Global Neighborhoods interview

I can’t believe I forgot to mention a recent interview with me published by Shel Israel on his Global Neighborhoods blog.  Check it out here and please, leave a comment if you are so inclined.  I think it represents a nice update on the current IBM internal social computing state of affairs.

Keeping in touch

Spoke to a group of Marist College students today.  PRSA members to be specific.  Working with Adam Christensen, we presented some of the ‘why we do it’ and ‘lessons learned’ type information around IBM and social computing prior to opening up the discussion to everyone attending. 

Adam had the great idea to have the group talk about how they find information online about companies, what resonates, what they like to find, what they do with it.  We got on the topic of recruiting and job hunting and the students came up with some interesting points that support quite a bit of what our team here at IBM does. 

Top response from the group in regard to key influencers was ‘word of mouth’ or looking for information from ‘people like me.’  We see this opinion quite a bit nowadays, and although some big business folks I speak with still don’t believe or understand this, the students rely on this form of information gathering quite heavily.  They prefer friends and family over online strangers, but admitted that the strangers did have impact if there was perceived common interest and beliefs/culture.

Second most important influencer…  Google search results.  Many of us may overlook this, but it is worth paying attention to.  Overlooking a major brand representation on Google, what comes back when folks ‘Google’ you? 

In regard to recruiting specifically, the students expressed desire in being able to find respective recruiters online and finding out a little bit about them prior to connecting on the phone or in person. I find this fascinating.  They look on Facebook for them, they Google them.  They do this as well for potential bosses and etc.  What do they want to do when they find you online?  They don’t want to get an email address or phone number or to start IMing…  they want to KNOW a little bit about you.  Pictures, interests, connections, to get a feel for you, even if it is a limited view.

All in all a very interesting session.  I’d like to thank the Marist PRSA for the invitation.  I think we all learned a few things today.