which has finally come true this year. The CEO conference brings together over 1,500 aspiring entrepreneurs from around the country to the amazing city of Chicago in mid October.

For those of you who missed it this week, we had some really amazing posts ranging from how to supercharge your personal brand to using your personal brand in the interview and how to create a winning personal branding statement.

• Social Media Used in School
• Personal Brand Statement: 7 Winning Step to Creating One
• One of the Best Interview Tools: Your Personal Brand
• 10 Step to Supercharge Your Personal Brand

Hope you enjoy them and please engage in the conversation!

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Yesterday President Obama was in the Washington suburb of Arlington, Virginia giving a speech to the Wakefield High School students. After the conclusion of his speech, one ambitious 9^th grader asked him “How he could become President one day,” saying that “when you’re young, you know, you make mistakes and you do some stupid stuff.” Coming from someone so young in the eyes of the job world, it is truly inspiring that they want to know what it takes at such a young age; easily a symptom of the Information Age.

Now in response to the student President Obama gave some very sound advice that everyone has heard before.

“I want everybody here to be careful about what you post on Facebook, because in the YouTube age whatever you do, it will be pulled up again later somewhere in your life,” Obama said. “That’s number one.”

While he may sound like a broken record, coming from such a high authority – The President of The United States of America – being broadcast nationally, it will have a HUGE impact on the next generation of students.  He later remarked in a private question-and-answer session that he has heard stories about Facebook postings hindering job applicants, saying:

“I’ve been hearing a lot about young people who, you know, they’re posting stuff on Facebook, and then suddenly they go apply for a job.”

It is truly amazing to have a President that is finally in touch with the problems that face our soon to be young professionals. Research conducted recently shows that nearly half of companies now screen social media profiles in the hiring process based on content they find like provocative photos, alcohol, or bad-mouthing of former employers being frequently cited as a reason for not considering candidates.

With over 250million and counting users on Facebook, it is becoming a bigger and bigger concern about what you post online. Anything you put online is permanent and can be found. This can be said about any other service as well, so as the President said, be careful about what you post!

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