Posts Tagged social media
LinkedIn Launches Targeted Partner Messaging
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Human Resource Practices, Personal Brand, social media on April 17, 2010
I received my first sponsored message from LinkedIn today, delivered directly to my inbox. The message was for job opportunites with Accenture and was actually well done. See the message below:
- LinkedIn Partner Message from Accenture
I can see this being effective for both LinkedIn and the sponsor of the message. Sponsors will be able to track the effectivness of their message as they get their own custom landing page. From LinkedIn: “Partner Messages allow for extensive marketing copy on a co-branded landing page, an ad unit, and a call-to-action element.” You can check out their partner message page here.
I also think it is smart that LinkedIn delivers sponsored to the top of the member’s LinkedIn inbox “for high visibility” while only allowing members only receive one Partner Message every 60 days, “providing impact and exclusivity.” This also means they get to charge a premium for a service that only can be used six times per year per member. It will also prevent me, the member, from getting too pissed off at LinkedIn.
I would say that Accenture, while having a nicely designed landing page, could have provided a better targeted message to the recipients. Their message was clearly targeting an IT / Tech professional. While I ran HR and Recruiting at Visible Technologies, a tech start up, I am not an IT / Tech professional. I suspect they sent the message solely based off industry without any refinement based off title, which in my case on LinkedIn, is clearly as a Human Resources Manager. Hopefully, they were not paying on per member basis.
Regardless, I think we will see more and more sponsored messages in closed social networks. I think LinkedIn, in this case, did a pretty good job creating a new revenue stream.
Beware of the Glowing LinkedIn Recommendations
Posted by Dan Hall in Human Resource Practices, social media on July 8, 2009
I ran across a great article from The National Law Journal on the legal implications that LinkedIn recommendations might have on employment lawsuits. It is a definite read.
“Management-side lawyers are warning employers about the hidden dangers of LinkedIn, the popular business networking site that posts recommendations for job candidates. Specifically, attorneys are advising employers to be wary of giving glowing remarks about employees on the site because the employers risk having the recommendations used against them in a discrimination or harassment suit. ”
Read the full article here.
I have noticed a growing number of reciprocal recommendations between current and former employees of companies, which is to be expected to some extent. However, the danger lies in supervisors giving glowing reviews of former employees. eDiscovery is all too easy and becoming the norm rather than the exception. Twitter accounts, cell phone data, and social media profiles are now fair game in the legal arena. More and more companies are collecting this data and providing data streams to clients as a service. Lawyers are doing this same research.
Pretty soon we will see articles depicting the impact of a single LinkedIn recommendation on the outcome of a case (or maybe not, if the Company had decent counsel, they would settle out of court with a non-disclosure agreement).
Dan Hall
I am a producer of data and so are you …
Posted by Dan Hall in social media on February 9, 2009
One of the more interesting revelations that came to mind as I was leaving my previous job as a Seattle Human Resources Manager at Visible Technologies was just how much data I had produced. When it was all said and done, I created from scratch over 3.3 gigabytes of new information in 15 months. This data did not exist prior to my existence at Visible. A vast majority of this data was flung out in cyberspace in forms of emails, posts, presentations, and so forth.
Over 50% of all Americans have created consumer generated media (AKA new data). There are over 20 million blogs from American bloggers. A million plus NEW posts per day (plus or minus varies by source).
What does this all mean? First, as if there was any question, Social and Consumer Generated Media is here to stay. Second, that is a lot of data being created daily. The future of business and the Internet is all about data. Want job security?
Learn data. Everything you can, how to manage it, how to search, how to sort, how to connect, how to digest.
How much new, unique data have you produced in the last year? Ever stopped and thought about it?
Dan Hall
It’s been a little while…
Posted by Dan Hall in social media on December 11, 2008
since my last post. I needed a little motivation, so I took advantage of a great plug-in app on LinkedIn that shows my recent WordPress blog posts. It also shows when they were posted. I am quite ashamed of myself, but I am a big believer of transparency as motivation.
Is there any doubt Social Media is changing the world – how we do business, how we interact, how learn, how we live?
I just embedded a presentation about Visible Technologies on LinkedIn. It was created with Microsoft PowerPoint and uploaded from Google Docs (signed in with my Yahoo! email). I shared this presentation with one of my (much smarter than me) co-workers so he could edit it as a collaborator – just in case.
And now you might be reading this post on my profile. Wow.
Dan Hall
Seattle Human Resources Manager
Using Social Media in Human Resources Management
Posted by Dan Hall in Human Resource Practices, social media on April 8, 2008
Read an article that discusses Blocking Social Media Sites at the Workplace .
My company is probably one of the few that will never block social media websites, primarily because we provide social media monitoring, analysis, and engagement tools for Fortune 500 companies.
Being a Human Resources Manager, these are are also important sites when conducting employee reference and background checks. I also use LinkedIn extensively not only for recruiting but also for professional social networking. LinkedIn has established itself as the premier professional social networking site. I don’t find much professional use for YouTube, Myspace, or Facebook although I have seen an increasing number of companies creating MySpace profiles especially if they are targeting a young adult / teen demographic.
There is increasing discussion around the legality of using social media websites when conducting background checks. You need to be very careful about disqualifying candidates because of what they posted on these types of sites. More on this topic to follow.
Hey! I didn’t know Open Networking Groups had Fine Print…
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Networking, social media on April 7, 2008
Imagine my surprise when I learned that Open Networking Groups actually have fine print. Once again, someone I don’t know sent an invitation to join their network on LinkedIn, which is fine. I don’t have anything personally against Open Networking. From a professional standpoint, I don’t believe this practice adds much value to my personal brand or my social network and therefore don’t participate in such behavior.
However, I am ever curious about people’s online social networking behavior so I studied the requestor’s profile and followed a link or two.
Here is a snipped of what I stumbled across from TopLinked.Com:
Did you receive an “I Don’t Know”?
Everyone who participates in TopLinked.com has agreed to never mark a LinkedIn connection invitation as “I Don’t Know” or “Flag as Spam” – if they do not wish to accept an invitation, they should instead just simply click the “Archive” button (or ask to be removed from TopLinked.com via an email sent to: toplinked@gmail.com)
If you come across someone who violates this agreement, please first contact them directly, remind them of this rule, and see if they are willing to remedy the situation.
If they are then unresponsive or unwilling to resolve the problem, please be sure to let us know via email: toplinked@gmail.com (thanks!)
Tips: To stay safe, only invite people by clicking over from the listings on this site and then look for BOTH the TopLinked.com group logo (the same as the logo of this site) AND the TopLinked.com wording displayed properly on their profile. That provides three levels of assurance that they are active TopLinked.com networkers who understand and play by the rules. It is also a good idea to mention TopLinked.com in your connection invitations to TopLinked.com people and remind them of the TopLinked.com rules.
We cannot help you if you receive an invitation from someone who is not officially part of TopLinked.com – and someone is officially part of TopLinked.com ONLY if they are linked to from this site or are part of the TopLinked.com group on LinkedIn.”
—————————————————–
Whodahthunkit. They have fine print afterall.
Adding Value to Social Media Sites and Your Network
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Open Social, social media on March 31, 2008
Why are current Social Network sites’ accessibility controlled a simple switch – an on and off switch of permissibility if you will? The major players in the field MySpace, Facebook, even LinkedIn – all have a common theme in whether or not you deem this person a connection / friend or not. If you do they have access to you – your information, pictures, posts in some cases or in others just communicating or networking with you (adding value to the network).
Is that old acquaintance from high school that you haven’t talked to in 5 years on par with your boss at work? Should they be given the same accessibility into your social network, your social media life as it is.
What about business partners who are at odds with each other, do you want them to see each other as mutual connections? What about the functionality of sharing more personal photos – such as your wedding pictures to your close friends but not to your co-workers?
Why do we use professional social networking sites for your professional connections but Facebook for your more peronably friend and why do they not overlap at all – it is your life and network isn’t it?
There should be an overarching social networking platform that address these issues. The Economist had a good article addressing the closed social media worlds based on proprietary standards and their historical precedents of AOL, CompuServe, and Prodigy (is history doomed to repeat itself?).
Social media websites should be as easy to setup as blogs and they continuing will exist if there is enough of a demographic who is passionate about the space to add enough value to warrant its existence. Social Media is a digital world shaping movement. The monetary prize in online ads which have fueled many of the big buyouts may be debatable in terms of future viability also discussed in the Economist, but the utility of Social Media is undeniable.
It is our networks, our lives that add value to Social Media not the proprietary systems that give us the platforms to connect. Sooner or later open social and digital portability will gain enough movement to achieve this and Social Media and the Internet will never be seperate again.
Warning: Social Media Can Be Hazardous to Your Job Search
Posted by Dan Hall in Personal Brand, The Lasting Tale of the Web, recruiting on March 27, 2008
That cute, affable guy who brags of his drunken exploits on FaceBook.com may be meeting a lot of other partiers online, but he’s probably not getting added to the “friends” lists of many corporate recruiters. A recent study by the executive search firm ExecuNet found that 77 percent of recruiters run searches of candidates on the Web to screen applicants; 35 percent of these same recruiters say they’ve eliminated a candidate based on the information they uncovered.
“You’d be surprised at what I’ve seen when researching candidates,” says Gail, a recruiter at a Fortune 500 company who recently began looking up potential hires on the Web. “We were having a tough time deciding between two candidates until I found the profile of one of them on MySpace. It boasted a photo of her lounging on a hammock in a bikini, listed her interests as ‘having a good time’ and her sex as ‘yes, please.’ Not quite what we were looking for.”
“Another time I went to a candidate’s site and found racial slurs and jokes,” Gail continues. “And there was yet another instance where a candidate told me he was currently working for a company, yet he left a comment on a friend’s profile about how it ‘sucked’ to be laid off, and how much fun it was to be unemployed!”
As the amount of personal information available online grows, first impressions are being formed long before the interview process begins, warns David Opton, ExecuNet CEO and founder. “Given the implications and the shelf-life of Internet content, managing your online image is something everyone should address — regardless of whether or not you’re in a job search,” he says. Because the risks don’t stop once you’re hired.
Twenty-three-year old Kara recently took a job as a management consultant at a high-profile practice in the Los Angeles area. An Ohio native, with no friends or family on the West Coast, Kara put up a profile on MySpace in the hopes of meeting new people.
Kara was judicious in how she set up her site: “I didn’t fill out that cheesy questionnaire many people post, where you describe your best feature and say whether or not you shower every day.” she says. “I used a photo that was flattering but not at all provocative and was even careful what music I chose.”
Within a few months, Kara met many others online who shared her interest in biking and water sports. One Friday morning, Kara decided to call in sick and go surfing with a few of her new pals. That weekend, unbeknownst to Kara, her friend posted some of the day’s pictures on her profile and sent Kara a message saying, “We should call in sick more often.”
Unfortunately for Kara, her boss happened to be patrolling MySpace to check up on her college-age daughter and came across Kara’s site and the dated photos!
Mortified, Kara says she learned an important lesson — not only about honesty, but about how small the world of online social networking can be and how little control you have over any information put out there.
Not all employers search candidates and employees online, but the trend is growing. Don’t let online social networking deep-six your career opportunities. Protect your image by following these simple tips:
- Be careful. Nothing is private. Don’t post anything on your site or your “friends” sites you wouldn’t want a prospective employer to see. Derogatory comments, revealing or risqué photos, foul language and lewd jokes all will be viewed as a reflection of your character.
- Be discreet. If your network offers the option, consider setting your profile to “private,” so that it is viewable only by friends of your choosing. And since you can’t control what other people say on your site, you may want to use the “block comments” feature. Remember, everything on the Internet is archived, and there is no eraser!
- Be prepared. Check your profile regularly to see what comments have been posted. Use a search engine to look for online records of yourself to see what is out there about you. If you find information you feel could be detrimental to your candidacy or career, see about getting it removed — and make sure you have an answer ready to counter or explain “digital dirt.”
This article is courtesy of Careerbuilder.
Create Efficiencies and Add Value
Posted by Dan Hall in Adding Value, Personal Brand on March 19, 2008
Align everything you do in life. Evaluate how you spend your time and create efficiencies. If you can’t create any more efficiency, analyze how you can add more value to the process, your personal brand, or your company.
or example, I am a Seattle recruiter (one of my hats, along with being an 
HR Manager ). Part of my job is talking to candidates each and every day. I could just dial as many candidates as possible and pepper them with questions. Instead, at the very start of the conversation, I spend the time to passionately describe our company and what makes us radically different from what others in the Social Media Web 2.0 space are doing. I am going to sell my company to them first and foremost. Why? Because I am not arrogant enough to think the position is lure enough to excite them, and if it did I am not sure if I would want them on my team. It also adds a lot of value to the recruiting process, I can recruit candidates that otherwise might not be accessible either due to competition or pay range. I want to hire passionate employees who add value to our mission and culture.
To many people, I am the first voice they hear of my company. This shapes my actions and my words drastically. Maybe they won’t get the job but if I am successful, they will go away an advocate of my company and my personal brand. This is my goal at the end of each and every screening interview.
Try to determine what cascading effect opportunities exist within a situation. Who knows what will happen in the future, who knows what social networks a person belongs too. Maybe, they are trusted friends with the perfect future employee. Or maybe, they will think about my company or me for future opportunities.
Unless you sit in a cube all day (and night), we all have the power to shape perception and therefore reality. Everyone one you meet has a neutral view of you and what you represent when you first meet them. Turn them into an advocate for your personal brand and your company.
The Lasting Tale of the Web
Posted by Dan Hall in Personal Brand, The Lasting Tale of the Web on March 17, 2008
I had a lively chat with my boss today about “The Lasting Tale of the Web,” that is the immortality of sorts that one achieves through active or reactive life events captured on the internet through various channels. We were talking specifically about the fusion of generational effects of social media and its impact on future employees (and our own children) as it relates to HR Management and Recruiting, i.e. young people doing stupid stuff on their myspace page or writing controversial articles for their school newspapers (he would kill me if I perpetuated such effects by linking to said article).
As a 
Seattle Recruiting Manager, I research every qualified candidate passing muster during my initial phone interview in a variety of manners (google, Yahoo!, myspace, facebook, LinkedIn). I start to think of friends that post pictures of their newborn babies and in effect capturing their lives on the web. In 20 years, there will be a whole generation of people whose lives will be fully accessible to people like me. Decisions to hire will be made with a dashboard that will scrape these historical media files along with previously posted resumes (think they don’t exist?), transcripts, performance evaluations (more discussions around this topic in the future), criminal and credit checks. And oh by the way, companies are already connecting your username with your real life identity.
In reseaching this fact that what is put on the web stays on the web. I read a very well written post by Mitch Joel called ”Your Blog – Your Personal Brand And The Big Long Beast That Is The Long Tail“
He is addressing Marketing, Communications, and PR professionals, but I strongly believe it applies to all of us including HR Managers.
“All of the content a Blogger creates is a reflection of their personal brand and, for most, the only reflection of who they are in everybody else’s eyes.
Blogging is still a relatively new channel. All of this content being created becomes part of your Personal Brand’s Long Tail. It will exist forever when somebody does any kind of search on you, and can be accessed by anyone looking for specific content that you Blogged about.”
Be careful of the personal brand that you put on the web, I (or someone like me) may be evaluating it.