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Social Media

How do you protect your privacy online?

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on May 12, 2010

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

With all the talk about Facebook and privacy issues recently I started thinking about how I manage my personal privacy online, and I’m curious how others handle this as well. I would imagine that a lot of us are doing it differently.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m a woman, but I do think a lot about my personal physical security in addition to online privacy issues. With geolocation rising so quickly in popularity, I have more concerns about this now than ever.

Yesterday I had lunch with Miriam Salpeter of Keppie Careers and it came up in conversation that she once tried to find my home address through Google and could not. I can’t lie…this made me very happy!

I’m very careful about giving out my home address, and while I work from home I pay to have a virtual office address which is the legal address of my company and where all my mail goes.

Google Alerts

I have Google Alerts set up to notify me about anything containing my name or company name online. I also have alerts set up for my home address as well as my phone number. This allows me to monitor “what Google knows about me” without much effort, and if something arises that I’m not comfortable with I can take action accordingly.

Twitter

You may have noticed that I sometimes tweet about my large, very overprotective dog. This is not by accident.

I’m not as good about doing this as I used to be – usually for promotional reasons – but I do try to somewhat limit announcing my current or future whereabouts. So, if I’m going to Houston’s in Buckhead for lunch with a friend, I may state that I’m having lunch with that friend, but won’t say where until after we’ve left.

When I say “promotional reasons” I host and co-host tweetups from time to time, and naturally if you want people to show up you have to promote them in advance. So in those cases, or if I will be speaking somewhere or attending a conference, it’s a little more difficult to keep my future whereabouts a secret.

Facebook

I’m kind of a privacy control freak on Facebook…constantly checking my privacy settings; and about a year ago I took down most of my photos. For example, I had some on there from college and from my high school reunion. Even when I did have these photos on Facebook, only a few people had access to them. But, with Facebook constantly messing with our privacy settings and not telling us they’ve done it, I decided better safe than sorry. Now the only photos I have on there at all are pictures of my dog, my family, and from business and networking events like ERE and #punkATL.

Additionally, I do not allow anyone to write on my wall, and as soon as someone tags me in a photo or video I look at it and untag it immediately if I’m not comfortable with it. You just don’t always know what people are going to do…what they may find perfectly acceptable to post, you may be horrified by.

I have my birth date listed, but not the year, and no one can see my profile unless they are friends directly with me. None of this “friends of friends” and “networks” stuff.

People who are not my friends on Facebook can’t even see what city or state I live in. Search results are set so that I only show up in Facebook searches for friends, and my profile information won’t show up in public search results.

If you haven’t yet read this warning about Facebook Connections, you need to. And I mean, stop and read it very thoroughly, and then go look at your “Friends” on Facebook and you’ll see that the list now includes many sites you’ve “shared” or “liked.” Next, look at the privacy settings for each of these “connections.” (I use two lists to manage how much someone can see of my Facebook profile. People I don’t know well are on a list that is more restrictive than people I know very well. This second list includes all of 10 people. Seriously. And I have known those 10 people a long, long time.)

Anyway, I did this, and these new “connections” Facebook had assigned to me without my knowledge or permission were not assigned to either of my lists so they could see anything and everything on my Facebook profile! Because I barely have anything on there of interest to anyone anymore it didn’t freak me out that much – but the IDEA they they have done this to all of us without our knowledge or permission certainly did.

Finally, I do not allow any third party applications to access any of my information.

There’s more, but I think you get the picture…click here to read more on the latest with Facebook’s privacy policies and issues.

Foursquare + Gowalla

My biggest concern with these is obviously announcing to the world where you are. So, I’m very careful about who I’m connected with on these applications, and I don’t always share my check-ins on Twitter or Facebook.

I also try to remember to check in when I’m leaving rather than when I arrive.

Who has time to deal with all of this??

It’s a fast-changing world and we have to keep up.

All of this may seem like a lot of work and you may wonder whether it’s worth it. That is something you have to decide for yourself.

For me the benefits of connecting with others online far outweighs the hassle of managing privacy settings. Plus, you know, it’s what I do for a living so unless I want to get a new career (I don’t), this is something I just need to deal with.

If you want to read another perspective on this subject, Craig Fisher recently wrote a great blog post, “Social Media Privacy? Get Over It.”

I’m curious: What do you do to protect yourself online?

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Tagged as: No stalking please, Social Media, Stephanie A. Lloyd

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Building talent communities, Part I | What is a talent community?

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on May 11, 2010 · 2 comments

in Talent Communities

Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

According to the Seeking Cost Advantages in HR Technology and Service Delivery – 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey conducted by Towers Watson:

Talent management has become a higher priority for one-third of companies due to the economic crisis.
More than half of companies are planning more talent management technology in the next 24 months, with an emphasis on integration.
Social networking, while extremely new, is already being used more than most other Web 2.0 tools.

The advent of social media has allowed employers to move from simply collecting resumes in a database to developing somewhat personal and meaningful relationships in and around the pool(s) of talent they want to attract.

What is the difference between an applicant database and a talent community?

Kevin Wheeler writes, “Databases suffer from two major problems when it comes to being effective recruiting tools:

Problem one. They tend to get old very quickly and the data about the people is not current and often not even useable. While no one I know of has done actual research on the quality of the data in corporate resume databases, I know from anecdotal conversation that it is poor. I would guess that over half the people in the typical database are either no longer interested in a position or cannot be contacted. (I, too, know this from experience!)

Problem two. The recruiter has a one-dimensional view of the candidates, generally only from the resume itself. There is no additional information, no personal observations, and no reference data. Because resumes have been added mostly through electronic and impersonal methods, the candidates are completely unknown to the recruiters. This means that the qualification and assessment of a candidate begins after the resume is retrieved and may take quite a bit of time, assuming the candidate can even be contacted. Candidate quality is often poor, and the time to find candidates can become very long, especially for hard-to-fill positions. Ask yourself how many positions are filled with people you find solely by searching in your ATS database.”

A talent community is so much more than a database (applicant tracking system) which, in many cases, quickly becomes a one-way, stagnant dumping ground.

A talent community is an opt-in, interactive forum where individuals with particular skill sets and interests can interact in a personal and meaningful way with corporate HR and company management in order to better understand – and be a part of – the firm and all that it has to offer from an employment perspective.

Joshua Kahn wrote a job description for a Talent Community Manager. You can read it here.

I think it’s an excellent start, though I would add to it elements of driving interest and traffic to the talent community itself via social media and face-to-face networking opportunities such as conferences, unconferences, etc.

In this series we will explore why and how companies should build talent communities.

We will also discuss the benefits of joining such communities for individuals — whether or not they are actively seeking employment at the time.

I’d love to hear from those of you who have built/are building talent communities for your own companies or firms. What’s working well for you and where do you aspire to go with this endeavor?

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Tagged as: I work in HR, Recruiters, Social Media, Stephanie A. Lloyd

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Think it’s a good idea to block your employees from social networks? Think again.

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on March 12, 2010 · 2 comments

in I work in HR,Social Media,Workplace Issues

: Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

Nearly a year ago I was a guest on the Gravity Free Radio Show with Erik Wolf + Stephanie Frost and was asked my thoughts on employers’ fears about their employees being active on social networking sites.

I stumbled upon a fantastic article on Advertising Age yesterday that outlines all of the reasons I laid out on this radio broadcast and then some.

I LOVE the tagline for this article: ”Collaboration Can Increase Productivity. That and Resistance Is Futile.”

I also love this article because it so succinctly sums up the conversation we had on the radio.

“Here are five reasons companies should allow social networking:

Resistance is futile.
Workers increasingly have internet access on their smartphones. By the year 2013, 43% of global mobile internet users (607.5 million people worldwide) will be accessing social networks from their mobile devices, according to a new report from eMarketer.
Don’t assume people won’t find other ways to waste time.
Executives’ biggest concern? That social networking would lead to “notworking” instead of working. As the Economist report notes, “This assumes that people would actually work rather than find some other way to pass the time they have to spare.”
Social networks can actually make workers more productive. Three out of four of the 895 experts interviewed for the recent Pew Internet report “The Future of the Internet IV” said that use of the internet enhances and augments human intelligence, and two-thirds said use of the internet has improved reading, writing and rendering of knowledge, according to Janna Anderson, study co-author.
You’ll miss great ideas.
Great ideas can come from any level of a company. Using social networks internally (wikis, blogs, forums, even IM) fosters collaboration and allows workers at all levels to contribute ideas. Experts emerge from within a company when collaboration is encouraged, and along with them come some of the best ideas that would otherwise be lost. Because people can comment on information, companies often learn of internal expertise they didn’t know about already.In most big companies, instead of collaborating, marketing competes with sales, advertising competes with PR, and so on, creating silos that prevent fresh ideas from being heard.I’ve consulted for companies where the marketing directs of divisions had never even met their counterparts in other divisions, let alone collaborated with them. As a result, they often were working on similar projects without sharing knowledge or resources. This wastes money and squanders ideas that could be helpful company-wide.
Employees are much more trustworthy than companies think.
Managers worry that employees will leak confidential information or speak poorly of the company. Most people have much more common sense than to jeopardize their jobs with wanton comments in social networks, especially these days. If you can’t trust your employees, you have one of two problems: You are hiring the wrong people or you are not properly training the people you hire.People who want to say something negative will find a way, with or without access to social networks, during business hours. However, negative feedback can also provide an early warning that changes need to be made, either in policy or employees.

All in all, companies have more to gain than to lose by allowing employee access to social networks. My bet is that it’ll take another two years for most companies to figure that out.”

AMEN!

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Tagged as: Ask the recruiter, Atlanta, Business RadioX, Cartoon by Hugh, Erik Wolf, Gravity Free Radio, I work in HR, Social Media, Stephanie Frost, We need a few more Stephanies around here

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To all the naysayers

by Stephanie A. Lloyd on March 9, 2010 · 10 comments

in I work in HR,I'm looking for a job,Management,Marketing,Networking

: Cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

Yes, you CAN get a job on Twitter.

I HAVE PROOF.

Last Tuesday morning I woke up waayyyy too early so I grabbed my iPhone and scanned Tweetdeck while deciding whether to go ahead and get up or try and go back to sleep for a bit.

I happened to see a tweet from someone in the #HR community I’ve been following for at least a couple of years. She is located in upstate NY and we’d never met IRL – or even spoken on the phone, for that matter. She stated that she was looking for a contract sourcer.

I happen to know a lot of people who might be interested in such an opportunity so I DMd (direct messaged) her with my email address and asked her to share details with me.

She replied, asking if I knew of anyone, and I said I might. She emailed me and we arranged to speak that afternoon.

We had a great conversation during which she provided me with some additional insight in to the nature of the work. I told her I had a few people in mind and would reach out to them on her behalf and send them her way if appropriate.

The first person I mentioned it to had already spoken to her about it. He’s also very active on Twitter…imagine that!

Several hours later, completely out of the blue, I received the following DM from another friend on Twitter.

Top secret – just found out that I’ll be part of a reduction next week. Would love it if you kept eye/ears peeled for any opportunities.

She is located in Texas, and while we haven’t met (yet), we have spoken on the phone and collaborate on a fun “volunteer” project helping job-seekers.

I replied:

@TXFriend, reach out to @NYFriend and tell her I sent you. she’s looking for a contract sourcer – could be long-term

18 HOURS LATER, @TXFriend sent me this DM:

Yay! Great connection with @NYFriend. Signed a contract to source for her this morning. You’re awesome!

It still shocks me when I hear negative talk about Twitter…”it’s a waste of time, I don’t care what someone ate for breakfast, blah blah blah.”

1-800-GETALIFE.

I’d love to hear from others who have landed a new work project or job opportunity via Twitter…or a new client, even. Same thing, really. It’s paid work, right?

And, speaking of the power of Twitter, our most recent He Said, She Said episode was centered on this very subject. You can catch it here!

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Tagged as: Cartoon by Hugh, Get a life, I need a job, I work in HR, Social Media, Stephanie A. Lloyd, Twitter, Yes I am actually being serious

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Bert DuMars of Newell Rubbermaid on Dream Job Radio! | 01.06.10

January 24, 2010

I had the pleasure of hosting Bert DuMars in the studio on the show recently. We had a fantastic conversation about what Bert and his team are doing at Newell Rubbermaid. They’ve made a lot of progress in a short amount of time using social media to connect with customers, and are starting to use [...]

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The PunkRock Champagne Holiday Social #punkATL 2009 | Atlanta, GA

December 18, 2009

For those of you who missed — and those of you who were there — below is a video compilation of photos taken that night. Todd, Laurie, and I are truly grateful to all of you who made the trek – some from as far away as Seattle, Toronto, Dallas, Raleigh, and Florida – to [...]

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Opportunities are built on discipline.

November 11, 2009

Each morning I wake up to a fresh new blog post from Chris Brogan. You want to talk about discipline? Chris has discipline. If you have a blog or have ever had a blog you probably know how difficult it is to find the time – let alone the ideas – to write a new [...]

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