Facebook and LinkedIn - if you don't do it, you're a dinosaur

[cantdrv55]

That's the latest career advice from Money magazine. If you're in your forties and beyond, the way to be current is to embrace technology like FB and LinkedIn. I haven't found either to be all that helpful, frankly. FB is one big time suck. I get friend requests that I feel bad rejecting. Plus all those freaking Farmville and hugs notices are driving me up a wall, not to mention the inane daily updates on what someone had for supper last night. Who cares?!

Anyway, is anyone using FB or LinkedIn for something productive? Maybe I'm just not doing it right?

[imcarthur]

You can turn off the 'villes' . . .

And yes, we feel that our Pro product success has been helped by regular (very important) FB updates: new products, videos, reviews etc. If your customer is there, you should be there too.

Ian

[MotoSook]

That's the latest career advice from Money magazine.

Bull sheet...

I've no use for Facebook. If my friends really want to communicate with me, pick up a phone or e-mail me without sharing their thoughts with the rest of the "friends."

LinkedIn --- why? If you don't keep in touch with people who you feel can help you in your career, why would you think someone will go out of their way to help you if you needed help..esp. finding a job?

Money magazine is often full of sheet. Articles that are only relavent in a very very small corner where the author thinks represents the universe. We use to get it Money, but let the subscrition lapse.

[scottmandue]

I vote no... FB is useless unless you need to know what your friend had for lunch or that fluffy pooped on the rug last night.

On the other hand I did meet my wife there so I suppose it has some redeeming value.

On the other other hand what is wrong with being a dinosaur? I hear they (we) may be making a comeback!

[dtxscott]

They will mention that you should embrace these sites then state that having revealing information may harm your chances of getting a job if you are tagged by an ax murderer.


So, why join if it opens up tons of liabilities?

[dtw]

Stopped reading Money. Awful, awful rag anymore.

[stomachmonkey]

Originally Posted by Soukus

LinkedIn --- why? If you don't keep in touch with people who you feel can help you in your career, why would you think someone will go out of their way to help you if you needed help..esp. finding a job?

You need to get over the obvious singular use and learn how to use it as a tool. If you're passive with it then it's no use. You need to work it.

My PHP guy will disagree with your position.

Took me 6 months to find the guy I wanted to hire. I had a very specific skill set in mind.

I sat down one day and punched my requirements into a Linked In search in the local area.

Kid was in his last year in college.

My CEO flipped when I told her how much I wanted to pay him. "He's not even out of school yet!" she said.

"True but he's been getting paid to do commercial code since he was 12. Think of him not as a 21 year old but a 31 year old with 10 years experience that is picking up another degree"

If I could get his ass out of bed before 10 am he'd be pretty much perfect.

[ramonesfreak]

i use both. neither are useful. both are stupid

[pwd72s]

I'm a T rex...don't twitter, don't facebook, don't want to...

I don't go to the freshman dance at the local high school, either...

[sailchef]

Even the financial news in Money is old news. They need something to fill the space. Maybe they think they can persuade the 20-30 somethings that they are a very hip (can I still say that?) magazine.

[MotoSook]

Originally Posted by stomachmonkey

You need to get over the obvious singular use and learn how to use it as a tool. If you're passive with it then it's no use. You need to work it.

My PHP guy will disagree with your position.

Took me 6 months to find the guy I wanted to hire. I had a very specific skill set in mind.

I sat down one day and punched my requirements into a Linked In search in the local area.

Kid was in his last year in college.

My CEO flipped when I told her how much I wanted to pay him. "He's not even out of school yet!" she said.

"True but he's been getting paid to do commercial code since he was 12. Think of him not as a 21 year old but a 31 year old with 10 years experience that is picking up another degree"

If I could get his ass out of bed before 10 am he'd be pretty much perfect.

I'll give you that. If I was in HR or often needing to hire someone, yes. But the 99% of the time, it's just a bunch of folks trying to secure a plan B incase they are out of a job.

Regarding your 21 yr old hire...I've often stated that a kid out of college could do a better job than at least 50% of the professionals out there with 10-30 years of experience. I've had managers disagree with this thinking to only end up hiring a "regret." There is nothing worst than having a highly paid "experienced" worker who is less efficient, less flexible, less progressive, less motivated and high on their senior status than the rest of the team. It happens too often. It's bad for moral and a terrible drain on the department budget.

[Rot 911]

Originally Posted by dtw

Stopped reading Money. Awful, awful rag anymore.

It truly was a waste of money when I subscribed to that rag. Apparently in "their world" everyone makes over $200K a year, has a million dollars saved up for retirement and they just need to know how to make it last.

[NO LIFT]

Originally Posted by imcarthur

You can turn off the 'villes' . . .

And yes, we feel that our Pro product success has been helped by regular (very important) FB updates: new products, videos, reviews etc. If your customer is there, you should be there too.

Ian

Please please please tell me how...

FB can be used to monitor your kids

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by NO LIFT

Please please please tell me how...

Hover over it & a Hide button appears on the right. Click it & make your choice.

Ian

[Embraer]

my facebook has nothing on it....literally. i use it as a vehicle for people to conveniently send me an email. 90% of my contacts are my pilots. i understand the value of it for business (i've been on it since 2004...back when you had to be a student at just a handful of colleges), but it drives me nuts when i see commercials that say "for more information, check us out on facebook!!"

....why wouldn't i just go to their company-specific website? it's putting an extra step in it for me.

as much as i embrace technology, the whole facebook thing is getting out of control.

i had a girl who seriously had a mental breakdown, because she thought that i had "blocked" her from the content on my facebook page. (remember, i just have nothing on there).

people let this crap run their lives.

southpark did a great episode on it....making fun of the absurdity of it all.

[stomachmonkey]

We use FB, Twitter all the time.

Again it's how you use it and what you have as on objective.

When you combine them with even something as simple as bit.ly, a trackable url shortner, you get all sorts of data on who is viewing/sharing/adding to the virility of your message and helps define your demographic.

But you can't do it casually. You need to work it daily, review your data daily, try new things and compare results.

They are no Magic cures. You need to work them.

[TechnoViking]

I'm in marketing. Linkedin is, at times, an invaluable tool for penetrating new accounts.

[Hugh R]

I've used linkedin, but I get emails to my work email and can't figure out how to add the person to my linkedin account with my home email. Any suggestions?

[Porsche-O-Phile]

I have no use for either one. Facebook, Myspace, Linkedin, Twitter? All a bunch of crap. I have no use for it. The first three are all ways of SCREAMING to get your identity stolen on top of it.

Besides, I value a certain degree of anonymity. And I tend to not particularly like most people anyway - I don't see the value in going out of my way to socialize with more of them.

[widgeon13]

Originally Posted by dtw

Stopped reading Money. Awful, awful rag anymore.

Agree as well, same for most other money type of magazines. Anything they can tell you is outdated by the time it gets to your mail box.