Job seekers beware

We all know the importance of LinkedIn job search. I would say Facebook plays an even bigger role in determining if you get that call from recruiters or not. In the olden "golden" days, it was enough that your resume attracted the attention of the hiring manager. But that is no longer the case now.

Whether the applicant has a LinkedIn profile or not, they have to make sure that they or their friends in Facebook and other social media networks have nothing that can discriminate them in the eyes of the recruiter. A recent article mentions that “Social media ‘stalking’ has become the norm in the hiring and retention process. Before calling in applicants for a job interview, HR will likely snoop around online to make sure there are no virtual red flags. And according to Mary Hladio, the CEO of leadership group Ember Carriers "Beyond typing names into a search engine, companies will also employ sophisticated online monitoring platforms that dig even deeper. If there’s something on the Internet you wouldn’t want your boss to see, it’s probably in your best interest to take it down."

Recruiters are not only using social media to vet the wrong candidates, but they are also using them to find the right candidates. Another article mentions that many use sophisticated boolean techniques to extract candidate profile information from sites like LinkedIn, Plaxo, Google Profiles, Twitter, etc.

Here is some statics that I found online related to this:

72 percent plan to invest more in recruiting through social networks
80 percent of companies are planning to use social networks to find or attract candidates
LinkedIn use grew from 80 percent in 2008 to 95 percent in 2008
Facebook use grew from 36 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009
Twitter ranked third at 42 percent

Food for thought: Did you know that there are training programs for recruiters to help them use "Social Media" for candidate selection and filter. How many of us are thinking of such diversified career instead of the run of the mill corporate job??

Corporate Social Media Fail

Our class on metrics reminded me of a recent experience I had with Gilt Groupe. They had some sweepstakes where you could win a ridiculous amount of credit on their site, but to enter you had to "like" them. I shop at Gilt a fair amount (portable BBQ grill for $20!!) so I broke my rule of "never 'like' anything" and "liked" Gilt. Then they hit me with a curveball: the "like" thing was just to get to the entry form. To submit the form, I had to install the application and give it access to some of my personal Facebook information.

This whole episode felt gross. I'm especially annoyed because Gilt is run by a bunch of smarmy fresh-out-of-b-schoolers from one of the smarmier East Coast schools, I think Columbia, and this reflects poorly on how MBA students utilize their education. Anyway (/soapbox), the point is that there will probably be a time in each of our careers where we think "What our company needs is more people to install our application so that they will see our marketing," and in the rush to meet the metric we will find a tempting option whereby we completely torpedo our goal. I hope that when that time comes for me, I'm able to recognize it and see the forest for the trees.

Social Media Advertising more competitive in Japan

Apple agreed with Dentsu (Japanese mega advertising agency) about Apple's iAd network in Japan. Dentsu concentrated heavily on outbound marketing, so far while a few small venture companies dominated social media advertising in Japan.
This agreement would change social media advertising field in Japan from blue ocean into battle field......

http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2010/11/10/apple-dentsu-team-bring-apples-iad-network-japan/

social media crimes

I came across a website that has compiled a list of the 25 most "shocking" crimes in social media. It is actually broken down into two sections. One on copyright issues and a second on physical crimes.

Interesting to see how often Facebook shows up on the list as both a plaintiff and defendant. There is one recurring theme in the list, infringment on rights to privacy.

Check it out:
http://www.mastersincriminaljustice.com/blog/2009/25-most-shocking-crimes-in-social-media-history/

Japanese Groupon violates rule of the game.

Ponpare (Groupon style service in Japan) inflinged the most important rule of the business model. Ponpare has offered $1 coupon for two Häagen Dazs (usually $7), if more than 0.5 million user buy it. But 5 days later, only 0.13 million user have clicked it. In response to the lower (than expected) demand, Ponpare changed the rule and turn on the deal.

Most of the Ponpare user are pleased with it. But... I feel the company has entered off limits area. This action distorts the mechanism of the business, and weakens the incentive to Retweet a coupon in the future. This incident not only affect Ponpare but also affect other Groupon style service.

In Tokyo lots of Ponpare user tweet "Good Job!", though a game theorist in San Diego believe "Worst Job!"

Labor Board says employees can talk about work on social media !!

It's probably not the best idea to complain about your boss on Twitter or Facebook -- but the National Labor Relations Board argues that workers have the right to discuss working conditions on social media, positive or otherwise ?

Doesn't it sound interesting ?

RockMelt - The social web browser

Long time reader, first time blogger…

A friend of mine posted the following link on facebook from cnn.com regarding a new browser called RockMelt.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TECH/web/11/08/rockmelt.browser.mashable/index.html?hpt=Sbin

According to the article, RockMelt is “a new browser that lives in the cloud and uses Facebook authentication to synchronize a user's browsing experience across machines.” Basically, by using RockMelt you can have the same browsing experience on any computer that has RockMelt. Your settings are saved in the cloud, including bookmarks, browsing history, and even your social media profiles.

Please read the article and watch the video demonstrating the capabilities of RockMelt.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAPKPhoTqFY&feature=player_embedded

There are issues that the article and video do not cover. It is great that your personal browser and social media settings can follow you around wherever you are, but what else can follow you around? How about advertising? No matter where I log on to Gmail, I receive personalized ads based on the content of my email. With RockMelt, every website on any computer could have ads targeted at me.

What about security? RockMelt will need to guarantee that someone cannot hack into my RockMelt account and then gain immediate access to who knows what from pages I visited who knows where.

Several weeks of Social Media class has led me to keep an open mind towards internet marketing but security vulnerabilities still concern me. The general public is probably more averse to targeted ads and security concerns than I am. As a result, RockMelt may have some obstacles to overcome before gaining wide acceptance.

With that said, I have requested an invitation to use the beta version of RockMelt. I will report back with how my experience goes. Wish me luck.