Human Resource Management Weds Social Media

Yes! That’s right finally Social Media has come to an age and it’s getting into an alliance with Human Resource Management (HRM) for a lifelong mutually beneficial partnership. Funny right? Now why I’m really excited about this whole engagement? Wasn't it always there in existence?

My answer to the first question has two very strong reasons – first, I come from the HR Background with around 10+ yrs of seeing THIS and doing THAT, and second is that I was one of the early adopters of Social Media way back in 2005 when Orkut & Hi5 (names sounds familiar, huh?) were the leaders in the social media space. The reason why I adopted social media into my profession is simple – both deal with networking, people and communication.

Coming to the second question, a BIG yes! In what I can take a privilege to say is that the romantic affair between HRM & Social Media was on-going since ages, but only now has Social Media matured to address all the needs, demands and maneuvers of HR management. The symbiosis between these two is highly fruitful considering their affinity and compatibility.

Since then each year at this time, I look forward to and habitually predict trends between social media & HR for the coming year. The year 2011 has been one of the most phenomenal year for the Social Media business. It was more focused on the essential factors like User Experience, User Interface, Content Curation, Social Network Mediation, Cross function usability and the most important of all which is also an icing on the cake is Social Media Intelligence and Analytics coming into existence. Now that promises a wonderful and exciting 2012.

Since the dotcom bubble exploded the job boards are on their way to being an obsolete channel to hire people by advertising jobs/vacancies. As a matter of fact a lot of job boards are mutating into the Social Media way to survive this change. In recent times a lot has been written and spoken about social media on the HR practice but honestly I’d confess that very little has been done towards it. For some reason my fellow HR folks did not opt to jump into the Social Media bandwagon early; the reasons of which can be listed and I’d be discussing them in my following post.

Speaking of the future of this great lovely wedding, I think it’s going to be wonderful in every aspect of HR (Recruitment, Employee/Employer branding, Employee Engagement, Training, Organizational Development, Corporate Communication, Thought Leadership, Exit Interview and even Alumni Engagement).

LinkedIn is a classic example of this marriage. It started off as a professional social networking portal but today it has the capacity to do recruitment, advertise jobs, enable employment and background checks, Increase credibility of individuals and companies, create a discussion groups or forums…. Sky is the limit! Now most of the companies do about 12% - 16% of their leadership hiring though LinkedIn; 70% of people use it for job hunting while 80% of the recruiters use it for recruiting or recruitment related networking. I really love the way LinkedIn evolved over these years from just a professional networking portal to a Social CRM that it is today.

Twitter is yet another social networking tool that is equipping itself towards this maneuver. In spite of it being a micro-blogging site with a limitation of 140 characters per tweet, it had its own share of contribution to the universe of Social Media – Collaboration and Cross functional synergies. Today Twitter when combined with a blog (blogger, wordpress and likes) is the most powerful form of propagating communication of any form. Lots of businesses have started tweeting on their vacancies, corporate announcements, employee branding. Talking of tweeter I’d be committing a crime not to mention its new twitter avatar with killer features like embedding tweets and new set of widget buttons. It speaks of the evolution of Social Media

Facebook which is considered an undisputed giant in the social media space still has a long way to go in being considered a focused contributor in the HRM maneuvers but it is definitely not going to lose the race. Most of the businesses are opting for a Facebook page today to engage employees, increase employer branding, propagate their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives or even their work culture. Best part about Facebook is that it’s loaded with all possible cosmetics – Photos, Videos, Blogs, Games, even analytics! The reason why it’s not so much in vogue amongst the professional circles is that most if the times these cosmetic features tend to be a major distraction. But as a social media enthusiast I always counter this problem with a simple statement that “Tools are tools, the real problem is the person who is opting to use it or abuse it.”

To conclude, one thing that is for certain is that this marriage is definitely fruitful and the by-products are really promising and exciting from what I envision. It is beneficial for all industries, niches and anyone who embraces it, and 2012 seems to a year when this “newlywed couple” would enjoy their honeymoon period to enhance the synergies and mutual understand each other before they actually get settled with some serious business ahead.

Can Social Media ever have an Academic Purpose?

I still remember the days back when I was in school & the teacher would pass out handouts & fliers  These fliers contained information on school events, fundraisers and other important events. Then came the internet in the late 90’s. It was wholeheartedly adopted by Academic institutions and it changed the way they communicate. Search Engine friendly websites and online knowledge database came into being thanks to Google. Exam results, grades and other important announcements were shared on the websites or via emails or via SMS.

Today we’re in the world of web2.0 where the World Wide Web has gone beyond just content sharing. It has now become personal by enabling collaboration and networking. With powerful Social Networking Sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, Orkut that enable Sharing of videos & content, publishing of research, knowledge sharing and community discussion, It is my belief that Social Media is an ideal platform for Education Sector to adopt.

To further justify this belief, a simple fact that while I am writing this article there are about 9.2 million Facebook users that are between the age group of 13-23 years which makes it the largest group on Facebook that dominates about 40% of total users.

I guess this simple statistic with the fact that the Social Media Landscape today is all equipped to serve as a powerful tool for collaboration and what could soon become the greatest educational instrument ever created.

Problems with Technology in The Education System

When I first started reading into the problems educational institutes have had with technology in the past, much of it seemed to revolve around the misuse of technological tools by the teachers, the students or the administration.

For example, academic administrators fear that by having computers in the classroom, students will be tempted to play games, instant message with their friends, or even look at pornography instead of paying attention to the instructions that are being given in the classroom.

While these fears may sound a little absurd to someone like me who knows how to use these new technological tools appropriately, the fears and concerns expressed above are founded in reality.

That being said, most (if not all) of these cases were created because of an error made by a person – not a machine! The tools are not the problem. The people are the problem.

How Social Media Should Be Used For Education and Community Outreach?

That being said, I think social media, the Internet and technology in general is giving schools an incredible opportunity to communicate with their parents, teachers, and students in a way that has never been done in the past.

The fact of the matter is, the way we communicate and interact with the people around us is becoming ever more transparent. The worlds between work and play are colliding. The lines between business and personal are being crossed and the way things were done in the past won’t be possible in the future – unless, of course, you disconnect yourself from the grid entirely.

If our education system is ever going to catch up with the rest of society and jump on board the Web 2.0 bandwagon, we’ve got to change the way we think about technology in our classrooms and in our community. We can no longer view the Internet as something for the home, because it isn’t!

I honestly believe that if these new online technologies were used appropriately in the classroom, students could learn more on the Internet in a matter of weeks than they could learn in a traditional classroom in a matter of years. The trick to this progression in thinking and learning, however, is an appropriate use and understanding of how the Internet and the new social medial tools are meant to be used.

Social Media to revolutionize the Healthcare and Medical Devices Space.

As more and more companies today realize the potential of Marketing and communication of Social Media, tools like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ have become a way of life and a powerful economic driving force.

Today a mind boggling number of 80% online users search of healthcare information on the web. Look back and I’m sure even you would have just googled information on some drug or medical equipment and read the comments and reviews left by the other online users. Lots of people in this way are referred to healthcare resources through friends on their social network.

As a matter of fact, Social Media is expected be one of the fastest growing professions by 2018 according to an independent survey by Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Social Media isn’t just face of the Marketing World. I believe it will have a huge impact in the realm of all the cycle of healthcare and medical equipments or devices.

Below are few of the pointers I carry as a vision on impact of Social Media on Healthcare and Medical devices sector:

1. It would enable all the Healthcare Professional and Medical Devices Engineers to collaborate in a single channel leading to better service and product development real-time. This also opens up a channel of Knowledge transfer and exchange of ideas for a greater and faster growth.
2. Might sound a little weird but Social Media can even enable patients suffering from serious diseases to network and share their experiences with one another. This has a psychological effect on improved health as they feel less alone and isolated. Also they can be updated about all the developments and advancement in the Medical Treatment and research space.
3. Social Media would enable a unified voice for better healthcare initiatives. Users of social media have become the new watchdogs of industry. Patients and clients can use their power as part of an online social network to advocate better practices and expose abuses of the health care system. Research that once would have taken hours, or even days to track down in a library is readily available and ripe for sharing. This will lead to more educated patients willing to ask tough questions of medical professionals and health care providers.
4. Social media will attract people who want to hear from someone they can relate to. Often, in the heath care world, customers and patients feel like they are being talked down to or not taken seriously by authorities in the medical, professional and government realm.
5. Finally on the wholistic view point, Social Media can also help develop the Doctor-Patient Relationship. There are plenty of physicians, nurses and health care professionals who aren’t using Twitter or blogging. Experimenting with this could open up a new avenue of communication, allowing professionals to adapt and meet the needs of patients and customers.

Just like any business, social media may have a huge impact on the health care system. There will be challenges for doctors and other professionals looking for the right way to implement social media, but it’s a learning experience, one with the potential for huge advantages.

Why the Education sector is keen to adopt Social Media?

(Image source: edweek.org)
According to a recent Gartner report, Education seems to be a early adopter of social media. In fact it stands second to only media in the social media adoption. The findings are not surprising considering that most people below the age of 25 are very active on social media.

In the UK many school children are said to discussing their homework assignments on Facebook. Facebook is actually very popular across age groups but sees the highest activity in the 15-30 age group. many educational institutions have taken advantage of this trend and are heavily connecting with prospective students through their pages.

Harvard University for example has more than 1 million likes on their page on Facebook. They also are present on other social networks including You tube, twitter, Google +, Flick, Stumpleupon and Four Square.
One actually take a virtual tour of Harvard through an app which can be used on any smart phone.

In Spain many medical students are using Facebook to discuss medical cases. They have actually formed a closed group in which cases are uploaded along with diagnostic charts and radio graphs and cases discussed. This group is actually helping the students to prepare for examinations like the US MLE.

Many self help channels on You Tube have also been created. One such channel that I subscribe to is the David Lloyd Tennis school. They have excellent videos on important aspects of tennis like Serve and volley and I use them constant to improve aspects of my game.

I would like to hear your views, What else can be achieved through social media? Can the quality of education be improved by using social networks? How can consulting firms help in educators developing their social media blue print? I would like to hear your views on this topic.

Say goodbye to Google's black bar

The black navigation bar found at the top of every Google page has been annoying some users since its very debut, but don't worry — it's about to be old news.

Its replacement? A simple gray bar with a drop-down menu hidden underneath the Google logo.

According to the Official Google Blog, this changing of the guard is part of the company's ongoing redesign — which includes new looks for Search, News, Maps, Gmail and other Google products.

The new navigation bar will include three key features: A drop-down menu hidden under the Google logo, a search box for whichever Google service you're using at the moment and a section for Google+ share and notification tools.

Here's how all those things function together:

Much more appealing than the intrusive black navigation bar, no?

By the way: You shouldn't panic if you're still seeing the old black Google bar. The new one is being rolled out gradually, so it may be a while before it gets to you.

(Source: Technolog)