What would you say if I told you that there are 27 million slaves in the world today?  What would you think if I told you that although the majority of those slaves are abroad, hundreds of thousands live and work in the United States every year.  What would you do if you could help them?

 Abolition Media was recently formed to create communities of local musicians and artists who use the platform of music, arts, and media to raise awareness and funds to fight modern-day slavery.  They offer an unique solution to solving a global problem, so how can you get involved? How can you play your own part in ending modern day slavery? The question is, what talents have you been blessed with? Let’s start there.  Click Abolition Media: Our Vision to see what their about.

Everyone has different gifts and talents. We all have a stage. For some it’s music. For others, it’s writing or graphic design or sound engineering. But with all our different specialties we are all working together towards the same goal – building a community that uses its gifts and talents to cause meaningful change in the world.  If you’re interested in helping out, email joinabolitionmedia@gmail.com or just go to the website and look around.

And Five Ways to Help Him

You all know him, you all hate him.  He’s the guy who updates his facebook profile every 15 minutes.  She’s the friend-mongerer who befriends anything with two legs.   He’s the one who spends over 50 hours on facebook viewing pictures and posting comments. She’s the girl that sends those stupid “friend’s test” to people who don’t even know her.  He’s the idiot that befriends celebrities.    And she’s the girl that has 3,000 friends and only actually talks to three people. 

So how do you fight these guys?  What can you do to free them from their bonds of facebook.  If you’re interested, here’s five practical bits of advice that you can follow:

1.  Don’t accept their friendship- By “being rude,” you are actually helping them; (also if you have already agreed to be one of their thousand friend, just delete their friendship).

2.  Never take one of those stupid friend’s test, “or click to view an unlocked secret Question, etc.

3.  Never comment on their facebook profile, on any of their pictures, or on their comments.  If no one ever replies to anything that they do, they “virtual presence will disappear.”

4.  Talk to them in person.  This step is going to take a lot of  courage, you’re going to have to get out of your comfort zone and actually talk to them.  WARNING: this could be awkward, some of these people haven’t talked to a real human in days.

5.  Include them in your group of friends and have them delete their facebook account.  This step will also require sacrifice, but I believe that you can do it, if you are really serious about fighting this desease.  And yes they must delete thei facebook account; facebook itself is not bad, but the only way to deal with an opening, festering sore is to amputate. 

Facebook: Everyone uses it. Why not use it to get yourself known? A Facebook profile is a very useful tool for companies, and also for those looking for employment.

Companies who have a website or any knowledge of the internet will usually have a Facebook page. These pages are a perfect medium for companies and people to interact. Companies can post ‘Help Wanted’ flyers or other current news on their page. People looking for employment can easily search for companies in their area that are seeking applications.

My parents co-own four child care centers, and during the hiring process they look up all potential employees (with a little help from me). Facebook profiles are almost always looked at in the application process. Yet, people will put up pictures of their weekend ‘adventures,’ laughing at the fact that they don’t remember any of it. Applicants should keep a clean, professional profile page. I know from experience how fast employers can be turned off from a potential employee as soon as they read the applicants latest Facebook status or see their profile picture.

The bottom line is Facebook should be used whenever possible, whether its promoting your business or showing a company the real you. Just be careful what you post, because the billion monthly Facebook viewers could be looking at the picture you just uploaded.

Companies such as Ernst & Young are utilizing Facebook as a recruiting tool.

Looking for an internship or job? You can search through all of the internship and recruitment websites. Or you can just conveniently visit what is probably your most frequently visited website. Facebook. Companies are now using Facebook as a recruitment website.

As an accounting and finance major, I am in the process of exploring possible accounting internships for this upcoming summer. Curious, I typed “Ernst & Young” into facebook search and found the “Ernst & Young Careers” page. The page features photos of employees and interns participating in different Ernst & Young events. It also has sections for both students and experienced candidates which highlights the firms accomplishments, what a career at Ernst & Young offers, and provides information on how to apply for positions. But the most impressive attribute of the Facebook page is that it allows students to post questions on its wall which Ernst & Young then politely answers.

After more searching, I found that Ernst & Young is not unique in using Facebook as a recruitment tool. Rosetta Stone, Verizon, Microsoft, Taco Bell, and many other companies from a broad array of industries utilize Facebook to recruit. One must wonder if recruiting on Facebook will more fully develop and make other internship and recruitment websites obsolete.

Facebook is the single largest social network on the planet. With well over a billion views per month the possible uses for this tool are incredible. One of the biggest questions asked by business owners in regards to Facebook is as follows, “Is Facebook professional enough to be used as a tool to promote my business?” To be completely honest there is no all-inclusive answer to that question. However, no matter what your business you certainly shouldn’t rule it out as being a valuable marketing asset.

There are a few unique ways to promote your business via Facebook. The two major ways to do so are Groups and Pages. Below is a graph that lays out some feature of both.

Facebook Groups vs. Facebook Pages

(Graph provided by: http://www.allfacebook.com)

To be honest there are very few times when a company would not want to have a Facebook fan page or group. It may not be the most “professional” form of social media, but it may be one of the most effective. Whether a business creates a group or page themselves or it is created by a loyal customer, if it is done right it will help promote the company. As long as the content is favorable towards the business, people will react positively. With that being said, it is certainly safer to create your own page so that you may more easily regulate the content that is added, making sure everything is appropriate and constructive. Even if Facebook isn’t your number 1 form of social media, it certainly could be more beneficial then you think.