An Overview of
Social Networking &
Human Resources
by Connie Crosby
for ITAC HR Forum
Information Technology Association of Canada
Toronto
September 17, 2009

social networking =
Web 2.0
social media
new media

Poll: How many of you
are on Facebook,
MySpace, Twitter,
LinkedIn?

A Very Brief Tour

Facebook

home - personal news feed

personal profile

Facebook Page

Facebook Group - http://www.facebook.com/dellcanada

MySpace

Personal profile

Musical artist pages

Corporate recruitment

LinkedIn

home (Network Updates)

Personal public profile

Companies page (top)

Companies page (bottom)

Job postings

Twitter

Twitter stream for individual

Stream of followers’ tweets

YouTube

Videos - easy to repost with Embed code

Videos - easy to repost with Embed code

Channels - customizable for brands

Brand advertising

Flickr

Photosharing + social networking

Create sets & slide shows

Individual photos

Set copyright - restrictive or more open

Privacy settings: only you, family, friends, or anyone

“Blog this”

Blogs

http://www.yorku.ca/ddoorey/lawblog/

http://www.donnasealeconsulting.typepad.com/

• posts in order by date
• most recent posts at top
• comments
• promote openness, transparency

Wikis

http://www.hr.com - HR articles

http://www.hr.com - article example

http://www.hr.com - edit wiki

http://www.hr.com - rate article

• easy-to-edit website
• anyone who has permission can edit
• you decide what is shown up top
• you create website structure
• promotes collaboration

Podcasts

• audio or video
• a “show” with multiple episodes
• listen/watch on the Internet or
• listen/watch with your iPod
• find on iTunes & other sites

TriNet HR Minute - http://www.trinet.com

HR Today Podcast - http://www.humanresourcesiq.com

Find podcasts by browsing

Find podcasts by searching

Screencasts

• video of screen + audio
• training
• self-serve for employees

Screencast demo from Adobe Captivate

Questions?

Where are IT Folk ?

Forums &
message boards

Tech support forums

Personal interest forums

Email Discussion
Groups

Google Groups

Yahoo Groups

Email lists/listservs

Gaming &
Virtual Worlds

World of Warcraft (WoW)

Inside WoW

Second Life

Open Source
Movement

Firefox - browser

Wordpress - blogging platform

Barcamp Movement

• “unconference” movement
• whoever shows up are the right people
• they talk about what they need to talk
about
• everyone contributes
• free or nominal cost

barcamp in Toronto = TorCamp

PodCamp - social media unconference

Beta Testing New Sites

test - give feedback - get first access

...or not online

Real life outside of the Web!

...or maybe not

Questions?

Business Use of Social
Networks

Rogers

Molson Coors
• focused on community outreach
• started with blogging
• @MolsonFerg on Twitter
• story told in Twitterville by Shel Israel

http://blog.molson.com/community/

http://twitter.com/molsonferg

Ford
• hired Canadian-based Social Media Group
• social media press release (SMPR)
• blogger outreach
• hired well-known Scott Monty for U.S.

Social Media Press Release - http://ford.digitalsnippets.com/

Freshbooks
• Internet-based billing service
• Toronto based
• customers worldwide
• customer service focus
• talk to customers where they are e.g.
Twitter

http://twitter.com/freshbooks

Radian6
• social media monitoring tool
• based in New Brunswick
• help other companies listen to
conversations on the web

http://www.radian6.com

Social Networks Inside
the Organization
• Twitter equivalents (e.g.Yammer) - one to
many, email & chat alternative

Social Networks Inside
the Organization
• Twitter equivalents (e.g.Yammer) - one to
many, email & chat alternative
• Blogs - communication & information
delivery

Social Networks Inside
the Organization
• Twitter equivalents (e.g.Yammer) - one to
many, email & chat alternative
• Blogs - communication & information
delivery
• Wikis - collaborative work, policy
development

Social Networks Inside
the Organization
• Twitter equivalents (e.g.Yammer) - one to
many, email & chat alternative
• Blogs - communication & information
delivery
• Wikis - collaborative work, policy
development
• Training - podcasts, screencasts, video

Time to set social
networking policies?

HR Use of Social
Networks
• Internal Communication
• Policies & Procedures
• Training
• Recruitment

HR - Internal
Communication
• Blogs
• Wikis
• Podcasts - e.g. Trafcom.com

HR - Policies &
Procedures
• Wikis for policy development
• Wikis for current procedures

HR - Training
• webinar training over distance
• screencasts
• employees learn at their own pace

HR - Recruitment
• locating candidates - go where they are
online
• Job Resource Board - http://
torontogirlgeekdinners.pbworks.com/Job
+Resource+Board
• turn existing staff & alumni into evangelists

HR - Candidate checking
• search social networks
• use as supporting evidence
• nobody is perfect
• Facebook is a grey area

How are you using
social networks?

Questions?

Thank you!
Connie Crosby
Crosby Group Consulting
http://crosbygroup.ca
conniecrosby@gmail.com
416-919-6719