Mr. Gladwell's Recruitment

The other day I was having a conversation with someone that reminded me of the readings for this week. The conversation went a little something like this:

Me: "You know, I sometimes don't know why I'm in college. I mean, I'm majoring in audio technology, but anyone could do that and most do not go to college. Sometimes I think I'm wasting a lot of money."
Other person: "Well just think of all the connections you are making and the ability you'll have to be recruited. That's what it is all about. Plus, you are learning a lot."

Though the last part of that statement is extremely true, I would be lying if I said the first thing that I thought of was NOT my last blog entry (Graduating From Facebook To LinkedIn). My other thought went towards, as described in the article The Power Of Weak Ties, was about UVa's Malcolm Gladwell. More specifically, it was in regards to The Tipping Point, which points out how people are connected to each other. People are either mavens or connectors. According to the Wikipedia entry about The Tipping Point, the following is true:

"Connectors are those with wide social circles. They are the "hubs" of the human social network and are responsible for the small world phenomenon. Mavens are knowledgeable people. While most consumers wouldn't know if a product were priced above the market rate by, say, ten per cent, mavens would."

The result is that through mavens and connectors, one can understand how the concept of six degrees of separation is played out. One of the results is American University's Information Technology 333 (Social Networking) course. Another deals with job recruitment. As the article The Power Of Weak Ties points out, referrals are the reason most jobs are acquired. Is this fair? I don't know, ask Colleen. One thing is for sure: keep Facebook, Myspace, (etc.) and your blog void of anything you would NOT want your [potential] boss to see. That is outlined in the article Blog Is The New Resume. Companies are always talking about how social networking and blogs could become the new method for recruitment (see Using Social Networking To Fill The Talent Acquisition Pipeline).

Thinking over the conversation I had with my friend the other day, I guess it is truer than I thought; we DO go to college/university to get not only more education but really the connections. People at that education point can most likely teach themselves much of the material, but they connections are harder to come by.

Companies Aren't Just Smiles, Candy & Sunshine?

After reading Robert Scoble and Shel Israel's section on corporate blogs in the book "Naked Conversations", I began to think of all of the ways that a corporate blog could go awry. The guidelines on corporate weblogs seem obvious. Things are included such as "Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"; "Under-promise. Over deliver."; "Never change your weblog's URL"; "Never lie" [which seems ridiculous that this gets its own entry considering the first I mentioned]; "Be careful with legal issues"; etc. (Scoble & Israel 191-194) Some statements seem to contradict one another. For instance the "If your life is in turmoil and/or you're unhappy, don't write" and "your blog is your own". (Scoble and Israel 192-193) Don't most disgruntled people need to get their thoughts out? After all, if they are disgruntled they are going to, out of stress, explode and say things they shouldn't. I've seen this happen countless times. The Internet/blogs provide an easy way to do that in a quick manner. Then, the company has to play rebound and run damage control. Frequently this is disastrous and results in loss of business. After all, Scoble and Israel are just throwing ideas forward on what employee bloggers SHOULD follow. These are NOT absolute rules.

So, what must a company do to become immune to employee weblog damage? First off, realize that this is impossible; they must accept that in the real business world, companies can only take preventative measures, especially with the openness of the Internet. Second, there will always be disgruntled employees. Sure, it would be nice to think that a company is only smiles, candy and sunshine, but that would be a giant lie. Really, the only real other option is to set up filters (humans or otherwise) on all the employees’ blogs. Yet, this seems like a huge infraction of the first amendment and that it would cause the employees to be even more disgruntled. It would prevent the employees from publishing what is really on their mind, and providing a censor. Yet, they are sure to find their own way to publish whatever they want to say, such as publishing them under fake aliases. Eventually though the connection is sure to be discovered between the employee and the fake alias. What is put up on the Web is extremely difficult to pull off without any viewers. They are surely going to be fired and possibly find themselves in a long lawsuit.

What is a company to do? My disgruntled ITEC-333 class blog can be found at...

Rheingold, Howard. Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. 1st Ed. Cambridge, MA: Basic Books, 2002

Scoble, Robert, and Shel Israel. Naked Conversations. 1st Ed. Hoboken, NJ: Jon Wiley & Sons, Inc., 2006.