“Do you Facebook? Do you Twitter?” That is not a question that I would have prepared for when interviewing for a job just a couple of years back. However, as we all know, things are changing so fast that we barely have time to catch up, and that may be an understatement. Everywhere you turn all you hear these days is Facebook here, Facebook there, or Twitter here, Twitter there and so on…. It is in our personal lives, jobs, political campaigns and religious gatherings. I remember my mother saying that the priest at her local church interrupted a sermon to answer a call and say to the caller that he was busy. The amazing thing was that the young priest put the phone on vibrate, and she said that they could hear the humming until an assistant removed it despite of the priest’s frowning. The president credits some of his success to Twitter, Facebook and texting.
I wonder, how is all this new technology helping the job market? Some are quick to say, well, you can network easier to find out about openings, look them up, and to forward your resume. There is no question that all that is great, but are their jobs being created? I don’t think so, but that is just my opinion. There have been many articles on the issue of how great social media can help those looking for a job, and also that we all have to include social media skills in our resume for better employment opportunities. But I ask again, where are the Jobs?
The way I see it, is that there are many more advantages for the corporations to benefit from social media, as they use the employee’s social networks to promote their brands. It is a brand new and complicated issue that will take some time to evaluate where it is going or how it will help the average worker. Where do we draw the line when it comes to our personal and our professional lives? How far corporations will go to promote, introduce and sneak their brands into our social networks? Do you want this new great application?.. Hmmm, if so, we need the keys to your life and those in it. These days our relatives and friends are being nicely packaged and sold to the best bidder.
The social Media corporations are thriving; their growth has been impressive, considering our crumbling economy. It’s all over the news, record profits for the big corporations, paralleling the social media giant’s growth… is there a connection here? Or is it just the product of my sociology courses gone wild?
The Times magazine has an interesting article written by Zackary Karabel and in it, it says: “Billions of dollars in investment capital are being spent on these ventures, and if we are to have a productive future economy, that capital needs to grow the economic pie — and not just among the elite of Silicon Valley and Wall Street.” Times magazine. So, here we are, busy polishing our social network skills to spread the corporate gospel to our friends and families.
Technology has shaped our society since the beginning of time, and it will take some pain to get adjusted to the new wave of communication advances. The new wave of social media industries are definitely not creating proportional employee demands as it is expected for their earnings and growth, so there is something wrong here that we must look into. The relationship between corporations and consumers is being shaped thorough a new social media rage to the disadvantage of the American worker, increasing the huge gap between the “haves” and the “have not”.
I believe that is a recipe for social disorder, where ironically, social media may just come to the rescue.
http://www.dermundo.com/www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2062464,00.html
