A Consultant's Chronicles

Facebook & Today's Workforce

In earlier posts I have written about the fact that while social media sites like Facebook & Twitter represent fabulous marketing venues for individuals & [small] business, they are also not without business peril. There have been some notable examples of how people err on these sites because they blur the lines between professional & personal life. This merging of the public & private spheres of life is like a giant pothole on these sites, which is to say the problem is easily seen yet people stumble anyway. Until recently, I have only been involved with professionally oriented sites where everyone's guard is up. However, now that I am on Facebook, I see just how easily those lines can be crossed in a way that could be harmful to a career. A picture posted of someone smoking a bong is probably not their ticket to the corner office.  Should that be the case?

The Facebook Faux Pas: A Dealmaker Or A Deal-breaker

There is a school of thought representing the belief that as people become more at home with social media, the "Facebook online faux pas" will become a mere "blip on the radar screen;'' others maintain that if online indiscretions don't interfere with their work performance, it shouldn't matter.  I believe this view to be naive & self-serving. Allow me to explain. Part of what employers & [potential] colleagues  look for is how you handle yourself in every setting especially personal ones. Why? It's a window into what you will be like to work with as well as providing a feel for your ethics & moral compass. For example, how do you treat the wait staff when dining out with the boss, do you cheat at golf, do you drink too much at business mixers? These are all "real life" examples of where professional & personal boundaries cross & as a consequence, fairly or not, we are judged accordingly. Social media just provides another venue for more information. Is your input responsive, communicative, and a reflection of good judgment or is it immature and unprofessional? Does it matter? In my view, absolutely. Can a Facebook or Twitter post be a dealmaker or deal-breaker; without a doubt-just ask "Cisco Fatty!" She lost her job as the result of "140 characters or less!" 

Line of the Week 8-02-09

This week's line of the week belongs to op-ed columnist for the New York Times, Gail Collins. While noting that this week represented the 89th birthday for the matriarch of the White House press corps Helen Thomas, Collins described a conversation she had with the beloved journalist about covering stories during the Kennedy administration. According to Thomas, in those days, the press was so hungry for any story about the Kennedys that they were even willing to write about Caroline's hamster. Comparing things back then to the White House coverage today, Collins said:

"...This sort of thing would of course never happen now because the hamster would have its own Facebook fan page, updated hourly..."

We might not like to admit it but this is one of those quips that has far more than "a grain of truth!"

Business & Social Media: Bound Together In A New Economy'

If you've been following my blog with any regularity you know that I have written a lot about social media recently. It's not because sites like Facebook, YouTube, & now Twitter are the "in thing." As we all know, They've been around for a while plus trends come & go. The reasons are bigger & more far-reaching. Aside from the fact that these sites enable us to stay connected with more of the people we know than ever before, they are also a significant gift to business, especially small business. Why? Because it gives smaller businesses an opportunity to compete for huge numbers of clients on the same playing field as their larger & therefore stronger competitors at little or no cost.

Working In A 'Trust Economy' 

It's no accident that a recent headline story in BusinessWeek asked, "what's a friend worth?" It's important to note that the word *friend* here is loosely defined as simply someone you know & it doesn't matter how superficially you know them. You don't even have to "directly know them." According to frequent blogger Rachel Zupek, when it comes to Facebook it's pretty easy to get involved in the lives of people you never met just because they know the neighbor's cousin who used to be your brother's frat brother in college or some such distant & weird link. Clearly, these connections may not be the same people you would choose to spend your free time with or those you know best but being connected has it's benefits. 

Defining A 'Friend' 

What counts as a friend according to this new definition? A close or distant Facebook/Twitter link is perfect. Another example might be those people you met so briefly at a networking event that you barely had time to exchange business cards. Then there's a friend of a friend's brother who went to the same college you did [different graduating class]. No matter, they can be a legitimate connection. The point here is that social networking is about building relationships. For a small business, in today's new 'trust' economy, the companies with the deepest & broadest network are most likely to have the greatest opportunity to either build or maintain their customer base. Whether or not you are a business owner or "just another working stiff", having a solid network will keep you in the game especially in  these financially challenging times.  Feeling a little lost in the weeds? I can relate. While I'm not new to social media, I am new to Facebook. While I love the idea that I can now more easily stay in touch with friends & associates, the fact that it creates yet another opportunity to market my business online is what "sealed the deal" for me. Luckily there's lots of help [free & fee based] out there to assist "newbies" like myself to navigate the rocks & shoals" of marketing your business online. Hubspot is my personal favorite but there are certainly many other options.

Line of the Week 7-12-09

This week's line of the week belongs to Ben Mezrich, the author of one of this summer's hottest reads The Accidental Billionaires which chronicles the creation of Facebook. When asked to compare Twitter to Facebook, Mezrich said:

"...Twitter is the Macarena of the internet..."

I'm not sure if he meant that it was simply a fleeting fad or a fad that nonetheless had intrinsic sex appeal [even to geezers] or maybe something completely different! Any ideas? 

Line of the Week 6-14-09

This week's line of the week doesn't come from a famous columnist, author, or blogger but rather your classic "average guy" responding to the cover story for BusinessWeek about social networking. It asked the question "what's a friend worth [today]?" Put another way, how can we both profit & learn from our social conections. It appears that Utah's David Farnsworth was upset by the loose use of the word "friend" {& about this he & I can agree in principle]. Therefore he sent the magazine some feedback in the form of a George Washington quote. While the line clarifies the concept of friendship as it is most commonly known, it does something else.  In today's parlance, it also speaks to the distinction between a longtime friend & someone you have recently "friended online." As our first president points out, the difference can be profound. According to Farnsworth, he said:

"...True friendship is a plant of slow growth, and must undergo and withstand the shocks of adversity before it is entitled to the appellation..."

I count myself truly fortunate to have a good many of these "plants," which is lucky for me because when it comes to the "potted" variety, I have a nearly indisputable "black thumb!"

Social Networking: How 'MyLife' Makes a Profit From Your Life

A couple of months ago I wrote a post about a social networking site I hadn't heard of before called MyLife. Because my information was in the address book of an acquaintance, I was allegedly "friended." I didn't act on it & I later learned from the same acquaintance that she hadn't actually sent or authorized the email. In fact, the attempt was the result of a virus so I dodged a bullet. MyLife has long been associated with viruses according to information online including reliable sources like Snopes.

Your Identity Sold For A Price

In the last month I have noticed that my earlier post has garnered a lot of interest so recently I decided that some follow-up was in order. I found some alarming news about the site. According to Flip The Media, while it is indeed a very real social networking site, it is also something else. Formerly known as reunion.com, a site well reviewed as a major scam, it is a social aggregator collecting people to its site with all the personal information it can possibly gather, it sells off that information to anyone willing to pay the price. Since it's an actual site, I thought that this is probably disclosed but tucked away somewhere in the legal mumbo jumbo every site makes you agree to before joining. However, when I checked Wikipedia I discovered what while they *promise* to respect your privacy, they view promises the way  one of Russia's best lnown revolutionaries Vladimi Lenin did, which is that they believe that "[promises] are like pie crusts & therefore made to be broken." Not only do they reveal private information but are also known to engage in email spoofing [aka "phishing"].  Bottom line: I'd personally view it more like the "dysfunctional relation" to sites like Facebook & Twitter so "buyer beware" because MyLife makes a profit from selling your life.

PS. Based on further examination, I would put Classmates. com in the very same category as MyLife which is a social networking site with a heavy emphasis on profiting from you [legitimately or not] while providing you with very real privacy concerns, phishing, & email scams as a result.  

Viruses & Social Networking: Beware Making Your Life 'MyLife'

Given all the talk about the swine flu and how it is transmitted, you'd think that at least contacting people in your social circles would not present a threat. Wrong! Recently I received an email from an acquaintance asking me to do the equivalent of "friending her" on a site called 'MyLife.' What was my response? First, I'd never heard of MyLife but more importantly, this was a distant acquaintance & I barely have the time to keep up with the social networking sites I am on [not to mention the few I am considering joining]. Therefore given that this one just didn't even make my "radar screen" I opted to pass on the offer. I got repeated requests in my email box & although I felt badly about it, I simply just didn't have the time or the inclination. My lack of time proved to be lucky for me.

Don't Open Your Life To 'MyLife'

This morning I happened to run into this very same acquaintance & according to her, she never sent out any such request. She said it was a virus that sent a message to everyone in her address book [I was not the first person to mention this to her]. I never opened it so I was safe. Moreover, so were the people in MY address book. Since then I have checked Google & Snopes. According to Google, there is indeed a site called www.mylife.com. Is it the same site? I don't know & didn't want to risk finding out. Why? According to Snopes, the "mylife virus" is legitimate as well and has been around for a few years. It is not exactly "harmless" in that it peroiodically tries to re-format drives & delete files. Sound familiar? Click here to see if "your [computer] life now belongs to someone else!" 

Twitter & Business: One Foolish 'Tweet' & You'll Never Be Back

While I am in the "social networking pool" I am not [yet] on Twitter. Why? There are a lot of reasons not the least of which is that somehow I can't grasp the idea that perfect strangers would be interested in what I am doing at any given moment [in 140 characters or less of course]. There's also a little thing called time. How do I find the time to write my blog if I have to 'tweet' about writing my blog first? Clearly I am missing something. Then again maybe it's like being a new driver when at first it's overwhelming to think about all that you have to do in addition to actually driving the car [shift gears, check the mirrors, the speedometer, etc] but I digress... Whether I actually join Twitter doesn't change the fact that the growing frequency of poor professional judgment when using it or other social networking tools today is pretty astonishing. This seems especially true on Twitter perhaps because of its brevity & speed of transmission.

One Foolish 'Tweet' & You'll Never Be Back

Recently I wrote a post about the person who was fired soon after being hired by Cisco because of a stupid 'tweet'; as a result the nickname of "Cisco Fatty" was born. This morning I was talking to a friend who is in the business & he told me of yet another case, this time involving another large well-known company. Apparently some businessman flew to their home office located in a small southern town attempting to recruit a new client. When he arrived, he sent a 'tweet' complaining about the town saying something along the lines of hoping he never had to return to this godforsaken place. After giving his presentation & returning home, his pitch was declined so this way "he'd never have to return to that godforsaken place again" [& by the way, they thought his presentation wasn't any good]. Quite sensibly since they were doing business with him, they were following his 'tweets.' I guess they didn't appreciate his disrespect when it came to their hometown. Again, it really reflects much more than disrespect. It's a sign of poor judgment as well as a lack of professionalism.

Treat Your Online Profile Like Your Credit Report

It never really is "just business" especially in today's hi-tech world! These days people research each other for personal reasons so they are certainly going to do it for professional ones spanning Google, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn & other sites like them. This is precisely why it's important to treat your online profile like your credit report-guard it with your life. In the case of Twitter, when part of the premise is to "have followers," don't 'tweet' anything that will give your [professional] followers cause to "bite you from the rear!"   

Fired Because of Social Networking: The Lesson of 'Cisco Fatty'

This morning I read an article about what has to be one of the all time dumb mistakes made by a [new] employee so it was no surprise to me that her actions got her fired. When employees or job-hunters post silly things on the net, it should be clear by now that doing so is at your own peril. Like your personal reputation & your credit score, increasingly today you also have to preserve your online profile [to the extent that you can; sometimes there are things posted about you that are beyond your control].

Cisco Fatty & Her Big Bucks

Let's use the now infamous case of Cisco Fatty as an example. Who? Cisco Fatty is a real person who has a real name [which I have elected not to reveal here] but she got it because after getting hired by Cisco, she sent out the following 'tweet:'

"...Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work..." 

That's the kind of dialogue that you have privately with family & friends not something you share with 5000 of your nearest & dearest online or anyone who can Google. Upon reading these very public "pearls of wisdom" someone at Cisco got hold of the hiring manager & in a New York minute Cisco Fatty was kicked to the curb.

The 'Facebook Faux Pas' Meets the 'Tweet' 

Apparently now you can be fired faster using Twitter than if you make a Facebook faux pas, which has gotten more than a few people separated from their jobs as well. An expert on social networking maintains that as we all get increasingly more comfortable with social networking soon this will be a mere blip on the radar screen but I disagree. Quite aside from the fact that no company will look kindly on negative PR no matter the reason, source, or intent, professionally thoughtless "tweets" or Facebook entries reflect something far more significant. They tell the employer that the author lacks loyalty, discretion, &/or judgment. That kind of assessment has nothing to do with comfort with the internet & its tools. To the contrary; the reason why people get "caught in the act" is precisely because these days, the boss is online too.

Separate the Public from the Private

Remember, separate what can be public from what needs to be private [read: unwritten]  & remember the internet axiom: never write [or show] anything online that you wouldn't show to your mother.

Note: This post has been updated in order to correct the pronouns which were incorrect. My apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.

Old Media, New Medium

Yesterday I watched an interesting discussion about the future of print media in the form of an interview with liberal Christie Hefner, currently at the Center for American Progress but probably best known as the former CEO of Playboy enterprises. She was asked if it was possible to successfully monetize information on the net. While Hefner believes there will always be a strong print component to media, she concedes that it will be narrower because only the strong brands will be able to survive. As a function of brand power, Hefner believes that print media will be able to productively converge with online media. As an example she cites the ability to download segments of newspapers or magazines on a Kindle. She supported her opinion by quoting Google CEO Eric Schmidt who said in a recent conference that absent faith in proven brands, the internet can be likened to a cesspool. I agree but only to a point. I don’t think that’s the whole story.

Don't Forget Those Who Do the Legwork

Hefner's view also converges in some ways with a recent article by syndicated conservative columnist Kathleen Parker who argues for the survival of the old media. Parker is a realist not "an ostrich with her head in the sand" but makes the fair point that much of the information we get online originally comes from the "foot soldiers" of the old media. She isn’t referring to the big household names that we see on TV or even those who get to deliver news from the Middle East or from disasters across the country. Instead Parker is referencing the local [not to mention underpaid] journalists who attend school board meetings & do small time police/court reporting among many other less glamorous assignments. 

Ipods & Cars

Without the old media doing the legwork, there would be no Huffington Post or Digg or Daily Beast. Why? They are mostly dependent upon the labors of the traditional media for their source material. The old media clearly has to update its business model for online delivery but the changes are closer in nature to transitioning from the CD to the Ipod than changing from the horse & buggy to a motor driven car. In the first example, someone still has to make something to be delivered even though the delivery system itself has become more efficient. I think we need to find a business model that blends the very best of these information sources or more simply put, the old media needs a new moneymaking medium.