EOC:Social Networks and Job Hunting

These days it seems like everybody has Facebook and companies are out to use this social network to their advantage.  Companies such as JetBlue, Sony, Microsoft, and McDonald’s, among others, are now developing a new breed of brand ambassador programs that organize and supercharge consumer-to-consumer interactions about their brands. -Marketing at work 5.1 Brand Ambassadors: Employing Real Customers to Get Out the Word, Marketing an Introduction 10^th Edition.  These companies are focusing on the young, college student crowd.  They look for students who are already voice truss about their product and have many friends on their Facebook account. For instance, JetBlue hired a young woman named Rebecca who is attending a Tech College and their new brand ambassador.  JetBlue flew her out to New York to train her on the history of JetBlue and how to successfully promote their product when she is back home; organizing events such as her JetBlue BlueDay.  I think this a positive way to intergrade a company or product to a market and it gives college student a chance to earn income as well as get some real world experience and insight of the corporate world.  

           On the other hand companies are using Facebook as job boards to hire future employees.    The majority of social-media traffic to Waste Management Inc.'s careers website comes from Facebook, beating out LinkedIn, said Jenny DeVaughn, manager of social media and employment branding. The Houston-based environmental services company is currently trying to fill 1,500 positions—from software developers to garbage truck drivers.- The Wall Street Journal, “Recuiters Troll Facebook for Candidates it Likes”  This is interesting because that means Facebook is beginning to compete with job board websites such as Monster.com and LinkedIn.com.  As well as intrude a social network for other purposes than socializing.  When I hear this I honestly don’t like the idea of an employer being able to search where one socializes.  I think their needs to be a clear-cut separation between social and work lives.  People like to keep their social life private and I think there is an inherited conflict of interest because of this.