KaKoo

T.A. McCann serves as founder and CEO of Gist. His past experience includes Vulcan Capital, Polaris Venture Partners, where he was an entrepreneur-in-residence. Prior to Polaris, he held senior positions at Microsoft.To quote Eric Clapton: “It’s in the way that you use it!”In the constant back-and-forth arguments about Millennials joining the workforce, we’ve heard countless times that managers think social media is a distraction and ultimately a productivity killer in the workplace.In response, the social media community has fought back by saying that these tools actually help them get things done faster, or bring other value to the business. But there have been few substantive conversations about precisely how social media might help you get things done.Beyond Millennials, the “new workforce” is being defined by a work style that blurs personal and professional time. That development has spawned professionals that craftily use social media to get things done. Yes, the initial draw was networking, but as those relationships become more essential to your professional responsibilities, social media becomes an area where you can get a lot of work done too.The trick is to realize that it's not about the tool itself, but your ability to step back and analyze the tool’s real value in helping you accomplish tasks. If you’re not evaluating the way that you’re using social media to get things done, then you’re probably becoming increasingly inefficient because of it.Without further ado, here are a few areas where social media can make you a productivity rock star, if you use it well.

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Scalable Networking

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Ten years ago, “networking” was done in restaurants, bars, on the phone and at conferences. Today the majority of networking occurs online, in tweets, e-mails, LinkedInLinkedIn invites, and more. To put it bluntly, the difference between networking in 1995 and networking today, is about two hours less face time.For instance, you can initiate a relationship with a mere tweet on TwitterTwitter or a comment on a blog post that shares an opinion or compliments someone. The tweet or comment only takes a matter of seconds, and you’re off and running with the start of a new relationship. The other party will remember you, and is beginning to value your opinions.There is a lot of time saved when networking is done online, and the process scales rapidly with today’s tools. You can meet hundreds and thousands of people online, forge relationships in a matter of minutes, and maintain them long-term with much less effort.

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Actionable Information is More Valuable

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Information overload isn’t a new problem, and some folks would argue that Twitter and other tools have only made information overload more of a problem. But the truth is that if you carefully use tools like Twitter, Yahoo Pipes, RSS readers, Google Alerts and bookmarking to discover content that’s pertinent to your job, you can become extraordinarily efficient in finding, consuming and cataloging an enormous amount of information in a very short period of time. The key to staying productive is to distinguish your personal time spent with social media from your professional use of it.Think about financial advisers reviewing stock information, market trends and news on important companies. Imagine their advantage if they were to systematize their information discovery through social media and better leverage communities like StockTwits. They would find content that is recommended by trusted friends and professionals in real-time, rather than relying solely on proprietary finance software and what surfaces on GoogleGoogle.And it’s not just about finding the information; it’s about finding actionable information. Google alone doesn’t always reveal actionable information -- only relevant links. But real people participating in social media surface incredible amounts of actionable information, with limited barriers to acting upon it quickly.The recent phantom crash on Wall Street was initiated by a series of minor errors in a matter of seconds. Trades were happening in milliseconds, but news coverage scrambled to catch up to what was going on. Imagine if your adviser was tapped into real-time feeds to stay ahead of the game.The application of this concept is obvious for any employee in the services world. Knowledge is everything, and social media used properly, is a tool to find, consume and act upon the most relevant, reliable information on the web in real-time.

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Social Data Means Collaborative Freedom

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One of the challenging things about collaboration is that while in theory it’s a huge productivity booster, it’s equally as likely to be a productivity killer when abused. Collaboration is also closely associated to the tools and applications built to support it. So if you’re collaborating with a group, and some people don’t like or simply can’t get the hang of a tool, then it’s a huge problem.That being said, the beauty of modern social media and embedded social functionality in applications is that they are built for easy data portability -- the message doesn't always have to be tied to the medium. Twitter and FacebookFacebook feeds can be dumped into an entirely different application that’s more suited for your personal taste and work flow.Twitter and YammerYammer clients might be the very best example of this. Anyone can use the service without having to live with an application that doesn’t suit their tastes and needs. In another sense, FriendFeedFriendFeed was quite successful at tying together almost infinite services and displaying them in one easy to use location.In a world where collaboration is most often supported by some type of software, social media can provide the functionality to make sure that everyone can be productive while using the tool that works best for them.

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It's Not What You Use, but How You Use It

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As with any tool, there are benefits and there are drawbacks. But the question isn’t about the tool. It’s about you.Map out the various social media apps and tools that you use in your daily work life and rank them in order of importance to you. If you could only keep one of them, which would it be and why? Ask yourself which tool helps you accomplish the widest variety of tasks on a regular basis. Is that the same tool as the one you couldn’t live without?I’m willing to bet that after doing this, most people would find that their “can’t live without” tool is not necessarily a tool that helps them accomplish the widest variety of tasks, but it’s incredibly important to their single, top-priority task.Social media has more potential distractions than your inbox, and that can become a huge problem if you’re not taking a step back to analyze and optimize your social media work flow to be productive.Take the time to see the forest for the trees, analyze how you’re using these tools, and make the most of it. Social media can be a double-edged sword, and it’s up to the user to determine how it all plays out.Disclosure: Gist is a sponsor of MashableMashable

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More Productivity Resources from Mashable:

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- 5 Ways to Reduce Social Media Distractions and Be More Productive - HOW TO: Improve B2B Sales Productivity with Social Media - 5 iPhone Apps to Boost Productivity - HOW TO: Give Your Inbox a Master Cleanse - 4 Steps for Managing Social Media Attention

Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, borisyankov

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Twitter has begun testing User Streams, a new Streaming API that will finally give Twitter desktop apps real-time capabilities and streams.According to Twitter Developer Advocate Taylor Singletary, Users Streams is now in "a limited testing period for desktop clients." This is the first time that the User Streams API has been in the wild since its launch at Twitter's Chirp conference.The Twitter Streaming API gives desktop apps the ability to auto-update with new events as soon as they happen. It covers not only real-time TwitterTwitter updates, but retweets, direct messages, mentions, favorites, following and search. We saw the demo of this feature at Chirp back in April, and it certainly made TweetDeck and other desktop apps a lot more useful.The second part of Twitter's announcement focuses on TweetDeckTweetDeck and EchofonEchofon: They will be the first apps to test the new User Streams feature. However, "more desktop applications will follow with their own testing period shortly," Singletary said.There was one more gem in the announcement, though: a new Streaming API product called Site Streams. It will give developers the ability to consume and serve multiple user streams simultaneously. The company says that there will be releasing more information on Site Streams soon.

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Facebook has begun the rollout of a new feature, Facebook Questions, which will allow users to get answers to their queries from the entire Facebook community.Similar in concept to Yahoo! Answers, Quora and Mahalo, Facebook Questions gives users the opportunity to ask questions just by clicking the "Ask Question" button on the homepage. Questions is also available on friends' profiles just as you would post on someone's wall.We first learned of Facebook's Q&A feature two months ago, when the company started asking for volunteers to beta test the product. The world's largest social network even went so far as to promise beta testers a trip to Facebook's offices to meet with the Q&A team.I had the chance earlier today to discuss the new feature with several Facebook employees. Questions has several defining features:

• Photo questions: For example, if you take a picture of a bird, but don't know what species it is, you can post the picture on Facebook Questions and get your answer.
• Polling: If you're simply looking for the answer to Which city is better: Chicago or Dallas?, you can get your answer by creating a poll.
• Tagging: The company seems to be placing a lot of emphasis on tagging questions based on category or topic. The goal seems to be to make Q&A discovery an easier and faster process by making it simple to look up questions on cooking, photography, San Francisco or a variety of other topics.
• Topic exploration: Facebook described this as a roulette-type feature that allows users to browse Facebook's eventual mountain of Q&A. Under the "Questions about" drop-down menu, there's a feature called "Everything" that allows users to browse the company's catalog of questions.
• Following: You can follow specific questions for updates and new answers.
• Updated homepage: Facebook Questions does actually change the homepage, adding a new bar at the top of the page where you can choose to update your status, ask a question, add photos, or post a link.

There was one more thing that FacebookFacebook made clear to me: Facebook Questions is not an advertising product. While brands with Facebook Pages will eventually be able to answer questions, it's not meant to be a promotional platform; it's meant to be a useful and insightful product for users.Facebook Questions will roll out to a limited group of beta testers today, but the company promises to "bring this product to all of you as quickly as we can." The entire feature is public, so we don't suggest posting those awkward bedroom questions on Facebook.Will Facebook Questions prove to be more useful than Quora or even TwitterTwitter as a Q&A platform? We think so, if only because it the biggest advantage of them all: 500 million users.

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More women than men across the world visit social networking sites and spend 30% more time per month using them. As such, in the "Women on the Web: How Women are Shaping the InternetInternet" report, comScore concludes that women are the digital mainstream, a group of savvy Internet explorers who are more engaged than their male counterparts, and are the primary drivers of online and group buying.comScore analyzed the Internet behaviors of women everywhere and found that while women make up a little less than half of the global online population (46%), their online behaviors drastically distinguish them from male Internet users.The detailed report, available for download, delves into everything from women's entertainment predilections (they really like puzzle games) to search behaviors, mobile preferences to video-viewing activities (they watch a lot of YouTubeYouTube). What follows is a closer examination of their social media and online retail activities.

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Women and Social Media

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On average, women spend more time online per month, 24.8 hours compared to 22.9 hours for men. But, when it comes to the social web, there's an even bigger rift between the sexes."Nearly 56 percent of adult women say they use the Internet to stay in touch with people, compared to 46 percent of adult men," according to the report. comScore pinpoints higher activity levels in social categories such as social networking, instant messenger and e-mail.Those behaviors equate to women spending an average of 16.3% of their online time per month on social networks, a percentage that continues to rise month-to-month. Men spend just 11.7% of their time on the same activities.Interestingly enough, comScore identifies middle-aged women, 45 plus, as the group most responsible for growth in social networking site usage. Fifteen to 24-year-olds, however, are the heaviest users and have the greatest reach. When it comes to FacebookFacebook in particular, the younger crowd use that site more than 350 minutes per month on average. That data seems to line up with an Oxygen Media study showing that more than a third of young women check Facebook first thing in the morning.In terms of country breakdowns, 9 out of 10 North American women visit social networking sites, making them the group with the highest reach. Latin American and European women are practically equals in this category, with 83.6% and 83.4% social networking participation respectively.

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Women and Twitter

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comScore found that Twitter's reach is only marginally higher among women than among men. Women also outpace men in the adoption of TwitterTwitter, but only marginally as well.The slight differences between the sexes doesn't accurately highlight the actual disparity in how the two sexes use the microblogging platform.In a U.S. consumer survey conducted in April 2010, comScore asked men and women how they use Twitter. Responses demonstrate that women use Twitter more for finding deals, following celebrities and their own self-defined purposes than to post tweets or read tweets from the people they follow.

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Women and Retail

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Men and women visit retail sites in practically equal amounts, but women spend 20% more time on those sites. That time equates to more money spent in most retail categories, as women buy more frequently than men do.Women spend significantly more money on apparel and accessories, with their dollars accounting for 71% of all dollars spent in that category in the U.S. for February. They also spend more on books and music, toys, and even video games and consoles.comScore concludes that women are also driving growth on group-buying sites. They compromise a majority of the U.S. audiences on both Groupon (62%) and LivingSocial (67%). Women also make up 67% of the visitors to Gilt Groupe's flash sale site.What do you find particularly interesting about the findings?

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When SCVNGR CEO and founder Seth Priebatsch dropped out of Princeton to pursue his startup full time, he spent the first year of operations going after enterprise clientele. Thursday, those behind-the-scenes efforts will culminate in a significant release that introduces a rewards element to game play.At launch, 1,000 locations across the U.S. will begin rewarding SCVNGR users with freebies or discounts for completing custom-designed challenges at their venues.Alternative shoe retailer Journeys is the biggest brand participating at launch and will be offering $10 off to shoppers at stores nationwide. Customers can complete six-second challenges inside stores, such as snapping a photo of their favorite skater shoes, to accrue the 35 points required to earn the $10 off coupon.In case you're still new to SCVNGR, as most people are, the location-based app is designed to serve as a game layer for the real world. It's backed by GoogleGoogle and occupies a similar space as FoursquareFoursquare and GowallaGowalla, though it focuses heavily on challenges over checkins and has only just begun its consumer outreach.

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SCVNGR Rewards

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While SCVNGR rewards may sound like merely an add-on to the location-based game, the rewards program is quite sophisticated in nature and one that allows businesses to reward customers with whatever they choose based on progressive behaviors. It's designed to be more business- and consumer-friendly than Foursquare specials, as rewards can be redeemed by anyone who earns enough points to satisfy the business-concocted challenges. It's also designed to be a bit more cheater-proof.Businesses decide how many rewards to offer at their locations, how many points customers will need to earn to unlock a reward and whether or not that reward can be redeemed again. Businesses can also set expiration dates on rewards should they so choose.Customers earn points for the challenges they complete -- checkins, social checkins, posting a photo etc. Players can see a list of nearby businesses offering rewards and can use the app to target which reward, say a free coffee at their local coffee shop, to go after at a particular venue.Players can only attempt to complete one reward at a time. Progress per reward is charted with a green bar below the reward; players need to move the green bar all the way across to complete and earn the reward. Once they do, they're presented with a tamper-proof reward screen they can show the retailer to redeem the prize.

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Create-Your-Own Rewards Program

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The new version of the app is available now, but the rewards program will go live tomorrow morning.Thursday's big launch involves businesses that SCVNGR has been working with behind the scenes, but eventually any business owner will be able to dream up and manage their own rewards. The first 50 businesses in the first 10 markets will get to use SCVNGR rewards free of charge. For latecomers, the startup will eventually charge $500 to $1,000 per year for a rewards pack for local businesses.Starting August 15, Boston (SCVNGR's hometown) and Philadelphia will be the first cities where businesses can get in on the create-your-own rewards action. Eventually SCVNGR will hit all markets with the do-it-yourself program, but San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Houston, San Diego, Seattle, Denver and Detroit will be first to follow the first two cities.

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Decals, Table Tents and Coasters, Oh My!

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Local businesses who participate and create their own rewards will also greatly benefit by the promotional freebies that SCVNGR will send their way to help them hawk their rewards.The startup is using its Google money to send each business a bevy of physical marketing materials, including QR code business stickers (its version of decals and window clings), table tents, coasters, coffee-sleeves, signs, and "anything that they would want to use to get people playing SCVNGR and engaging with their locations," says Priebatsch.It's an aggressive tactic and smart ploy that will go a long way to help make SCVNGR more visible than its more seasoned competitors.[img credit: jking89]

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If you're seeking a job in social media, we'd like to help out. For starters, Mashable'sMashable Job Lists section gathers together all of our resource lists, how-tos and expert guides to help you get hired. In particular, you might want to see our articles on How to Leverage Social Media for Career Success and How to Find a Job on Twitter.But we'd like to help in a more direct way, too. Mashable’s job boards are a place for socially savvy companies to find people like you. This week and every week, Mashable features its coveted job board listings for a variety of positions in the web, social media space and beyond. Have a look at what’s good and new on our job boards:

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Mashable Job Board Listings

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PHP Developer at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

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Vice President of Platform Engineering at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

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Senior Database Administrator at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Performance Test Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Digital Content Officer at Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment in London, UK.

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Web Application/QA Developer at BFG Interactive in Hilton Head Island, SC.

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Multimedia Associate at Spence-Chapin Services to Children and Families in New York, NY.

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Senior Software Engineer at Sumo Logic in Mountain View, CA.

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Senior PHP Developer at Languagemate in New York, NY.

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Director, Online Communications at United Nations Foundation in Washington, D.C.

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Director, Interactive Marketing at Digitas in New York, NY.

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Senior PHP/LAMP Developer at VivaKi in New York, NY.

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Director, Brand Relations at VivaKi in New York, NY.

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Manager, Online Marketing at Music Choice in New York, NY.

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Social Media Executive at Samaritan Purse International in London, UK.

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YouTube Channel Developer and Marketing Specialist at ADA Sport Inc. in Los Angeles, CA.

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Vice President (Digital) at Emanate in New York, NY.

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Social Media (iPhone) Developer at IGN Entertainment in San Francisco, CA.

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Social Media Specialist at Experian Consumer Direct in Irvine, CA.

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Director, Lead Producer at Digitas in Philadelphia, PA.

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Director of Business Development, Search at Media Whiz in New York, NY.

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Website Managing Editor at St. Michael's Hospital in Toronto, Canada.

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Assistant Interactive Strategist at Oxford Communications in Lambertville, NJ.

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Web Production Manager at Targus in Anaheim, CA.

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Interactive Content Manager & Editor at WeAreTeachers in Austin, TX.

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Social Media/PR Specialist at Mintz & Hoke Communications Group in Avon, CT.

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Business Development Manager at PeopleBrowsr in Palo Alto, CA.

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Assistant Director of Employee Communications at NCAA in Indianapolis, IN.

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Web Project Manager/Developer at Zulu Creative in Houston, TX.

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Deputy Communications Director at Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America in New York, NY.

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Communications/PR Intern at BlogTalkRadio in New York, NY.

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Editorial Intern at BlogTalkRadio in New York, NY.

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Senior Storage Administrator at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

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PHP Developer at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

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Product Development Manager, Email at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Sr. Copywriter at Digitas in Philadelphia, PA.

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Product Development Manager, Email at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Engineering Manager at Synacor in Los Angeles, CA.

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Engineering Manager at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Director of Technical Operations at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Product Manager, Entitlements at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Director of Engineering at Synacor in Los Angeles, NY.

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Director of Engineering at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Senior Engineer at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Senior Systems Administrator at Synacor in Buffalo, NY.

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Mashable's Job Board has a variety of web 2.0, application development, business development and social networking job opportunities available. Check them out at here.

Got a job posting to share with our readers? Post a job to Mashable today ($99 for a 30 day listing) and get it highlighted every week on Mashable.com (in addition to exposure all day every day in the Mashable marketplace).Image courtesy of iStockphotoiStockphoto, YinYang

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Ivy Bean, who was widely considered to be the oldest Twitter user, died in her care home in a small town in England at the age of 104.The news was published on Bean's Twitter account, @IvyBean104, which regularly informed followers about Bean's deteriorating condition over the last couple of days."Ivy passed away peacefully at 12.08 this morning... Im sorry it took me so long to tell you but it was a very difficult thing to do," the tweets said.Bean was a popular Twitter user with more than 56,000 followers at the time of her death, as well as a fairly active one, with more than 1,000 tweets. As one might expect, Bean was also an avid FacebookFacebook user; she joined at the age of 102.Mrs. Bean's example showed that social media truly knows no boundaries, and that tools such as TwitterTwitter and Facebook are open to everyone who wants to participate. We'll miss you, Ivy.

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Welcome to this morning's edition of "First To Know," a series in which we keep you in the know on what's happening in the digital world today. We're keeping our eyes on four particular stories of interest today.Location-Based Apps Used by Only 4% of U.S. Online AdultsLocation-based marketing has been all the rage lately, yet a recent report from marketing firm Forrester reveals that -- although growing -- only 4% of online adults use any kind of location-based service in the U.S., and a mere 1% check in using one of these services at least once per week. By contrast, more than 11% of online adults have used TwitterTwitter, and an estimated 28% have signed up for FacebookFacebook.Nevertheless, the study found that location-based marketing is a great way to target 19- to 35-year-old college-educated males who are influential among their friends and family.LinkedIn May Now Be Worth More Than $2 BillionLinkedInLinkedIn may now be worth more than $2 billion, a new report suggests. Hedge fund Tiger Global Management recently acquired a one percent stake in the business social network for $20 million.Social Media Use Growing Rapidly in the UKAn Ireland-based PR and social media firm has put out a video revealing some interesting stats about social media usage in the UK: 85% of the population is online; 64% have their own profiles on a social network, spending more than six hours on these networks every month; and nearly 60% of them read blogs.Oldest Twitter User DiesIvy Bean, reputedly the oldest Twitter user in the world, has died at the age of 104.Before her death, the great grandmother had attracted more than 55,000 followers on Twitter, whom she tweeted to about her favorite TV shows, the weather and the activities of the care home she resided in.Further NewsIn other news, Amazon and Facebook have teamed up to improve the former's recommendation engine, among other things; new scams are spreading on Facebook; Old Spice's YouTube campaign has roughly doubled sales of the company's body wash products; and the Pirate Party is offering servers and hosting to Wikileaks following the release of secret documents related to the war between the U.S. and the Taliban in Afghanistan.

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Series supported by HTC EVO 4G

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This series is brought to you by HTC EVO 4G, America's first 4G phone. Only from Sprint. The "First to Know" series keeps you in the know on what's happening now in the world of social media and technology.

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Several new Facebook scams are making the rounds today, and although they follow the same pattern as many of the recent scams we've seen, some users are still falling for them.The scams work as follows: First, you'll see an interesting link in other users' status updates, but when you follow the link, you'll be asked to fill out a number of surveys, which are nothing more than ploys to extract your personal data.Today, we've seen two very similar scams, both promising a "shocking video" to unsuspecting users. One message that appears in status updates reads: "I am shocked!!! I'm NEVER texting AGAIN since I found this out. Videovideo here: http://bit.ly/c4SDyh - Worldwide scandal!"If you click on the link in the message, it'll lead you to a rogue FacebookFacebook application, which will ask you to fill in a couple of surveys before you can actually see the promised content.Another message promises a shocking video of a teacher that nearly killed a boy; clicking on the link in the status update will, once again, only force you to jump through hoops and hand over your personal data in the process. Graham Cluley from Sophos does a great job explaining the attack in the video below.Our advice, as always, is not to click on suspicious links if you're not absolutely sure they're safe. Do not give away your personal info. If you’ve fallen for these (or similar) scams, remove the offending app(s) from your Facebook, and remove the related status message from your newsfeed.

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The social media and networking phenomenon is growing extremely fast in the UK. Eighty-five percent of the population is online; they spend more than six hours on social media sites every month, nearly 60% of them read blogs and 64% have their own profile on a social network.The numbers come from Simply Zesty, an Ireland-based online PR and social media firm that has put together a nifty video with many interesting social media-related figures.The facts and numbers in the video are based on UK's online population, but many of them ring true for most parts of the online world. Check it out below.

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