It’s easy to slap the digital prefix on to any job title and assume the rules are more or less the same. But digital PR means living online and basically trying to stay ahead of the Internet.

There are a lot of tasks to juggle and it requires a special type of person. Digital PR requires social grace and the ability to think on your feet. You need to be able to develop brands, promote them across dozens of channels, and reach out to hundreds of reporters and bloggers. We spoke to some of the most innovative leaders in the industry and asked them for a few tips on how aspiring digital PR pros can land a job and break into the biz.

Education and Internships

PR may seem glamorous, but there is a lot of hard work, strategy and education that goes along with becoming a top player in the PR world. It’s a given that today’s PR program include digital and social media components, but what you learn in the classroom today could be outdated by the time you graduate. If you are still in school and dreaming of a career in digital PR, it helps to diversify your classes.

Sarah Evans, owner of Sevans Strategy, a public relations and new media consultancy, and self-described “social media freak,” suggests that current students enroll in an bachelor’s degree in communications, take any and all classes related to new media, and try to grab as many intern opportunities as possible where the role you want exists. “Create a professional portfolio to document your experience. Future employees will love it. Call, email or tweet someone with your ‘future job’ and interview them about it,” she suggests.

Likewise, Dave Levy, a senior account executive at Edelman Digital, advises PR hopefuls to take writing classes, and anything that focuses on digital. Levy said that one of the best classes he ever took was in “innovation management,” which was more about understanding the changes of the business world. “You can take a class on how to use Twitter or Facebook, but soon there will be something else to come along and replace it. So understanding technology shifts can give you some insight to how things may change. It’s about forward thinking, but understanding the history of how it happened can be a big help.”

Levy also stresses the importance of doing internships in the industry. “There are many students right out of college or grad school who have the skill set to jump into a job, but aren’t ready for the pacing or the work environment, and you want to get to know the industry.” To jump right into a job could mean making mistakes, and it’s better to make those mistakes during an internship that’s more of an educational experience.

But it’s not always about where you’ve gone to school or how many internships you can list on your resume. Chris Perry, president of digital communications at Weber Shandwick, says that landing a job in the field today is less dependent on pedigree and more about what candidates are doing. “It’s about their DNA structure and curiosity, more than an Ivy League education to a certain degree. There is a far less structured approach than we’ve had in place when trying to find traditional talent.”

Read Up, Meet Up and Tweet Up

Nowadays everyone considers themselves a digital expert. Sure you might have social accounts across the board, but it’s what you do with them that matters, not how many you can acquire.

Levy says that you need to immerse yourself in the industry you want to break into, so hopefuls should read everything. Being well-read is a competitive advantage, he says. Asking “what do you read, is a great interview question.”

Levy says interviewers can learn a lot about candidates this way. “If you read constantly, and you can discover one new blog a day and be able to talk about why it’s interesting, then that’s great. It means that you’ll have something to share, and it shows that you want to be involved.”

And don’t get too comfortable with the things you think you already know. “Always be willing to embrace innovation,” he says. “Don’t settle down because you understand Twitter, because something else is going to come along and you are going to have to think on your feet.”

Likewise, Jason Winocour, social and digital media practice leader at Hunter PR, says that job hopefuls need to be reading key industry sites every day and keeping up on what is going on in the industry even if they aren’t in it quite yet.

“Sprinkle your knowledge of cases studies throughout your interview. Everyone thinks they are an expert, but someone who can really talk the talk, and knows day to day what is happening on social media news sites, establishes credibility.”

Even if you aren’t an “expert,” show that you want to become one. Evans says that a genuine curiosity about all things new media is a plus, and that she is more likely to hire (and has hired) candidates with the passion for the job but not all the technical skills.

Perry agrees that passion is really what PR companies want when they hire. “When we look at portfolios, we like to see how they connect around a particular interest,” he says, “If they are a giant music geek and they have a blog and have built a reputation as a prominent music blogger, that is the type of thing we want to see.”

Perry says he’s less impressed with the focus on building a personal online brand, and says that the number of followers or friends you have is overrated and not actually helpful to clients. What is valuable and helpful, however, is simply common social sense. “We want people who are organizing meet-ups or tweet-ups, for whatever their specific interests are, be it sports or crafts. Taking a leadership role in a specific interest is appealing to us. It shows that they have relevant experiences, that they advocate for something rather than just being the thousandth person to retweet another link.”

Be Creative

With hundreds of thousands of hopefuls vying for the same positions you need to stand out from the crowd. Easier said than done, but a talented PR person knows how to get the right attention.

“Use an online tool like a blog or website to share insight or offer commentary on digital PR. Create a permanent ‘workshop’ blog dedicated to what you would do for specific brands and companies if you were part of their digital PR team. When it comes time for an interview you’ll have great content to share, with specific examples,” says Evans.

Creativity definitely plays a part in landing a job; in fact, it’s a requirement. “It’s important to be creative, in the same way that you use the digital space. Expertise coupled with creativity goes a long way,” says Winocour.

He offered up Alec Brownstein as an example of how being clever can get you noticed. Brownstein had the brilliant plan to set up an ad so that when top ad execs Googled themselves, the first result they got was a message from him asking for a job, along with a link to his resume. It was creative, and it showed off skills that he’d be using on the job.

Winocour says it would be a great idea to do a social media audit of the company you are applying to; audit in terms of SEO, for tonality of messaging and mentions, but he warns not to offer too many concrete suggestions. “We know what we are doing and we are on top of that, but it looks great to have an outsider perspective and it shows they took the time to really research and care.”

One thing to keep in mind, however, says Levy, is that applicants shouldn’t over prep for the interview. The person interviewing you knows the Google results better than you do, so make sure you aren’t just listing off Google factoids. “Go in there and be honest. You aren’t going to find the answer that is going to get you the job a half hour before the interview.”

Show that you know how to apply what you’ve learned not just that you know how to perform a Google search. “Top results are at the top because a lot of other people have seen it too, think about that,” reminds Levy.

Know Where to Draw The Line

While you may think you need to reach out and promote yourself to your would-be employer, understand that there are boundaries even on the Internet, and there is etiquette you should follow. You wouldn’t cold call an exec and ask if they have any job openings and the same logic applies online. While many companies will post job opportunities on Twitter, and that is definitely your cue to reach out, other platforms are not as appropriate.

“If someone is looking for a job and I don’t already have a relationship with them, or we’ve only met in passing, and tries to add me on LinkedIn — a cold LinkedIn request — that’s a little pushy,” says Winocour.

Pushy isn’t another word for determined, so be careful when trying to connect. You might think you are being social media savvy, but it could backfire as well. “I wouldn’t just friend someone on Facebook,” says Levy, “It might not be the right person, and if you reach out to the wrong person it could really throw your job search off.” Instead, he says, reach out to recruiters, who want to hear from you, especially if you have the skills they are looking for. “Reach out to recruiters, if you can identify who they are, it shows you know how to research and identify things, which is what we expect from interns and entry- to mid-level staff. We want to see that you recognize influence and who the influencers are.”

It’s a fine line, but it goes back to what Perry says about having social common sense: “I’m visible online and the way to connect with me is to use social skills to get on my radar, but not so much to say, ‘Hey, I’m looking for a job.’”

“You need to strike up a conversation,” he says, “there are a lot of people who are trying to just build a personal brand instead of using the actual tools.”

What is most important is that you research the company you are interested in. Try to gauge if they’d be impressed or annoyed with your inquires. Evans says that if you notice an opening at a desired company, find them and let them know you are out there. “We’re moving past the days where Human Resources were the gatekeepers of an organization’s hiring process. When recruiters, employees and other professionals engage via social media on behalf of the organization, it’s an open invitation for you.”

That said, striking up an authentic conversation, not just a plea for a job, is key.

Public Relations Job Listings

Every week we put out a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we post a huge range of job listings, we’ve selected some of the best computer programming jobs from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!

• Head of Public Relations and Social Media at Covestor in New York, NY.
• Digital PR Strategist at Mekanism in San Francisco, CA.
• Communications & Social Media Specialist at a St. Louis PR Agency in St. Louis, MO.
• Communications/PR Intern at Blogtalkradio in New York, NY.
• Assistant to Digital Department at ID PR in West Hollywood, CA.

More Job Search Resources from Mashable:

– 5 Tips for Aspiring Copywriters and Art Directors
– Top 5 Tips for Aspiring Music Bloggers
– 5 Tips for Aspiring Social Media Marketers
– HOW TO: Score a Design Job
– 10 Tips For Aspiring Community Managers

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, hjalmeida

As part of our “Never Mind the Valley” series here, we often feature communities outside the Silicon Valley that have become thriving centers for entrepreneurship. We’ve profiled cities like Boston, Montreal, and Austin.

Sometimes we notice there’s a flurry of startup activity in a particular location that warrants coverage, and sometimes we’re pitched stories about these locations. (And you should feel free to pitch us as to why your city should be featured, particularly if you’re outside the U.S.) But as great as these sources for stories are, neither offer any sort of scientific method for pointing to the cities that are the best locations for startups.

In a blog post yesterday, VC Brad Feld wrote about the “entrepreneurial density” of Boulder, a city often noted as being a startup hotbed. He writes,

“Entrepreneurial density isn’t just the “number of entrepreneurs per capita”, but it’s the “number of people that work at entrepreneurial companies per capita.” It gets even bigger when you include students and calculate the “(number of people that work at entrepreneurial companies + the number of students) per capita. As ED = ((entrepreneurial_emps + students) / adults) approaches 1, you get complete entrepreneurial saturation. I’m going to guess that Boulder’s Entrepreneurial Density using this equation is somewhere between 0.50 and 0.75, but this is just a guess. I’m curious if anyone out there has a real way to calculate this.”

Responding to the challenge is Pete Warden, who has used Crunchbase and US Census data to provide an answer.

According to Warden’s figures, the top zip codes for money raised per person are:

CA 94104 – $629m total – $1,681,925 per person
CA 94304 – $2,822m total – $1,656,031 per person
CA 94105 – $972m total – $472,540 per person
MA 02142 – $1,013m total – $448,833 per person
IL 60606 – $739m total – $439,744 per person

And the top zip codes for company per person are:

CA 94104 – 87 companies – 0.233 per person
CA 94105 – 173 companies – 0.084 per person
CA 95113 – 24 companies – 0.044 per person
MA 02142 – 73 companies – 0.032 per person
MA 02210 – 19 companies – 0.032 per person

Using his OpenHeatMap tool, there are, of course, maps of the information. And Warden has open-sourced the code and the data so that others can work with it.

Warden admits that it’s a “crude approach,” but nevertheless, it’s interesting to see how the numbers may or may not patch our perceptions of entrepreneurial hot spots.

Last night, we first unveiled AngelPad, the stealthy new startup incubator run by seven ex-Googlers. Today, we’ve managed to get quite a bit more information about it. How? One of those ex-Googlers, Thomas Korte, stopped by our office to talk a bit about the project.

Actually, it was quite convenient for Korte to come by because AngelPad’s office is right around the corner from our own office in the SoMa area of San Francisco. And though it’s not open just yet (September 10), soon, this will be the home to all of the startups accepted to be the first class of AngelPad.

And that’s one key to the project: they already have their first class all signed up and ready to go. Korte says there are 10 startups that were accepted into this inaugural class. In total, there will be about 25 founders working in the AngelPad offices when the 10-week program starts on September 10. Those companies will each be allowed to stay long after the formal program wraps up as well, Korte says.

They’re actually still figuring out all the best practices for AngelPad, Korte admits. But the core idea is what’s important: they want to recreate the type of atmosphere they all experienced relatively early on at Google. “You want smart people around you. That’s the secret sauce down at Google,” Korte says.

He notes that startups with founders working by themselves at home or in their own office space are missing out on the kind of impromptu conversations that can happen when great minds come together — even if they’re not all working on the same thing. Obviously, the seven ex-Googlers will be around to act as advisors, but it’s also about these guys’ networks that they’ve built up over the years. The startups that are a part of AngelPad will have plenty of resources at their fingertips.

Korte wouldn’t say how many applicants they cut to get down to the 10 they accepted in this initial round. But he does say that since they were doing it stealthily, all were hand-chosen by the seven members. With that in mind, it shouldn’t be surprising that more than half of the founders in this first class are also ex-Google employees.

Obviously, given that AngelPad is essentially a 10-week incubation program, it’s going to draw some comparison’s to Y Combinator, Paul Graham’s incubator (which is incidentally having its demo day tomorrow). Korte freely admits that this “incubator 2.0″ idea was Graham’s, but he says that they will distinguish themselves by looking for founders with a bit more experience — ones who are more seasoned.

Zal Bilimoria, the founder of Snip.ly (one of the initial AngelPad startups), expands upon this in a Quora post. In terms of differences with Y Combinator, Bilimoria notes:

• YC is based in Mountain View, CA; AP is based in SF, CA.
• AP supplies your team with office space for the 10-week period and expects all startups to try and work there regularly to foster a collaborative work environment.
• The AP thesis is focused on accepting experienced veterans in their respective fields who wish to launch a startup, whereas YC may have a broader philosophy. Not a requirement, but simply a focus.
• AP also seeks to have at least 1 product/business co-founder in addition to 1 technical co-founder. Again, not a req.

For similarities, Bilimoria notes that both are web startup-focused and both are founder-friendly.

Korte also notes that all seven AngelPad principals put their own money into the pool which is then invested out into each of these companies. He says the amount should be larger than what Y Combinator and TechStars companies get in their initial rounds.

He notes that he doesn’t want AngelPad to turn into another so-called “Super Angel” fund (angel investors who raise a lot of outside capital to pump into startups) because he really doesn’t see this as being about the money. Instead, this is all about creating an environment that will help these startups grow.

Korte notes that between things like Dogpatch Labs and Kicklabs, these types of creative working environments are hot right now. Given the heavy Google influence on both sides, AngelPad has an opportunity to be the hottest.

Tags: Business Week, CA, EA, Own Friends

Opera 10.10: Web Browser and Web Server In One

Posted on 24 November 2009 by Leo Pang

With such strong competition from Mozilla and Microsoft, the only thing Opera can do to stay competitive is to innovate. And one has to hand it to them: although it doesn’t have a huge user base in the desktop web browser space, Opera is always one step ahead of the rest, for better or for worse.

With version 10.10, Opera has taken its biggest step into the unknown so far, marrying the web browser with the web server. It definitely makes it unique in the world of web browsers, but there’s always the lingering question whether all these new features are really something we need, or is it just confusing the users?

With Opera Unite integrated into the browser, the web becomes a read/write affair. You can share photos (10 GB of them), stream music, serve a chat or even an entire web site directly from your browser. At Opera, they have high hopes for the technology. From the official site:

“Our devices will evolve. From in-dash computers in trucks to entertainment systems in airplanes, and from a netbook in North Dakota to a phone in North Africa, every device is both a consumer and a provider of content.”

The idea is certainly interesting, but the web has been moving in another direction in the past couple of years: the cloud. Instead of having stuff run on your computer, your applications and your data reside in the cloud, with all the resources and the know-how provided by a company like Google. So yes, with Opera Unite, you can host a web site on your own home computer, but you might run into bandwidth issues; with Google Sites, you can easily create a web site without worrying about bandwidth, but you’re at Google’s mercy, so to say. So far, despite possible privacy and security issues, cloud computing has been taking over, and it’s hard to imagine Opera turning the tide in the other direction. Some Unite applications, however, like the media server or the chat, are quite useful and might win over some converts for the Norwegian browser.

Other interesting features in the new Opera 10.10 include Opera’s Turbo technology, which speeds up browsing by compressing web pages on Opera’s servers and delivering you the “lite” version, Opera Link, which lets you synchronize data across several computers, a slick new look with a resizable tab bar, and a BitTorrent-enabled download manager. See the full list of features here.

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