Social media honeypot

This infographic from the social media monitoring firm Reppler illustrates statistically how recruiters screen job seekers based on their social media presence. LinkedIn figures in the mix, but personal sites (Facebook, Twitter) loom larger in recruiters' scrutiny.

The statistics in and comments on the graphic reveal some obvious points and some larger points:

• It's a Put Yourself Out There World! BTW, your drunk, naked, racist, cretinous, provocative, impolitic, uncool, weakness-revealing posts will haunt your future. 
• Many social media users don't know how or haven't made the effort to protect their privacy using settings or pseudonyms. Read the directions. Think before you act. 
• In the latest employer's market in the history of the world, employers are using the latest means to sort the wheat from the chaff. The march of history and all that. 
• The architects of social media, for good or ill, have succeeded in collapsing our far-flung relationships into a small town. No secrets, nowhere to hide. Scarlet Lettersville.

As a communications professional I'm very much in the minority among peers because I've declined to get on Facebook and Twitter. This has disqualified me from consideration in several marketing jobs, particularly in B2C. Still, it's a small price to pay for a little privacy and the editorial gratification of denying eternal life to those myriad random expressions, half-thoughts, pure piffle and TMI blunders that (who knew?) are actually being scrutinized.

A final point on an earlier post on editorial best practices in infographics: Note that our subject graphic has both a title and a credit line embedded in the artwork, ensuring its editorial integrity as it gets republished here and numerous elsewheres in the behavioral archive of our world that we call the internet.


   

Internet ads up in down ad market. Share will grow.

Internet Strong Amid Tepid 2010 Ad Recovery : MarketingProfs

A decent snapshot of ad spending trends by media and region. And some ammunition for those of us who are bullish on a future in which the web unequivocally supplants print as the main platform for the professional news industry.

Humanizing brands

A recent article in Ad Age made me step back from my skepticism about the value of social applications (like Twitter). On one hand, they're the rage. On the other, they can be creepy (Remember way back, like, a year ago, when it wasn't that desirable to have someone following you wherever you went?) The question persists: How do we connect with a growing online audience? The answer offered by the article is to simply be human, rejecting the hyped-up, aggressive marketing models for pushing your corporate reputation. Connect with your audience members on their terms and engage them rather than attack them with a targeted message.

When I created a Facebook group and page for Amalgam, as well as this blog, I was apprehensive that we would be perceived as trying too hard, but in truth, we are showing that we're not just a company on a directory list. We are not just faces on a website. We are people with viewpoints!

Related to reaching an audience on its own terms, Fallon just launched Skimmer, a new free app that gives users one interface to keep up to date with their various social networks. Emphasis on "free". This humanizes Fallon as a brand because they recognize the need of consumers. Said Fallon creative director Chris Wiggins in a MinnPost article today: "Our overarching philosophy at Fallon is that for ad agencies to continue in the same direction — interrupting people with what they're engaged in to deliver a message — isn't effective now and is becoming less so all the time, especially with today's socially connected people online. Interruptions work if the message is entertaining enough (which also hints at deeper meaning with the brand), but it's just not enough and is far too limiting."

Crazy for Twitter?

Check out the new Forrester Research study about the rise of social media spending. The economic downturn has forced marketers (and most everyone) to be more innovative. It's accepted wisdom that creativity flourishes in hard times.

BUT, is the rise of social media a great leap forward for a beleaguered economy? Or is is just fulfilling a human need for outrageous speculation? Evan and I are both a little skeptical about applications like Twitter. How long will people stay excited about participating in an information community of 98-percent blather? And yet recent numbers from Nielsen Online show that it is growing at 1,382%. While we at Amalgam are questioning this trend, it makes us no less inquisitive about it than everyone else in the digital world. I tweet, I link in, I facebook, I blog.

So: Can social media balance its truly social beginnings with being a workaday marketing tool?