Posts Tagged “Facebook”

A lot has been written about Web 2.0 applications and their ability to build employee engagement. I agree – but my eyes are wide-open regarding publicly viewable sites. There are some less-than-noble people who are exploiting Facebook for their own purposes. Let me explain.

My daughter was recently accepted to a college on an early decision basis. One of her first moves was to search Facebook for her new class / school group. Interestingly, there were two. As it turns out, one group was formed by some new students. The other group was formed as part of a viral marketing campaign by a company interested in targeting college students. Not only had this company formed a group at my daughter’s school, they had formed a group for over 200 schools.

If you would like to see how Web 2.0 really works, this post shows how the company behind the viral marketing campaign effort was “busted.” A group of students and administrators worked together to identify, investigate and expose the program in a matter of hours. It is a fascinating read. It took the Journal of Higher Education quite a few days to catch on.

A few thoughts:

• Think twice before you start to bend the internet’s rules. You will get caught and you will be embarrassed.
• Know that somebody will be targeting your employees. A Facebook group for General Electric Finance is filled with recruiters looking for candidates and “students” looking for information about “business models.”

“Managing the message” is incredibly hard in a Web 2.0 world, but ignoring what is happening out there is not smart. Somebody in your organization needs to be responsible for watching what is happening and acting appropriately.

This post is not intended to be an analytical review of demographic differences. The sample size is essentially one, my daughter – and a few of her friends. Today’s high school seniors are different than those in the past, and their behavior will seem mighty strange when they hit the business world in five years.

E-mail is so yesterday – The only reason to look at an e-mail account is to communicate with somebody older than 35. There are no e-mails to peers.

The cellphone is primarily for texting – If I text her, I get an immediate response. My calls go unanswered however. It isn’t just my calls, she isn’t attuned to the sound of her own ringer.

Facebook changes the rules – She has “friends” she doesn’t and won’t talk to. Let me explain: A neighbor’s 18 year-old daughter was led away in handcuffs. The handcuffed girl attends a different school than my daughter and they are far from friendly. Here are the surprises…

• They were Facebook friends. Not only were these two “friends,” but I found my daughter had many other “friends” she never spoke to. The biggest shock was she was “friends” with the captain of the archrival school’s basketball team. They elbow each other all night, never speak, and “friend” each other.
• The girl shared things on Facebook my generation would have definitely kept quiet. Our scandals were definitely hushed up.

At a minimum, businesses will need to change how to communicate with employees. Definitions of acceptable behavior will be challenged as well.

By the way, she already knows demographics are on her side. She knows baby boomers are retiring and will be looking for as many young workers as they can get. She has also been studying Chinese for the last four years. Assuming past performance is an indicator of future success, she will be highly marketable. She thinks my generation will change – not hers.

Young and cocky is not a new combination. Fundamentally changing the “what” and “how” of communication is.