The following is a guest post by our (nerdy) friends at Hack College, the #1 tech site for college students. Check ‘em out.

As hopefully all of you know, LinkedIn is a professional networking website that allows those looking for jobs, especially college students, to create profiles and look for business and career opportunities. It’s a really fantastic service, and if you haven’t signed up yet, you definitely should. LinkedIn caters to 80 million users worldwide and is an easy-to-use tool that may help you find a job or career after college.

To add to its professional networking services, LinkedIn recently added a new feature to its site called Career Explorer. The new feature will allow college students to essentially map out their desired career path and visualize how they can attain this path. Students are able to look at career paths that those before them have taken in order to understand what steps they must take to get to their goals.

On LinkedIn’s press page, the chief executive officer of LinkedIn Jeff Weiner said,”LinkedIn is about connecting talent with opportunity at massive scale. Career Explorer is the latest example of how we make that possible by providing one of our fastest growing demographics, students and recent college graduates, unique and valuable insights enabling them to develop the optimal career path. We’re excited to be launching this product in partnership with PwC, one of the largest and most forward thinking recruiters of new graduates.”

Other features that LinkedIn Career Explorer offers include:

Connections – allows students to seek out those in their field of interest as possible sources of information or career opportunities

Statistics – gives users stats about different careers

Jobs – alert students to possible job openings and possible networking opportunities to help them attain those openings

Follow Potential Employers – acts kind of like a Twitter feed for LinkedIn businesses as it sends students information and updates about businesses that you follow

Currently Career Explorer is being offered to a select 60 universities (which are not all listed) across the country. However, on-campus demonstrations and events promoting LinkedIn and Career Explorer have begun at several larger universities. If you attend New York University, Boston College, Brigham Young University, the Ohio State University, the Pennsylvania State University, Syracuse University, the University of Florida, the University of Illinois, the University of Maryland, the University of Southern California or the University of Washington, look for LinkedIn events happening on your campus. These universities are obviously part of the 60 universities to which LinkedIn has limitedly released Career Explorer, but gradually, the service of Career Explorer will be offered to more and more universities.

For more information, head to the press page regarding Career Explorer.

What do you think of the idea of Career Explorer? How useful do you think it would be to college students? Are you eager for the release of the service to your university? To those who have access to the service, what do you think of it?

[LinkedIn Career Explorer via TechCrunch]

This week, I’m counting down the ten craziest technologies. Whether they’re crazy in the “what the f&!# way” or crazy in the “I need that NOW” way, I’m listing them all, from social media to iPhone apps. Gen-Y has access to the wackiest and most innovative technology right now and here’s my “Weekly Ten” take on all of it:

10. Twitter Peek
How have we reached this point? A device solely for Tweeting? The end is near.

9. Last.Fm
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you’re a music junkie like me you MUST get last.fm. You can download an app for your computer that scrobbles (crazy jargon!) whatever you’re playing and can show the world what you’re listening to. I love seeing what my friends are jamming out to. Last.Fm also creates a personal radio station for you that kicks Pandora’s butt by a mile. Love it.

8. Skype
Phone calls, video chat and texting. All in one and it’s international. You can even place calls thru Skype via the wifi on your iPhone. It’s a little buggy, but still pretty cool to call your friends abroad. FOR FREE.

7. DJ Hero
Okay, maybe it’s not revolutionary, but I’m so beyond excited for this it’s not even funny. Finally, I can create mashups of my very own! Hopefully I’ll be better at this than the drums on Rock Band. And hopefully this won’t give me those awful foot cramps like the drums on Rock Band.

6. Texts From Last Night
Yes, you can share every drunk text. In the world. And read everyone else’s. And read the ones that apply to your lives. Get them on your iPhone and even on your Twitter. TFLN is EVERYWHEREEE!

5. Farmville
I don’t know what it is but I don’t like it. However, Newsfeed lets me know that a huge amount of my Facebook friends are happily plowing away on their internet farms. Cool?

4. Google Wave
Kinda awesome concept, impossible to understand at this point. Get it together, Google!

3. BBM or Ping! app
If you have a Blackberry, you have a special messaging system for you and all your Blackberry friends. iPhone rebuttal? Ping! iPhone users exclusively chatting with other iPhone users. What is it about smartphone people that makes them so damn entitled to their very own messaging system? I don’t care – I love ‘em both.

2. Twitter
Okay, so maybe not brand new, but definitely newer than Facebook. Twitter rules. I’m not ashamed to admit it. I love following the constant updates from Perez Hilton to my fave haircare brand to my best friend. All in one. And the microblogging gives me the nitty gritty as opposed to all the the overshare of Facebook.

1. Knocking Pic
This insanely tech-forward iPhone app just broke today. First ever LIVE picture sharing. I’ve been beta testing this for a while and it lives up to the hype. Yes, INSTANTANEOUS sharing of pictures. No more MMS, no more uploading, live sharing of images. So if you catch your bff’s boyfriend cheating on her, you can instantly let her know; or if there’s a hot sale at Bloomingdales, your friend can instantly show you the dresses on the racks. I love the idea of this, but it’s crazy how far we’ve come with tech. Not to mention, the first 50,000 downloads are free.

Scary thought… live video sharing? We’ll see.

Even though I was rushing as joke, I still took the actual process very seriously. I showed up to all the pre-rush meetings, attempted to make friends with my group, and agonized over the perfect outfit for the first day (the decision between jeans and leggings kept me up). As the first day of rush approached my only problem was that no one in my rush group liked me. I had assumed that because I was a senior they would all gather around me for my insider tips and Greek wisdom.

Instead they stayed away like my awkwardness was contagious. Because they all insisted on ignoring me, I would just sporadically leap into conversations without even turning around to face them. I’m pretty sure that even though they refused to show it, they appreciated my Wizard-of-Oz-like- advice on sophomore housing, the grossest dorm food, and hazing. I’m hopeful that one day I’ll overhear one of the freshman saying “that awkward-senior in my rush group did always say to stay away from quesadilla night at the dining hall.”

The first day of rush was everything I had imagined. I cracked myself up every time I got to tell someone I was a senior and gave them some new scenario for why I was rushing. My answers ranged between, “I just found out about Greek life,” to “I’ve been saving up dues for the past four years.” And then, right before I entered my 10th house, a representative from the Panhellenic council appeared and said that I was needed. I joked with her the whole way there, accusing them of ageism. And when I say we joked I mean I told jokes and she ignored me.

I was sat down at a table across from the council (which included ADULTS!). Everyone had their most serious faces on and I started to worry that at some point during the day I had blacked out and killed an entire sorority. I couldn’t imagine why else they were so angry with me. Then it began.

“Jenni, we’ve been informed that you’re making a documentary on rush. We need to know right now if you’re wired.”

I informed them I wasn’t, even though at that point I wish I had been. This would have been fabulous footage for my “documentary.” And even though part of me wanted to take the joke a little further and whisper into a pen “abort mission now,” I pinky swore to them that I was not wired.

While the United Nations of Sororities was interrogating me, every sorority was informed that the senior rushing was wired. While I at first laughed when I started getting the suspicious texts from greek friends asking if it was true, I soon realized that everyone now believed that I had purposefully betrayed them with my supposed hidden cameras.

So my joke took on a life of its own and I’ve now been accused of everything from a student newspaper expose to a Sundance documentary. It’s been almost two weeks now and even though I’ve stopped getting the point-and-stares (that’s THE senior) I’m still in amazement at how quickly my joke went so horribly wrong. At least I’ll be remembered after I graduate.

BTW, out of curiosity, I googled wires and discovered to be fully wired (not including the required van) cost around $37,000.

I won’t attempt to explain what is going on – because that would be like dad attempting to describe the hullaballoo of Fashion Week – but some people are a bit nervous that whatever major experiment is happening could suck the earth into a black hole and end humanity as we know it.

Sweet! No more worrying about those 5 pounds I can’t seem to lose!

Ok, so most people argue that the whole black hole thing is an extreme exaggeration, but no one says it isn’t at least remotely possible. I am one who always expects the worst, so I am preparing for the end. And I fully plan on going out with a (Big) Bang.

What am I doing for my last day on earth? Well, let’s just say it is going to include ice cream, Cash Cab and a Wednesday afternoon at the bar. Who cares if I mix vodka with beer and wine? I won’t even be around tomorrow to feel the hangover.

Whether or not you believe that today is end of the world as we know it (and yes, I sung those words as I typed them), it is at least a valid excuse to live it up on this random Hump Day. Do something (or someone) extraordinary. Treat yourself to something you covet.

And, for the love of God, pray that nothing goes wrong over in Switzerland.

[Photo courtesy of sciencedaily.com] 

Fortunately this ailment is of the metaphorical sort, although admittedly it does make me want to bash my head against a brick wall. Repeatedly.

I’m talking about social networking: MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Faceparty, Sitonmybook, Myfacebookspaceparty…all right, so the last couple I made up, but it wouldn’t surprise me if next week they’re reality.

The truth is that these websites are addictive. Experts on the subject (if such a person can really exist) claim that young people are spending more time multi-tasking online than they are reading, exercising and – in some cases – sleeping.

It doesn’t take an expert to uncover the reasoning behind this either: these are more than websites. They are interactive communities, virtual cities. A place to meet new people, rediscover old friends, nosey into other peoples lives and, most importantly, to sell yourself.

My personal migraine began when I realised I was sharing too much information with my friends. To some, listing Likes, Dislikes, marital status and personal blog entries may seem trivial, but I found that every time I happened to change something, curiosity amongst my peers aroused constant questioning and/or comments. And I was sick of it. I was sick of explaining myself when I felt aspects of my private life should remain just that – private.

Nowadays you won’t find out much about me if you happen to stumble across my MySpace. You won’t find out how I feel, because I won’t write about it. You’ll never know whether I got roaring drunk last night and happened to cling drunkenly to a similarly-stated male, because I won’t post the evidence. You’ll just have to do the unthinkable, and talk to me.

I’m not worried about future employers checking up on me (I keep my online profiles private), but I think that other people (primarily the age sixteen and under demographic) should start to take notice of how much information they post about themselves on these websites.

It doesn’t take a lot of effort to search out those rebellious teens who think that posting their personal sexual preferences, swearing and joining sickeningly false virtual ‘groups’ titled “xxFlawless Beautiesxx” and “Coolest Haircuts” make them superior to people who are perhaps not so extroverted, or as ‘aesthetically pleasing’.

A great proportion of today’s youth (and today’s adults, for that matter) will one day be forced to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. There is more to life than these selfish popularity contests. They will realise that no one wants to read their well-thought out paragraphs of self-indulgent tripe and no one enjoys wading through fifty-odd photos of the same person in a variety of what they suppose are ‘sophisticated’ poses (or worse still, amateur or otherwise “photoshoots”).

No one should care about ‘Top Friends’ (which is in my opinion the worst phrasing of selfish popularity nonsense I have ever heard). No one should judge a person by how great they set themselves up to be on a virtual medium, and personally I think some should be ridiculed for creating an over-the-top alias of themselves which achieves no purpose at all except to bloat their own inflated ego.

I can’t deny there is a place in this culture of Web 2.0 for the MySpace’s and Bebo’s of the world; they have been of use to me on several occasions, as well as serving as a good introduction to people who take interest in me. But let us not forget the pre-web era. Lets not forget how to revert back to the good old fashioned way of meeting people. Lets learn to ignore the growing trend of air-headed superficiality that dictates the best witty comments, hairstyles and clothing – it’s time we got our numb backsides off computer chairs and back onto the streets for a good dose of fresh air.

I like to think that the truly cool people of this world aren’t the ones with the highest profile views or the biggest network of friends; they’re in libraries, they’re in parks, they’re out taking photographs (and writing for CollegeCandy of course!). They’re in control. They balance a virtual world with a physical world, and that’s where I’d like to think real sophistication resides: in reality.