According to the ILO, not only have 50 million jobs been lost worldwide, but the job prospects for the world's youth are grim. And if something isn't done, social unrest could result. Now there's a chance to quiz the ILO's jobs expert live. This piece was put together on Storify.

Note: This piece was put together using Storify for a training exercise for the editorial staff at Objective TV.

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It's the result of a week long social media training session at the Belgrade Media Centre organised by the NGO Civil Rights Defenders.

Two dozen journalists, media managers and human rights workers took part in the course which was designed to give them new communication skills and to bring different media workers together to learn from one another.

When the course started few were on Twitter and almost none had blogs. By the end all were active on Twitter, Storify, Hootsuite, Posterous and a host of other tools.

More importantly they had all built their own personal social media brands and linked them together in an invitation only, password-protected online group - using the Posterous group tool. Those managing the hub will monitor how it develops before deciding whether or not to start an open group.

Course co-trainer Nebojsa Glisic, a project assistant with Civil Rights Defenders in Belgrade, said that the enthusiasm for the ideas shared during the five days came as no surprise.

Note: Apologies for lip sync in this clip. Will upload again when on a better connection.

Welcome to the 800th member of the Media Helping Media LinkedIn group, set up for all those working in the media.

The group has seen a sharp increase in membership in the first two months of 2012, up by 33% since year end.

Demographic

The group appears to be attracting what are described by LinkedIn as senior media types. The stats show that 64% of members have listed themselves as being senior, director, owner, manager or chief executive officer level with 18% entry level. 30% of members are in media and communications with 22% in media production.

Growth

The group was set up in August 2008 and growth was slow at the beginning but took off towards the end of last year rising to 600 by late December and now it’s reached 800.

Membership

The Media Helping Media LinkedIn group is an open group, so you just sign up and join. The only restriction is for those who are new to LinkedIn and only have a few connections. This is a spam prevention measure introduced by LinkedIn.

Anyone who applies but it not automatically registered sits in a holding file until their LinkedIn connections grows. So no applications are lost.

Discussions, promotions and jobs

The group has a discussions area where all members can post about any media-related issues. You can start a poll in this area if you want to ask members a question for research purposes.

There is a promotions section where you can post about events, awards and competitions etc, and there is a jobs section where you can post about job opportunities.

Sometimes contributions are posted in the wrong place and will be moved to the appropriate section. So if your post looks like it has disappeared, please check all three sections of the group. 

Invite others from your network

All group members are able to invite others to join. If you see anything that interests you and think others in your network might be interested too, you can send them an invitation.

There are also social share buttons alongside the discussion area enabling you to share anything you feel might interest those in your network.

Media Helping Media

The LinkedIn group is associated with the main site, Media Helping Media, which offers free training resources to the media in transition and post-conflict countries and areas where the media is still developing.

The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs our main site Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide and his business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.

Many would-be journalists post in the subreddit /r/realjournalism asking for advice on how to prepare for their future careers. Here is one:

It's great to see so many people pitching in with helpful advice. You can add yours too by signing up for a free Reddit account and joining in the discussion. My reply to the question is copied below just in case it is of help to others.

Build your story portfolio

My advice would be to get as much quality material published as possible while you are studying so that when you graduate and apply for jobs in journalism you have a portfolio of stories.

This will demonstrate to your future editor that journalism wasn't just an academic pursuit but is part of your make up.  

I would also focus on what stories you can find that tie in with your political science interests. Editors hire on the basis of what you can offer them, and if you have a specialism that will result in you being able to add value to story development you will be all the more attractive. 

Be proactive

When I was hunting for my first job in journalism I would write articles and post them through the letter boxes of three local newspapers. (These were the days before email and the internet) 

I kept doing that week after week until one day I got a call saying they were going to publish the latest and inviting me for a beer in the local arts centre to discuss freelance shifts. They tried me out for two weeks and hired me. That was the start of my career in journalism.

You should probably try a modern-day version of that. Target the publisher or broadcaster you want to work for with quality stories with the view to building a relationship that you can pick up on when you have graduated.  

Allow people to publish your work

And if you have a blog, make all your material available for all to use under Creative Commons. Add a note to each story saying something like “if you use this material, please let me know”. That way you can build up an online cuttings file (portfolio) of published material.

You can add a Creative Commons logo to your blog which may encourage people to publish your material. And don’t forget to tweet your material with a must-click, compelling, call-to-action headline.

The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a media strategy consultant and journalist who set up and runs Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide. His business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.

The following piece was produced using Storify.

If you use any of the training material from Media Helping Media on your site, and have the time or inclination, please let us know either by contacting us or adding a comment at the bottom of the piece. It would just be nice to see how far the training modules have spread.  Thanks

Well, not quite. There is a team of fantastic developers in the mix, too. But those at Sourcefabric, who are developing free, open-source journalism tools for media in need, have a solid journalistic pedigree. And that means something.

I have been working in online media since 1997 when I was one of a small team of editors who were asked to build the BBC a news website. BBC News Online was the result.

We had a similar mix back then - 14 years ago; journalists keen to explore this new medium, and wonderful developers who worked with us, shoulder to shoulder, to ensure the tools did the job they were meant to do.

And the job was to get the content to the users in the most effective, efficient and elegant manner.

Since then, I have seen so many content management systems pushed by companies who don’t have a clue about content, the audience and their needs, or journalism.

But with Sourcefabric there is a clear editorial focus – backed up by the fact that 100+ media organisations worldwide now depend on their news production tool, Newscoop.

So it’s been great fun spending three days in Prague with these guys, with their clients, and with some amazing guest speakers at Mediafabric – the new, must-attend, media event on the calendar.

The vision is clear. To create free tools to enable and empower journalists who struggle against the odds to make their voices heard.

The result should be free tools, available to all, to ensure that indigenous journalists can report worldwide on the news that impacts their communities.

Roll on MediaFabric 2012.

The author of this piece, David Brewer, is a journalist and media strategy consultant who set up and runs our main site Media Helping Media. He delivers media strategy training and consultancy services worldwide and his business details are at Media Ideas International Ltd. He tweets @helpingmedia.