Paul Harrison, Managing Partner of social media strategy house Carve Consulting keynoted at the SMART Recruiter conference in September 2010, presenting what it means to be a “Social Company” and what this means for employer brands and in house recruiters. This is the presentation looking at everything from Glassdoor.com and employer reviews, to Employee Advocacy and new pure-plays such as BranchOut for Facebook.

Our very own Paul Harrison is putting the finishing touches to his presention for tomorrow’s Social Collective Conference where he will be keynoting on social opportunities for brands in 2011. Paul will be discuss the tools and thinking that will shape how brands and customers use social media in the coming year: from location-based services to crowsourcing in the real world. As usual, Paul will give many interactive examples, and illustrate his points with case studies so attendees get out of the session with a roadmap of actions they can start implementing immediately.

If you haven’t already booked your ticket but want to hear what social media will look like for an enteprise in 2011, here is a another chance to come and join us. And because we’re really nice, we’re giving you a 25% discount code. Book your tickets here and type : essential25 when prompted.

If you can’t get away from your desk, you’ll still be able to follow the day’s proceedings on twitter with the hashtag #SoCol.

As you know,  at Carve we believe that review and ranking platforms  - that already dominate the travel ( think TripAdvisor.com ) and ents / eating ( for example Yelp.com ) sectors - are coming in a big way to every sector you can think of.

Driven by OAuth, opengraph, smart phones,   increased web connectively and so on, soon we wouldn’t think of using a particular state agent, hairdresser ( or consulting firm, natch) without consulting  “the crowd”  ( strangers, think of those trusted TripAdvisor reviews ) and “the entourage in our pocket” ( peers, work colleagues, friends, family ).

One of major sectors in which we work is Corporate Social Recruiting, and I am amazed by how few employers of scale are aware of developments in this area. One of the cutest that plays to my mind is Glassdoor.com based on the “give and get given” concept : if you want to see how much you could earn as an analyst with JP Morgan, you’re asked to outline how much you earn where you work at UBS.  Similarly, if you want to read a review,  you’re asked to write one. And now they’ve launched workplace photos - a strangely compelling view “from the inside”.

So  - one to watch.  Below a cute little embed widget showing reviews / salaries / interview feedback of Carve client Yell.

Following today’s  Mashable article about Facebook Careers app BranchOut, it’s high time we devoted some time to looking at its implications for individuals and employers ( and agencies. )  First, the intro video:

Lovely film launching The New Twitter, which of course we’re all very excited about.

Not been upgraded yet? Login to this app that will DM you the moment Biz Stone gives you the OK. And if you really can’t wait to know all there is to know about it, Tim Bradshaw has just published a review on his FT blog.

Looking forward to co-presenting with Justin Reid of VisitBritain later today on the National Tourism Office’s social media strategy, how its been  implemented, optimised and measured, a programme on which Carve has worked for nearly a year now.

The presentation is to representatives from a wide range of UK attractions, so I think it should be a really interesting day. If you’re at Kings Place today, look forward to meeting you there.

Update: Please find below the presentation we made (twice) yesterday.  Note that all the background images come the talented contributors to VisitBritain’s Love UK Flickr group #LoveUK

Well, the average age of a Twitter user  is 39 years old
The Average Age of LinkedIn User? 44
And the Average Age of Facebook User? 38

This and a bunch of other social media insights on this infographic from the tweeps at Flowtown: click here for the full hi-res version.

What Google is describing as a “fundamental shift” in search, Google instant is now upon us. Check out the video here:

Integrated with Facebook (follow your friends), similar to Twitter (follow Artists), based on the now popular asymetric friendship model (you don”t have to be a follower to get followed and vice-versa) and backed-up by personnalized recommendations (charts/artists/people to follow), Ping is available for desktop iTunes  and will soon be for IPod and IPhone as well.

It seems to be a bit slow for the moment, to lack datas for recommendations as well as artists profiles, but the integration of a sophisticated social network with a digital music service that already has 160 millions customers is definitely something to keep an eye on. Especially if you are MySpace…

But do people really have room for another Social Network ? Let’s wait and see….