Using Facebook at Work

ReadWriteWeb had a nice analysis about the debate over using Facebook at work. On one hand studies say it lowers productivity, but on the other hand, studies show that breaks in general can heighten productivity. Who knows?

But who cares? As I contended in my post "Let Employees Twitter," using social networking at work is as harmless as letting people talk at the water cooler. Of course, we all know about those people that spend too much time talking at the water cooler ... Weeding out time wasting employees is the same issue whether they are chatting online or on the phone.

Some professionals and companies might use social networking as a necessary vehicle (including journalists like me) to stay on top of things and market their work; however, we might be fooling ourselves to think being on Facebook is overly helpful throughout the workday. But, as noted above, it's also not necessarily harmful.

Interesting Twitter Stats

Did you know that more than one in five Twitter users have never tweeted? At least that's what was revealed in a recent study I wrote about for Examiner.com. There were a lot of other interesting stats to check out; I picked the ones I thought would be most interesting from the longer study by Sysomos, a business intelligence company for social media.

Of course, Twitter users are (so far) infamously hard to track academically, but Sysomos and others have continued to come out with interesting studies about the rapidly growing social media giant.

Professional Experience: Check out My Resume!

Are resumes allowed to be creative and/or hilarious? Some potential job candidates looking to stand out make their resumes creatively match their profession like this infographic designer's resume. It's obviously a pretty spiffy resume, but what's next:

• architect resumes in the form of blueprints?
• photography resumes edited into photos?
• marketing resumes on T-shirts? (Oh wait, that already happened.)
  
• culinary resumes in the form of a large cake?

Also, some people think it's fun to crack jokes on their resume -- I heard of someone who actually said he was TIME's Person of the Year on his resume, and got the job.

One argument against being creative on your resume is that the resume is just supposed to be an easy way for readers to see what you've been up to, and cover letters and interviews are where your personality shines through. Right? Or wrong?

Maybe it's possible to easily convey your accomplishment in illustrative form, but even then it still takes a little extra work from a hiring manager than just scanning down the page to look in all the usual spots.

What do you think, can creative resumes work? Are they worth the risk?

Compensation: More than a Paycheck

"Compensation" means much more than money to Gen Yers.

A lot of research about Millennials characterizes them as a socially conscious generation, and an article today on Forbes.com notes how that can effect how they view rewards in the workplace. Millennials are looking for employers to support those altruistic goals. That also goes hand in hand with wanting a workplace that fits with their flexible lives so they can, say, take a mission trip. From the piece:

The Y's commitment to altruism signifies a fundamental change in the nature of rewards and incentives, but it's just the tip of the iceberg. As the 70-million-strong millennial cohort hits the workforce, savvy employers who want to tap into their strong talent pool should take note of the attraction of non-monetary motivators, especially among Y women.

A few types of "compensation" that will become increasingly important in the workforce as Yers continue to infiltrate it:

• maternity/paternity leave
• flexible work schedules
• telecommuting
• technology -- computers, smartphones, etc.
• educational programs
• wellness programs
• mentorship programs

It will be interesting to see how to workplace evolves to compensate employees in ways beyond the paycheck.

Declaration of Independence from Social Media

Tomorrow I have declared an Independence Day from social media. I might not really follow it, but it's a nice idea reminding us that we need to remember our individual spirit this holiday -- yes, even the one away from Facebook.

Social media has helped us grow our individual voices, but at the same time, it's also fostered groupthink -- an interesting dichotomy. Whether positive or negative, social media is surely an important fabric of our American culture T.J. never could have predicted (although I hear he was kind of a genius).

While my rewriting of the Declaration of Independence was meant to be farcical, it holds a little bit of truth. (By the way, I found it surprisingly easy to plug in grievances against social media for grievances against the British. Is that disturbing?)