PC Magazine defines social networking sites as a website that provides a virtual community for people interested in a particular subject or just to “hang out” together. In this ever changing and expanding era of social media, I can’t begin to describe the impact that sites like YouTube, Twitter, Pownce, MySpace and Facebook have had on me personally.

In a matter of a couple of months, I’ve been able to build a wonderful community on Twitter that consists of peers, co-workers, friends and acquaintances. No longer are the days where people JUST sit in a chat room and socialize. Just last week, @nealcampbell and @calilewis had a Dallas Twitter social in which I attended. Instantly, I began recognizing people as they walked in the door. It didn’t take long for me to begin thinking “wow, what have we started here?” Check out some of the pictures from our Dallas Twitter hangout here.

Social networking is definitely the future of the web, in my unprofessional opinion. These sites and mediums are no longer just for the geek or just the expert. Anyone and everyone is welcome. If you can’t find a community of similar people on any of these major social networking sites, then you just need to continue looking. I really believe that social networking can be a positive move in the right direction when it comes to lending support (technical, professional, personal) to your fellow neighbor.

So, my awesome blog readers, which social network site is your favorite? I would love to know so please leave a comment below.

This is exactly why I love Twitter. You meet some of the coolest, moxiest people who teach you some really cool things and who share with you some awesome sites. For example, @daynah, the nicest lady I know who has helped me with fixing my website has a wonderful blog called PHP-Princess that you should check out! She’s always writing about the coolest widgets, websites and podcasts.

Her website turned me on to Lab Pixies. I wanted to embed this widget to show you, my readers, what I am talking about. There are several different widgets you can embed directly into your website (blog, MySpace, etc). Just wanted to share.

I’ve been a recruiter, professionally, for 9 years and I’ve recruited everything from Creative Directors to Designers to Information Technology peeps to Finance people. One of the hottest trends in recruiting is the ability to announce job openings on social media sites. The biggest example is Google. Google’s HR recruitment campaign on YouTube went viral in a less than a week. Companies all across the world are beginning to create profiles on MySpace, Facebook and upload videos to YouTube.

So enough about us HR folk. What I want to discuss is how YOU can find a job by using social media.

The hottest social media site, in my opinion, on the ‘net is Twitter. So how can you use Twitter to find a new job? Easily.

If you think of Twitter as the “center of the ‘net” or as the “watercooler of the net,” (these comments coined by Geekbrief’s @calilewis) then you’ll soon realize the potential of Twitter. It’s easy. It’s quick. It’s instantaneous. You can read 40 people’s “what are you doings” in less than a minute, thanks to Twitter’s 140 character response field. If recruiters spend, on average, less than a minute to brief over a resume then recruiters should love Twitter. And we do.

So if more people are beginning to use Twitter, what better avenue to market yourself and your resume! As a recruiter, my team has begun the social media route in finding the top, best talent. The Monster.com’s of the world are, in all honesty, over-populated with resumes. If I’m looking for a designer who has a love for the web and who knows the latest and greatest in advertising as well as social media, would I find that person more quickly on Monster or on a social medium, such as Twitter or Facebook? To me, it makes perfect sense to use social media sites to attract top-notch talent.

We’ve begun advertising our job openings on Twitter, Pownce, Facebook and MySpace because we know that the talent we’re looking for are going to be more involved in these sites rather than they would be on the regular job boards. All you need is your resume and portfolio online and then you can just broadcast your website on Twitter or follow someone you know who is a recruiter (example: www.twitter.com/imc2recruiter).

Most HR departments these days have created their own MySpace and Facebook profiles. They’re there to not only give more presence to their company but to also “add friends” (aka add potential candidates) to their network.

Should you not upload your resume to the job boards? No, I think you should. But you definitely should think outside the box and begin to use social media sites as well to network. Network, network, network.

Watch the video below to see how companies and recruiters are using social media to find YOU.

Thanks to Cali Lewis on Geekbrief.tv, I can finally share to all of my friends why twitter.com is SO addicting and why there is a real purpose in this new social medium. All I can add is to please watch this video below… it will show you why YOU need to be a part of twitter.com!

Feel free to add me on twitter at www.twitter.com/jeffmccord