What? No one can use my linkedin profile unless I accept them. They cannot see my contact list. The only way they can see if I am connected to someone is to search out that person FIRST and then see "how you are connected to so and so". The connections tab only lets you see who you have in common with the person in question. You then have to "Request" an introduction to contact someone else's contact through them. That person can deny it. Never had one problem in all the time I've used linkedin. As for your other (silly) comments about not having a facebook account meaning they don't use the internet: I am a director in a large Fortune 500 company (over 20,000 people). Just for kicks, I IM'd some other hiring managers on my corporate group list. I asked them... "Would you go looking for someone's facebook account prior to hiring them? Would having a facebook account make it more or less likely to hire that individual?" I just asked them, this morning after I saw this post. Not one of them said that not having a facebook account would mean anything whatsoever. Not one. Several of them said that they would go looking to see if someone had a facebook account. All of them said they would check Linkedin. One HR manager informed me that our background check company checks social networking sites to compare information. I polled 7 individuals, director level or above.
You mean to tell me that you are a director at a Fortune 500 company with over 20,000 employees and you do not use the #2 ranked website in the world? Management at your company does not care if the people they hire have a page on the most popular website in the world? I certainly would not want to work at your company because it sounds like they are behind the times and unprofitable. Presidential elections have been decided by Facebook (Obama). If you do not know the power of Facebook then what can I tell you? Now I can understand why so many companies have fallen and gone bankrupt...why so many are so unprofitable and live off of corporate bonds...its because their employees do not understand current technology&trends and fail to grasp how it might effect their business. I think your company better get with the times. It sounds like they are living off of savings from the past and its competitors will get the best of them sooner then later.
Presidential elections have been decided by Facebook (Obama). ---------------- Yikers, facebook is right up there with the Supreme court.
I'm dead serious. Obama has 8 million fans on his facebook. So thats at least 8 million people monitoring his Facebook page not including those who are not his fans and simply just log into the page through the search entry. 110 million people voted in the last Presidential election. So could Obama's Facebook page have the power to swing the election? I think so... As for business, I have seen guys send out messages on Facebook and all of a sudden a 1000 people show up to their bar or restaurant for an event. I guess loyal followers. So having something on the web I feel is important...
We're talking about getting a position in a corporate environment, not morons voting for Obama. Any true professional who takes their career seriously will avoid kiddy sites like myspace and facebook or at the very least, constrict the use of facebook. There is no benefit in having a facebook or myspace when applying for a position at a large corporation, there is only potential downside. The crap you write about companies actually evaluating on whether an applicant uses facebook, as if it is a good gauge of their social abilities is truly laughable and continues to show what a joke you are.
Oh yeah, corporate environments like Yahoo, Apple and Google could care less if you have a facebook account. No one checks it... Look, I guess if your corporate environment is the likes of a Valero refining plant, then they probably wont check and it wont matter. However, if you want to work for a progressive minded company that embraces technology and the internet, then you should have Facebook. In fact, I was reading a book where it suggested marketing yourself with your own personal website, Facebook, Linkedin, Youtube and having all of the most modern tools. If someone knows how to put up their own blog and uses all those sites then they can better embrace the internet. I dont know about you, but my days of working with and for idiots is way behind me. I would not want to work for or with anyone that is not using all of the popular internet tools. If they are not using them, then it tells me they do not fully understand or grasp the importance of the internet. A progressively minded customer oriented business understands the importance of marketing and networking with sites like Facebook. So, hey, if you enjoy the environment over at the oil or gas company where you have to restrain yourself from the internet and play the role of the tight white guy in a tie then thats you. I want to be the guy working at Apple and so my Facebook is in use and updated. It has pictures of me, my family and friends having a good time. If you can't appreciate that, then sorry, you are a person I would not want to work for AND would not want to be within 100 feet of me. You dont understand technology and, furthermore, you can't appreciate seeing someone else having a good time with their friends and family.
FB is *strictly* for social networking. i have received a bunch of invites from former co-workers and i do not accept any of them. FB is great for meeting cuties and that's about all. this is why i don't let professional acquintances join my FB network -- oh the stuff they might see or read... !
You know, I used to read your posts and wonder if you simply marched to the beat of a different drum (which isn't a bad thing necessarily) or you were just a loon. Needless to say, that decision was much easier to make after this thread. You remind me of that RFT character who used to run these boards a while back. You come to the conclusion that our company is unprofitable because we don't use facebook. That statement is so many colors of stupid, that I don't know where to begin. Presidential elections are not the same thing as hiring good employees. I follow the idea that it helps populist campaigns, but I don't want to hire an individual because he or she is popular. I want to hire an individual who can contribute to my company in the capacity of the job I am hiring for. And that has absolutely ZERO to do with facebook.