Mediaboss Marketing

Q. Can I use social networking websites to screen potential job candidates?

Social networking websites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn provide a wealth of information to employers seeking to learn more about potential job candidates during the recruitment process. With that abundant amount of information, however, employers may gain knowledge that cannot be used in making employment determinations and could result in legal repercussions.

For example, an individual's online profile may show previous job experiences, educational background, or connections with other employees. On the other hand, such websites may reveal an individual's sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status and health issues. New Jersey's law against discrimination, as well as various federal statutes, prohibit employers from engaging in discrimination based on these and other characteristics when interviewing, recruiting, hiring, or promoting employees. Once the employer gains information about these traits while viewing an individual's social networking profile, it may prove impossible to separate that information from consideration during the hiring process.

How do employers take advantage of the vast amount of helpful information available through online social networking websites without transgressing the law and creating an opportunity for litigation? One potential solution is to implement a "screening" process to keep potentially problematic information from reaching those responsible for hiring decisions.

By designating one individual or a third party to conduct online searches of prospective employees, any "tainted" information can be removed from the search results. A separate individual or group could then interview candidates and make the ultimate hiring determination, thus insulating the process from the infected information. Employers should implement a company policy regarding how such information is gathered and reviewed during the employment process to avoid practices that could be viewed as discriminatory.

Because each business situation is unique, employers should consult with an attorney about drafting such a policy to meet the individual needs of his or her particular business.

Original post:
Careful Using Info on Social Media for Hiring

Corporate decision makers often believe that social networks will improve company culture. But their employees are far less positive about such effects.

The role of social networks in the enterprise so far has been an attempt to make hierarchies and business processes more transparent, democratic and community-building. While social network users have a place at all levels of a company, its part at the workplace is seen very differently depending on if they are highly-placed or closer to entry-level. The wide discrepancy between how these two sides of company staff illustrates how the executives who are implementing new social tools may not be addressing the needs of the employees who will actually be using them.

Executives and employees disagree

Deloittes recent survey, The Social Divideshows just how much employees and executives disagree when it comes to the role of social media in building workplace culture. Far more executives think that social media has a positive effect on workplace culture than employees do - 45 percent versus 27 percent. The same is true for its effect on increased management transparency - 38 percent versus 17 percent. Similarly, 41 percent of executives believe that social networking helps build workplace culture, but only 21 percent of employees agree.

Social media cant replace traditional methods

The value of a distinct workplace culture is something that all corporate roles can agree on- 94 percent of executives and 88 percent of employees believe it is important to business success. Organizations succeed when they value both strategy and culture, according to Deloitte, and executives seem to be searching for a quick solution. In the surveys findings, it is shown that executives may be using social media as a crutch in building workplace culture and appearing accessible to employees. This new tech does influence how people communicate, particularly the younger generation, but managers still must build trust through face-to-face meetings, live phone calls and personal messages.

Link:
Employees Less Supportive of Social Networking Than Executives

Facebook may test your patience from time to time, but unless youre engaged in the social networking sites multitude of interactive time wasters, theres not much to do but post photos and status updates. If youre the problem-solving type after a deeper online social experience, the newly-minted Hacker Rank might be for you.

A fun social platform for hackers to solve interesting puzzles, build quick hacks, code game bots and collaborate to solve real-world challenges, states the sites byline, positioned above an interactive, OS X-styled Terminal window. Hacker Rank is currently in beta and in order to get involved, youll need to figure out a logic puzzle.

Going by an earlier TechCrunch article, the site previously allowed users to solve the challenge before signing up. This has since been removed and now you must first login via the pseudo-console, at which point youll be able to put your brain power to work.

Despite the hacker moniker, you wont have to dust off your scripting abilities to get involved; the challenge simply requires you to remove x candies from a predetermined pool, with you and the AI taking alternating turns. Whoever takes the final candy is the winner.

Is there a market for a social networking site that includes a higher degree of thought than figuring out how youre going to tag your awkward drunken party photos? I think theres a yes in there somewhere.

Hacker Rank [via TechCrunch]

Link:
Hacker Rank, The Social Networking Site For Fun-Loving Ne’er-Do-Wells

I just returned from a wonderful week in Washington DC, where I gave workshops on social networking to scientists at the Fourth Biennial National IDeA Symposium of Biomedical Research Excellence (NISBRE). I was delightfully surprised that so many of the scientists there came to my workshop not only to learn, but to support the use of social networking in science what a good sign!

Anyhow, as a part of the workshop, I created a wiki jam-packed with just every resource I could find on social networking for researchers and educators. I shared it with the NISBRE folks, and now I want to share it with you.

The wiki is broken down into sub-categories, with pages for each of the major networks as well as general resources on the topic. I hope it will become not only a resource, but a place of discussion somewhere scientists from all backgrounds share their experiences and discuss how to use Web 2.0 tools effectively.

But, like any wiki, it needs input. What links have I missed? What other specific topics should I include? Whether youre a scientist who is contemplating jumping into the social media world, or an online guru with advice for beginners, your opinions are valued and desired. So head over to the wiki, become a member, and add your thoughts/links!

More Social Media for Scientists:

Read the rest here:
Social Media for Scientists Part 6: The Wiki

29-06-2012 04:19 5 Top Pinterest Tips For Marketers Pinterest is one of the fastest growing image-based social networking sites that not only offers a unique approach to the way that people communicate, but it offers incredible potential to maximize your business exposure and brand. Awareness It is a huge online social media pin board that has all sorts of recipes, art, pets, beauty, DIY, and anything else you can imagine -- it has been growing quickly (has over 2 million visits per day) and is especially popular with women. Another interesting point about Pinterest is many people that are actively involved on the site are not involved into the ocher social media sites such as Facebook. It is the uniqueness of Pinterest that is what makes it so appealing to many that would never participate on any of the other social media websites. Learning a few Pinterest tips can help you with your social media marketing and grow your business. Now, you must proceed with caution as the purpose of Pinterest is for personal use, not business or marketing use. But with some creativity, you can still use Pinterest for advertising certain types of business. Popular Pinterest Tips For Marketing * Everybody that opens an account gets their own boards and on these boards you can pin all sorts of images. You need to use original images rather than stock - yes it is more time consuming but originals get more hits. Of course, these images need to be in relation to your business or product ...

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Pinterest Tips | 5 Top Pinterest Tips For Marketers - Video