Tag Archive for 'Facebook'

Facing the New Facebook

Published
by
Kristen
on September 17, 2008
in News and Smart Talk
. 13 Comments

I didn’t score that high on my verbal SATs but I think I can manage a simple analogy here.  Coffee:Social Networking :: Starbucks:Facebook.

Why do we love Facebook?  It’s not because you can poke someone on the other side of the world.  It’s not because for months you’ve been able to plant a comical or raunchy bumper sticker on your friend’s wall.  And it’s certainly not because you can view advertisements that “magically” speak to your exact age and music tastes.

We love Facebook because we are naturally vain creatures!  We love reconnecting with every name we’ve ever come in contact with and watching our friends count grow by the hundreds. We love filling out our profile with bands that show how cool we are or quotes that demonstrate our intellectual depth.  We love that fuzzy feeling when someone writes on our wall (isn’t that why we initiate the conversation on someone else’s wall to begin with!?).  And we definitely can’t wait to open up that picture that was just tagged of us - even if we untag it immediately because we look fat or possessed.

The original Facebook was about us. It was our platform to make ourselves look however stylish/ smart/ talented/ contemporary/ friendly/ professional/ original/ single/ in-a-relationship that we wanted to.  Facebook was the tool.  We were the artists.

The new Facebook is about how stylish/ smart/ talented/ contemporary/ friendly/ professional/ original that the creators of Facebook are.  Facebook has become the artist. And every time I’ve signed on since the “facelift,” I feel like the tool.

Starbucks had an amazing business growing from just its simplest offering - consistently good coffee.  Then the corporate office’s head got bigger than a venti and as we all know, the buck isn’t stopping there like it used to.

Mark (Zuckerberg) my words, Facebook’s fate is soon to follow…

Agree of disagree?

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Inspired by Fast Talk Question: Has Facebook made a huge mistake in taking away its old design?  FastCompany. 

So-shall Net-work for Recruiting?

Published
by
Kristen
on August 1, 2008
in News and Smart Talk
. 9 Comments

A blog was recently posted on Fast Company by a job recruiting expert/ Internet skeptic, titled “Can Facebook Really Replace Employment Firms?”   

Well, did Match.com or eHarmony replace your best friend trying to set you up with “someone that would be perrrrrfect!?”  No.

BUT what match.com and eHarmony did do was give us singles a little hope that there is a vast supply of people out there looking for relationships.  Sometimes Internet dating works.  Sometimes it doesn’t.  Most importantly here though is that no commitment is made off of an Internet profile.  Until a social ceremonial site is launched whereby two computer-savvy individuals can walk their alter-egos down a virtual aisle while guests can click on a link to watch the e-wedding, we still have to meet the person who’s behind the screen and go through the process of dating.

It’s the same with employment firms.  Even if Mark Zuckerberg created the SUPER-POKING-JOB-SEEKING-WALL application for Facebook, eventually the candidate has to go into the office and go through the process of applying for the job. 

So shouldn’t we view social networking as a gift to employment firms? Not a threat!  Decision makers who are hiring at non-recruiting companies don’t really want to design their profiles to appease the 20-something job seeker anyway.   They’re more interested in posting pictures of their kids for their long lost friends that they just reconnected with, on Facebook nonetheless, to see.

Employment firms have an opportunity now to explore these Internet tools to better their jobs so that they can better the jobs of their clients and their candidates. 

So far, it’s working for us at EntreQuest.  Our networks on Facebook and LinkedIn have brought in outstanding Truby candidates for our clients. 

No comment on the dating candidates the Internet is bringing us singles though…

——————-

Inspired by “Can Facebook Really Replace Employment Firms?”  By Tom Stern.  Fast Company.  FastCompany.com.