Monitoring Social Networks:July 11, 2011

No matter what business enterprise I may be involved in, as an employer, I would not view my potential employee’s social network updates. A person’s general character attributes, skills, hobbies and interests can really be truly viewed by personal interview, performance and their work ethics. This should be done through a 90 day evaluation of a person, not a social network. If I base my opinion on what this person does on a weekend or what they post on Twitter, I could potentially lose a great asset to my company simply because I don’t agree with their political, religious or social views on life. Why should I pay a company to monitor this when I am really the only one to form that opinion?

Also, how can these newly designed companies provide employers the true monitoring capabilities that they claim? As an internet savvy potential employee, what would stop me from having both a “professional” twitter and a “personal” twitter or facebook? I could also have an account for business use, knowing these monitoring companies are out there and falsify the content. All the electronic monitoring cannot truly give an adequate picture of a person if they are not true to what they claim to say or post.

Now, from a marketing standpoint, Lets say I am the owner of a large cosmetic or designer shoe company, I would definitely employ a company such as Alterian, that can survey and monitor my client base. Targeting my consumers would enable me to offer enticing product discounts, advertise high end products, and infiltrate the audience with desired items just based on their interests from data collected by Alterian. I could have ads filtered through their pages daily. Think of the thousands of “Kim Kardashian” wannabees out there!! (I know, because I am the proud owner of a 20 year old one)!

Also, the cost of advertising on a social network is also a factor for the owners of these networks. Imagine the thousands of ads flying across the pages of all the mini “Kim Kardashians”! Advertising, monitoring and social network data collecting for marketing purposes is definitely an up and coming lucrative business not only for companies, but for our economy.