Yesterday was my last day with WeSeed, along with several other colleagues of mine. We were canned effective immediately. Pretty wild.

The outpouring of support has been awesome. And as crappy as it is to be laid off, I don’t want anyone feeling sorry for me. The truth is, millions of people have lost their jobs recently, and the good majority of them are probably worse off. I don’t have children or a mortgage to worry about (although I do have a puppy and rent ). Luckily (not really) I wasn’t making a whole lot, so I won’t be missing a whole lot either.

So what now? That’s the beauty of it I suppose. I’m not really sure. I’ll have more time to run ChicagoTweetups, and perhaps expand what we do with it. I’ll have more time for blogging, which I haven’t done regularly in wayyy too long. I’ll also have more time for my role at Lakeshore Branding.

In the meantime, I’m interested in whatever might come along. I’d love to work on some projects, maybe work with some small businesses or non-profit organizations. I’m always up for a challenge, so perhaps I’ll switch gears and head into PR or media.

If you know of any opportunities I might be a good fit for, feel free to email me brandonzeman at gmail dot com. Of course, you can get a hold of me on Twitter, Facebook or Linkedin if that’s more your speed.

Everyone says things like this happen for a reason, and that I’ll be better off. I tend to agree

I’ll give two examples of why I believe this. A few weeks ago, on the opening day of SOBCon actually, I gave a speech on social networking at the Illinois Institute for Entrepreneurship Education Young Entrepreneurs Conference. I’d say roughly 95% of the students I spoke to (probably 50 total) weren’t using twitter, and probably 99% didn’t really know what it was or how to really use it. That was compared to about 95% of them that use MySpace. Takeaway:

Twitter hasn’t completely caught on with the generation that you might expect would be using it.

My second revelation came last night. The Young Professionals Network of my alma mater, Northern Illinois University, hosted a speech on social networking to market you and your company. My buddy and fellow NIU grad, Mig Pascual, was the speaker. Mig is gainfully employed by a little company you might have heard of in the social media world- Zappos. In his presentation, Mig brought up all the benefits of using twitter for personal development, finding a job, reaching out, etc. The audience was comprised of recent grads, ages ranging from 22-30, give or take a few years. Prime twitter users, right? Not quite. I’d say less than 25% had accounts. Takeaway:

Twitter is still comprised of a rather niche group of users- you can’t typecast groups of people into assuming they use twitter.

Finally, my last little rant on twitter deals with how I respond to people who ask how to use twitter. I tell people this; if you don’t know how to start, begin by finding people and companies related to a passion or hobby you have. I use the example of food and cooking. Search out restaurants you like, Food Network stars, top users who come up in searches for food, cooking, cuisine, etc. I emphasize this approach because, to me, it solves a lot of issues for the newbie. First, by focusing on something they are already interested in, it increases the likelyhood that they stick with twitter and will give it a fair shot. Because they are searching out something that excites them, twitter serves as a form of entertainment and discovery that is often eye-opening.

What say you? How do you tell people to begin using twitter?

Risque Cafe, a unique Chicago watering hole, is promoting its twitter account with a promotion that wins every time: extremely cheap booze. OK, it’s not exactly free, but if Risque gets 500 followers by Saturday, they will sell shots of Jack Daniels for a quarter. That’s basically free.

The offer

The retweet’s are flying already, and as of 4:40pm on Wednesday, Risque has 126 followers. Will they make it? I’ll keep you updated. Here’s hoping they get 500 followers!

No one is happy to see the demise of the domestic auto industry, but it’s pretty easy to see the cause: decades of greed, ignorance, and a lack of innovation. The Big Three have been making strides recently to build cars and trucks that fit America’s demands for smaller, more efficient vehicles. That said, it may be too little, too late.

Let’s take a look at what’s been done recently, and peer into the very cloudy future of what may be coming down the road.

GM: General Motors celebrated their 100^th anniversary last year, but not the way they’d hoped. In addition to losing market share, GM was also bleeding cash. So the company began focusing less on trucks and SUVs, and more on hybrids and smaller vehicles. The result: an award-winning full-sized hybrid SUV, the award-winning Malibu, a Malibu hybrid sedan, a hybrid version of their Silverado truck, and the award-winning plug-in electric hybrid called the Volt (which is slated to hit the streets in late 2010). GM has even partnered with Segway to create a unique concept called PUMA. Think of it as a Segway that seats two, complete with windshield and rollbars.

But on the minus side, GM recently announced they would shelve the Pontiac line by the end of 2010. Currently, GM is teetering on the edge of bankruptcy and is battling to remain viable.

Ford: Like every carmaker, the company that started it all has suffered during this recession. But the signs seem to indicate the company might weather the storm. Vehicles like the Escape hybrid and Focus are two ways the company is trying to meet American consumers’ wants. Ford is garnering rave reviews on their new Fusion hybrid, which is America’s most fuel-efficient mid-size sedan.

Ford is also noted for its presence in the social-media space: Besides a successful twitter effort, Ford is in the middle of an intriguing social media experiment dubbed “The Fiesta Movement.” Ford commissioned 100 volunteers from the Internet to test the re-born Fiesta for six months and encouraged them to blog/tweet/post videos about their experiences. Ford has not needed government loans to continue operating, and says they won’t need them in the near-term.

Chrysler: The automaker has merged with Fiat and filed for bankruptcy in the past few weeks, but opinions still range on whether or not Chrysler will even survive. If Chrysler does remain, they stand to benefit from Fiat’s technology and experience with smaller vehicles. Chrysler has their own plug-in hybrid technology called ENVI, but the first vehicle won’t be available until 2010, with other models following in 2013 – hardly the near-term.

Meanwhile, Chrysler could be hoping its GEM Peapod takes off (GEM is an electric-vehicle division of Chrysler). The all-electric “car” – which resembles a golf cart more than a roadworthy vehicle -  is focused on being a fun, emissions-free way of getting around (think smart car with iPod ignition key). The original plan was to make Peapod to be available by 2009, but it will hit production this October.

Chrysler actually pitched an electric minivan concept to the U.S. Postal service recently, which could become a new source of revenue.

The next six months will be very telling for the domestic car industry here in America. The recession as a whole will have a large hand in the outcome, but whichever automaker keeps the confidence of citizens and the government will likely walk away from this in the best position.

Microsoft shows off Facebook Open Stream API demos from Rafe Needleman on Vimeo.