If you are a college student or a recent grad, you almost certainly spend much of time on the internet - and a significant portion of that on social networking sites like Facebook (definitely), YouTube (You bet), Twitter (not too much) or MySpace (Whose space?). But, how do you spend your time on these popular sites?

Well, if - like most people - you use them to gossip, watch stupid videos or post inappropriate pics, you are wasting your time. The Chronicle of Higher Education reports that finally business are getting smart about Social Networks ... IBM has announced a Facebook Application to find mentors for students.

Through a Facebook application, which IBM plans to offer in a pilot program in the United States this fall, students like Mr. Vogt, a sophomore at Pace University, can find mentors to give them practical or career advice, or oversee student projects, said Tim Willeford, a spokesman for IBM.

“We have existing mentorship programs within IBM, so it’s a natural extension that we’re trying to connect experts of multiple disciplines to university students,” Mr. Willeford said. “It’s one of the next steps in education.” ...

“Facebook and MySpace are great places for social networking, but they don’t really have a goal. They don’t make the kind of connections you need to move forward,” Mr. Vogt said. “This platform is helping students say, Here are my ideas, and IBM is saying, Come work with us and we’ll help you.”

It's good to see companies getting smart about using the sites to reach out to students where they are comfortable. These sites have a lot of potential, and in a career-related function can be useful to extend and capitalize on your network to land a job. I hope to see more companies reaching out across multiple platforms to provide opportunities like this for students.

On to The Links ...

GradSpot Suggests Careers For Night Owls: Aside from the obvious jobs of Bartending, club promoting and hospitality (hotels/casinos) GS adds "many companies (at least the ones that don't outsource to India!) need people to handle administrative tasks before the daytime workers get to the office in the morning—look out for data entry positions at financial services institutions or copy editing gigs at daily newspapers, for example." I would include financial services that deal with Europe/Asia as well.

Your HR Shares How His Blog Landed Him a Job: He found a niche community, contributed to it and networked out a gig. Advice for you: "If you think of blogging like you do networking, you need to start a blog, contribute and become a part of the community before you can leverage it to help you find a great job (either by your choice or the company’s)."

The Washington Post Advises on Email Etiquette: Specifically, the all-important sign off. "Will Schwalbe, co-author with David Shipley of 'Send: Why People Email So Badly and How to Do It Better,' warns, 'You can really do a lot of damage, even with a careless closing. And one of the terrifying things about e-mail is: You may never know.'" This is why I end all my emails with "Get Bent" ... no confusion on that one.

Keppie Careers Discusses Online Transparency: And it's an important and relevant discussion; how much info to share. Share to little and you damage the benefits of Online Branding. Share too much, and you risk crossing a line that an employer might not appreciate. I think the best advice is to carefully consider each piece of information you put on the web, before you put it out there.

Jibber Jobber Laughs at the College Grad Suing Her College for Her Inability to Get a Job: "In summary, this person went to school, apparently got a BA degree in something to do with 'information technology,' and I guess couldn’t land a job. So she is suing saying her career services office 'didn’t [live] up to its end of the deal [by] offering her the leads and employment advice it promised.' This recent grad has lived at home with her mom, who is a substitute teacher and is 'the only one of the two who makes any money.'"

Jibber Jobber Explains How NOT To Spend Your Time When Unemployed: "What's scary, at least to me, is that on any given day only 20% are spending time job searching, mostly in the morning and early afternoon. I know job searching is hard work, and it can be easier to try and avoid it. However, you're not going to find a job if you don't work at it. It's that simple."