I recently read a blog on Recruiting Blogs. While well written, I think we need to keep the social media picture in perspective as recruiters/sources as well as organizations with a need for social media. It's not a difficult medium to use/learn. Therefore, why are people so impressed with what advertising, marketing, and/or public relations firms are offering?

To preface, check out the original blog post:Never Slash A Social Media Program Too Soon (http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blogs/never-slash-a-social-...)

Then read my reply.
Warning: Not as well organized and thought out. I was in the heat of the moment.

I would like to see how "green" Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn's servers' electricity supply is. Talk about a major paradox- Cooling, power, transmission of mass amounts of data. It's making me sweat thinking about it.

Marketing, advertising and PR firms sell social media in a way that's almost unethical. I think about what it takes to truly go "viral" with a campaign... and it's not 140 character to a following of 15,000- 15% or less of whom actually stay current with any one format of social media.

I would like to know what the appropriate metrics are for social media and how we go about determining those. Does a $130,000 (actual quote) allocation of budget to subscribe to LinkedIn's feature set for recruiters/sourcing pay off in the end and how do we determine that? How many hires does it take? Say everyone who is hired based on a lead/source from LinkedIn is measured from a referral bonus standpoint - LinkedIn would need to provide 26 critical hires ($5k referral each), 43 senior hires ($3k referral each), 86 mid hires ($1.5k referral each, 173 entry/service hires ($750 referral each), or any combination of that.

Will LinkedIn provide those kinds of numbers just to break even? No. Will they make the life span of a requisition shorter - maybe, but not even a small percentage of the time.

Twitter is free. One hour a day, three days a week using Tweetdeck (free) or Sprout Social ($9/month) could provide one-two weeks of tweeting for any organization utilizing scheduled reoccurring tweet options. Those platforms also work with Facebook groups and profiles, and LinkedIn profiles (hopefully groups soon too). Soooo, you tell me... should marketing, advertising, and/or PR firms have their hands in the social media cookie jar? My answer is no way.