Spring semester is in full swing for college students around the world and the Class of 2014 will be entering the job market in mere months. Unemployment rates are still scary at 6.7% but there are ways to improve the likelihood of landing an interview. If you are planning to enter the job market in the coming months, here’s how to position yourself on LinkedIn:

Create a profile.

Use a permanent personal email account. You can add your work or school email after you’ve set up your profile. LinkedIn will suggest you import your email contacts each time you add an email address. Be aware if you do import your contacts, LinkedIn may send them a connection request. This can be a problem if you do not update your contact list. It’s better to connect with people on an individual basis rather than en masse.

Upload a headshot.

A picture is worth a thousand words and yours should express your personality while appealing to employers in your industry. You can improve your personal brand by using the same picture across your social media accounts. Your Twitter account with thoughtful posts about industry trends can confirm to potential employers that they’ve found the right person.

Craft an SEO-approved headline. 

LinkedIn gives you 120 characters to sell yourself. Use that space to squeeze in some industry keywords. Are you actively seeking employment? Consider starting your headline with “Seeking Employment As [Insert Job Title].”Now that you have started setting up your LinkedIn profile, adjust your privacy settings. Turn off broadcast of your activity while making frequent changes to your profile. You can turn this feature on again when you are ready to announce new positions or skills.

Explain your personal brand in the Summary.

Use this space to introduce yourself to future employers or clients. You have 2,000 characters to present your story. Keep it professional and remember to use keywords common to your desired profession.

Add current and previous positions.

LinkedIn allows you to add as much of your work history as you desire. Focus on the jobs you enjoyed most and the ones that showcase skills you want to utilize in the future.

Now you’re ready to start adding connections. Not sure how to build a strong network? Check back for Part 2: Building a Solid LinkedIn Network.

Could MMORPG players save the world through social networking? Check out this story by Cat Miller from Dice TV.

Practice Gaming, Help Civilization (via Dice News in Tech)

In times of crisis, social media usage skyrockets. And while many of the posts are merely complaints about being inconvenienced, some contain information that could be useful to first responders. Unfortunately, due to the massive volume of posts, much…

With over 750 million users worldwide, online companies are taking aim at Facebook to fight for consumers’ time and advertising dollars, but Facebook doesn’t plan on backing down anytime soon. Amidst the notable launch of Google+, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced last week that Facebook would be launching “something awesome” this week during a press conference for media members. The news event will take place tomorrow at Facebook’s headquarters located in Palo Alto, California.

While touring the company’s 40-person engineering campus in Seattle, Zuckerberg said that the announcement would be about something that was developed there at the site – which plays a major role in the mobile arena for Facebook. Although there are numerous rumors regarding the announcement, it is speculated that the company will either be launching the long-anticipated Apple iPad app or new features such as a photo-sharing app and video-chat powered by Skype. The two well-known brands, Facebook and Skype, have already entered into a partnership that integrates the social media outlet with clients for Skype. When Skype was purchased by Microsoft in May, the connection between Facebook and Skype became even more entrenched, as Microsoft bought a $240 million piece of the Facebook pie in 2007.

Facebook has taken its own steps in trying to make any transition to Google+ more difficult by blocking Facebook Friend Exporter, a Google Chrome extension that let’s users extract contact information their friends have shared with them via Facebook and import them elsewhere. After Google+ was announced last week, one of the first to create an account was Mark Zuckerberg – who ironically has the most followers… even more than Google CEO Larry Page.

Photo by Doug Gross via CNN

Facebook has taken the world by storm. As we all know by now, Facebook was started in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg and several of his Harvard peers and roommates. While membership was initially restricted to students attending Harvard University, the social networking site became an immediate success and quickly expanded to other colleges, universities, high schools, and eventually, membership became available to anyone over the age of 13 with a valid e-mail address. And, as they say, the rest is history.

With over 500 million users visiting Facebook on a monthly basis, Mark Zuckerberg has built an empire that has a tremendous global reach, as can be seen in the picture above. At first glance, the photo may seem like a standard outline of the world, but take a closer look and you will begin to see the huge impact that Facebook has had on our generation.

Paul Butler, the creator of the above image which is based on visualized data, was “interested in seeing how geography and political borders affected where people lived relative to their friends. [He] wanted a visualization that would show which cities had a lot of friendships between them.” Each link represents a connection, a connection that goes beyond continents, countries, and cities. Each connection goes beyond governments and municipalities. In the end, the plots of data are people, like you and I, and the lines represent real human relationships.

While people and companies may complain that Facebook has become a giant distraction or waste of time, there is an inherent social value that is not easily seen: The connections that are made can change lives. Earlier this month, a plea was made on Facebook by a woman watching the man she loved suffering through the pain of kidney failure. Out of desperation, she posted – and prayed – for a type O Kidney donor to “fall from the sky.” Almost instantly, a Facebook friend responded to her post and answered her prayer.

Although there are many stories like this that are often left untold, it must be stated that social media has become quite an extraordinary force. A force that is strong enough to power revolutions in Tunisia and Egypt, a force that can connect people thousands of miles away, and even more touching – a force that can save a life.

Photo by Paul Butler via Facebook