Jim Hughes

1:45:16 PM: Nice lunch with some of my old Texaco buddies! We ended up talking about some of the places in West Texas where our families grew up.

1:59:19 PM: //ETL// Ending Twitter Live Blogging test

2:01:26 PM: @eschipul Sorry to learn of the loss of your friend. #HeWillBeMissed #aaf

2:03:32 PM: @CosmoPolitician Sorry about the layoffs. That stuff’s really been on my heart lately. It just hurts.

2:48:11 PM: I am listening to the Chaplain Virgil Fry Shares Why He Does What He Does show on BlogTalkRadio – http://tobtr.com/s/443922

3:20:21 PM: About to head off to take my dad to dinner with my niece. Should be a good time!

6:55:29 AM: Thoughts on @tw3nty3ight describing what the early days of grief are like after losing his young son: http://difficultseasons.com/u/79

7:03:16 AM: Apparently someone has been having a lot of fun at slideshare by sending out emails about being slideshare rockstars. Site’s now broken.

7:06:22 AM: Morning folks! Just heading back for another cup of coffee. Get one for you?

7:26:47 AM: @tw3nty3ight Blogged about one of your Twitter posts: http://difficultseasons.com/u/79.

7:28:18 AM: @tw3nty3ight Interestingly, one of my followers has a friend who lost a daughter in a similar way, so she shared your site with him.

7:30:05 AM: @tw3nty3ight @Caregiving: My friend says: Time alone doesn’t heal. It’s what you do with the time that heals. Helping is healing for him.

12:33:12 PM: Attending ribbon cutting for new First Colony Church of Christ worship center.

12:35:52 PM: So AT&T data network is down in Sugar Land and Mo. City? Again?

5:00:14 PM: In case you missed this post on the early days of grief: http://difficultseasons.com/u/79

5:47:17 PM: Attending Uplift and sneak peak at new First Colony Church of Christ worship center. #fb

8:57:28 PM: I thought Magpie was long gone, but got a follower recently who is using it. I really don’t want commercials…

7:04:39 AM: Morning, folks! Weather here’s rainy and blustery. I love rainy mornings! How’s your barometer?

7:15:05 AM: Some stories I can’t tell… http://difficultseasons.com/u/80

2:09:57 PM: Just finished a great session with a NPO new to social media.

3:43:24 PM: http://twitpic.com/2qicx – This just proves how hard the Houston wind is blowing!

4:48:24 PM: Interesting that yesterday’s blog post is still getting lots of hits (for me) from Twitter: http://difficultseasons.com/u/79

7:34:42 AM: Do you really know what a chaplain does? You might be surprised! http://difficultseasons.com/u/81

7:36:50 AM: Morning folks! Wonderful morning, with a high clear sky and the birds a singing. Just know it’s gonna be a great day! #fb

Have you ever been somewhere taking some photos with your iPhone and wished you could put together and publish a little photo story to your Facebook page instead of just loading up a bunch of photos?  Then you’re in luck.

Whrrl 2.0 is a photo storytelling application that uses Facebook Connect to publish your story on Facebook and can also publish to Twitter.  Full functionality to view and edit stories is on the web application, but you can create the story using photos and comments with the Whrrl 2.o free iPhone app or by using SMS on other cell phones.

Every story begins with a location and ends when you leave that location.  So you check into a location and then begin taking photos and adding comments.  Friends can see your story unfold in real time, and can even join your story.  While you can publish the story from the phone, the story will be better if you use the web application to edit the story and then publish it.

First impressions?

• I think it’s something I’ll use and enjoy.  It’s a great idea for those of us who love to take photos with our cameras and would like to be able to tell the story that goes with them.
• It’s not as intuitive to use as I’d like, either for operation or for contacts.
• You can’t edit the story on the iPhone, which it would be nice to be able to do.
• While I understand the strategy behind being location-based, a lot of the stories I would like to do are location independent.  It would be nice to have an option to do a location-independent story.  I’ll make up some of my own places to be able to do this, but I just wish it were a built-in option.

Give it a try, particularly if you have an iPhone and use Facebook or Twitter.  I think you’ll like it.

Facebook can be an effective tool in your job search, especially if you have an established presence.  That’s because social networking, whether you do it face-to-face, on the phone, or using computers, is one of the most successful job-finding strategies.

Here are five things you should be doing on Facebook:

1. Be active, and nourish the relationships you have on Facebook.  Write comments, ask questions, “like” others’ entries.
2. Work to expand your Facebook network.  Adding to your network gives you a higher chance of finding that person who is going to be able to help you make just the right contact.
3. Make sure your profile is up-to-date and contains easy-to-find information on what kind of job you’re looking for.
4. Update once a day about what you did that day to further your job search.  Use this both to keep others in the loop and as an accountability thing for yourself.
5. Ask for specific help.  “I need a contact in ABC company.  Can you help me?”  “I need help getting my resume into the hands of a live person at ABC company.  Can you help me?”  Your friends can’t help you unless they know what you need.

I’m hanging out a new shingle:  Social Media Consulting.  The shingle’s new, but as you’ll see if you read the About Jim page, it really just represents working with social media as a solo entrepreneur rather than doing so for a major company.

For my Twitter friends, where sort of the running joke is the new person claiming to be a social media guru, expert, or maven, I make none of those claims.  I do however, have experience and insight gained from over 25 years of working with digital media ranging from mainframe Notes software to the newest Web 2.0 tools to build networks and create content to influence, inform, engage, and sometimes entertain a community of folks.

I’m passionate about engaging people by creating content and interacting with the community.  And I’m equally passionate about helping organizations and other individuals use social media effectively.  So I’m back in the business.