I'm aware that this blog post is one that you've seen before, and for that I apologize, but I need a break from reading and writing about a tire company in Ohio that can't train anyone and seems poised for a work floor riot, and I don't think me posting my thoughts on movies I've watched lately (Trainspotting & The Bourne Trilogy) counts as relevant.
OK, now that I've wasted about 50 words (73 actually), let's get to something relevant to class. (82). When Dr. Weyant talked about blogs and facebook and twitter and the rest of the social media craze, there were understandable objections from members of the class as to the relevancy of these things in their businesses. Just to name a few jobs I know people in this class have, pretzel factory and Small Business Development Center, I fail to see how these types of social strategies would help. At the SBDC, all work we do is confidential, so we couldn't get on twitter and say "OMG, just helped Karen Smith start a business! #werock". That being said, I do agree that there are ways to use social media to help your business, and that doing so can be a cost-effective way to market your company if done correctly.
Now for the part where I sound like your mother. "Be careful what you put on that Internet". More and more, businesses are using people's personal social media pages as a form of background check on employees and applicants. Once it's up there, it's there forever in some capacity. I've got a facebook, I'm on it all the time, but my friends know not to even try to put photos of me up because I untag them faster than anyone's ever seen. Now, part of this is because I hate photos of myself, but it's also because I know that if there's something in that photo that's questionable, even if it's something I'm not involved in, that reflects poorly on me out of context, which would be how a potential employer would be viewing it. In fact, companies have even sprung up that will look through your social media and web 2.0 sites and deliver a report to any company that wants to research you. Here's a story about them: http://www.ere.net/2010/09/28/background-checking-using-social-media/
There, that's gotta be 250 words, right? (390). Ok, that's enough from me for tonight. Have a good evening everyone, and I'll see you tomorrow! (408) (It's actually 409 if you count 408 as a word, but that would lead to a never ending numerical sequence, wouldn't it?) (431)
(432)
(433) See what I mean? I'll shut up now...
I actually laughed out loud while reading this more than once...well played, sir, well played.
ReplyDeleteI just got done reading the article that you talked about. I've thought that companies were doing this kind of thing with potential hires for quite some time, but just didn't think that people figured out a solid market to make money at it yet. I thought it was pretty interesting that the co-founder of a similar company doesn't see them going down that road anytime soon.
I guess it all depends on the luck of the draw when it comes to what company your trying to work for, and who the hiring manager might be.
I agree about the photo thing, too. I absolutely hate most pictures of myself, especially the one's that have suggestive messages with them, me throwing up the gallon of milk I just tried to finish in an hour, etc.