Digging Into RecruitingBlogs.com v1.29

(Dec 12, 2008) Where does Twitter stop and Facebook start? Where does the web of social media begin and end? Is Twitter a part of RBC? LinkedIn?

I would have scoffed at these sorts of questions as recently as earlier this week.

I'm not sure if it was the financial failure of key old media firms or simply finally getting enough rest to recover from October's India trip. Somehow, in the course of navigating the week, my view of the whole thing shifted.

These days, my Facebook news feed and my Twitter feed are virtually indistinguishable. The two information flows seem to have merged and are generating an enormous value. Not only don't I read the newspaper (even the Wall Street Journal on my Kindle seems tame), I can't.

The volatile flow of information from my friends and connections is livelier and vastly more relevant than the newspaper ever was. Google News and Techmeme, my go-to sources, rarely approach the novelty and wisdom of news filtered by my friends.

I can always count on Shannon Seery Gude to deliver gems like "A Blog Should Feel Like a Gift: 10 Ways to Improve Your Corporate Blog". Josh Kahn is usually ready with a meaty pointer or a new tool. Right or Wrong, Chris Russell is consistently provocative. Susan Kang Nam finds amazing ideas. My kids and their friends seamlessly blend with the professional connections and long time comrades who occupy my news feed.

The list is endless. Several hundred friends on Facebook and Twitter create a flow of ideas that doesn't require anyone to be always on. It's a new crowd-filtered news source.

Meanwhile, over here at RBC, Susan Burns has been really polishing the process she uses in Talent Talk Cafe. If you haven't visited, you ought to log in one Tuesday or Thursday. The most recent session, led by Joe Gerstandt was an insightful exploration of the damage done by unchecked assumptions and some ideas about making workplaces more intellectually flexible.

Regulars like Paul DeBettignies. Maren Hogan (the real life force behind RBC) and a host of others turn conversation into education. I have to believe that Susan's footwork is the real root of the successes. The chat function on RBC becomes a classrom when Susan sets up shop.

Something's happening, again.

Jessica Maher produced a comprehensive guide to the potential benefits of using Twitter this week. It's just a part of the RBC flow. We bootstrap each other into new levels of productivity and understanding.

RBC is becoming a platform for productivity development in Social Media. The boundaries blur between the services. One space is for friends, one for candidates, one for status. They start to feel like aspects of a whole. As my platform of choice, RBC acts as a centerpiece.

I think we're about to develop some really new language for web based activities. I don't really go to the web anymore. I sort of live there and get my intellectual food between phone calls, projects, meetings and the other things that drive my day. It's an information environment that really comes to life when you let the community carry you.

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Permalink Reply by Maureen Sharib on December 12, 2008 at 7:42am

I missed this and hope to see it posted:
"...an insightful exploration of the damage done by unchecked assumptions and some ideas about making workplaces more intellectually flexible."
I learned a long time ago not to trust assumptions.
;)
“To succeed, jump as quickly at opportunities as you do at conclusions.” ~ Benjamin Franklin (1706-1790) US statesman, diplomat, inventor, and printer

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on December 16, 2008 at 10:34pm

There is the danger that we become less connected, but I'm a very social person, and I truly think that social media has made me a better, more connected, and more adjusted person than I was when I worked in an office and went out all of the time.

It's been a tremendous boon to my wife, who had to adjust first to working from home, then staying at home. Twitter and her blogs have really made a difference, and we're seeing it permeate our entire family. Grandparents, siblings, and close family friends are connecting in more ways than ever.

The speed is increasing, but so are the tools and the ability to manage the filter. It used to be that as a blogger, I had real problems having conversations with people who weren't connected. They simply didn't have the information I did, and they either were impressed by it to the point of not having much to offer, or couldn't adjust to the idea of someone who spent all their time online. Nowadays, people from all walks of life are as connected. Moms, consultants, recruiters, sports addicts, teachers, christians, pet-lovers...as more of us get comfortable integrating our lives and our tools, the ability to interface and learn with other groups improves to where information transfer is even faster.

There's something very comforting about sharing the mindmeld with someone who gets it. Especially when it's a person that you wouldn't have taken the chance to connect with just a few years ago.

And the best part, is the way that these connections lead to better in-person connections. I can fly to Chicago for business, and catch a coffee on a break with someone I never would have met prior to social media.

And the best, best part, is that while businesses are taking big strides to incorporate social media, the general public is doing it with or without them. RBC is proof of that.