Twitter.
My class hears me talk about Twitter every week. 'You need to be on Twitter', 'Guess who I met today on Twitter', 'I learned about this new software vendor from Twitter'.
I am quite sure they have grasped some kind of notion that Twitter is relevant, interesting, maybe important, but they can't seem to grasp how it actually can be a valuable resource to the study and practice of HR. They also have likely concluded that I am a little obsessed with it.
So how to frame the discussion of Twitter in terms that students (90% of whom will have never heard of Twitter before class).
First things first - what the heck is Twitter anyway?
From Wikipedia -
Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.
Updates are displayed on the user's profile page and delivered to other users who have signed up to receive them.
OK, so you sign up for Twitter, post some status updates (140 characters or less), and decide which other Twitter user's updates you would like to see. Easy enough concept to grasp. Everyone has sent text messages on their phones, (Twitter updates are more or less the same), and most students are on Facebook, so the idea of setting a 'status' that all your friends will see is also easily understood.
So what happens to most students when they sign up?
Well honestly, not a heck of a lot. They create an account, maybe post a quick update, possibly 'find' the person who convinced them to sign up and start following them, and then they wait for something interesting to start happening. And as you would expect, pretty much nothing interesting starts happening. The student fairly quickly loses interest, stops checking Twitter and posting updates, and concludes that the whole exercise was a waste of time. Besides, everyone they are interested in connecting with are already their Facebook friends anyway.
So what should the student do?
Twitter, like every other social site, can be a really lonely place when you first arrive. You have no 'friends' no 'followers' and may not know exactly how to find anyone, much less the right people to 'follow'. Unlike Facebook, the student's close and extended circle of friends and classmates are probably not on Twitter as yet, so making those initial connections can be a daunting proposition.
The key or essential component of deriving value from Twitter almost completely relies on finding the 'right' people to start following. Once the student starts to make these connections, and then proceeds to extend them by following some of their first connection's followers, the value proposition starts to become more apparent. In fact most folks on Twitter will 'reverse-follow' you out of politeness even if they don't know you.
And in short order a student, (or anyone else for that matter), usually starts to contribute to the ongoing conversation, begins attracting followers or their own, and discovers even more interesting people to follow. Some say after about a month or 100 updates (Tweets), the student starts to 'get it'. It becomes obvious the value of these conversations and connections, and many become firmly entrenched in the fabric of their Twitter community.
A Starting Point
So we have established the key to deriving value from Twitter is the forging of the initial set of connections to the 'right' people and organizations in your particular area of interest. I am primarily concerned for my HR students and other HR practitioners. Who should the HR student or practitioner consider 'following' once they join Twitter, (I know there are some other lists around on this topic, so I won't attempt to make an 'all-knowing' or 'all-encompassing' list, but rather a good starting point for the HR student).
The Instructor
Steve Boese - Me, if you are one of my students, you'd better follow me!
The Bloggers
Lisa Rosendahl - from the HR Manager blog
The HR Maven - from the HR Maven blog
lruettimann - from Punk Rock HR
sharlyn_lauby - from HR Bartender
hrwench - from the Hr Wench blog
Hr_Minion - from the HR Minion blog
jwilliamtincup - from the Human Capital Vendor space blog
kris_dunn - from the HR Capitalist blog
pdxmikek - from the Info Box blog
penelopetrunk - from Brazen Careerist
The Consultants
jasonaverbook - Jason Averbook, CEO of Knowledge Infusion
jcorsello - Jason Corsello, also from Knowledge Infusion and the Human Capitalist Blog
joningham - Jon Ingham of the Strategic HCM blog
The Vendors
Success Factors - Performance Management solutions
Salary.com - Compensation data and planning, recently expansding into Talent Management
Smart Recruiters - Recruiting solutions for small and medium size businesses
Human Capital Institute - great source of information and knowledge
Workscape - suite of Talent Management solutions
Sum Total Systems - learning management solutions
Standout Jobs - Really cool and innovative approach to recruiting solutions
Twitter Rockstars - these Twitterers have huge followings and post constantly
jowyang - Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research
chrisbrogan - Chris Brogan, Social Media Marketing thought leader
ross- Ross Mayfield, Chairman and co-founder of Socialtext
barackobama - I am pretty sure you know who he is
ev - Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter
For fun
SantaClaus25 - keep up with the big man's preparation for the big day
FakeMagnumPI - happenings with Magnum, Higgins and TC
Steven Colbert - from Comedy Central
NASA - goings on in space
Summary
The above list of Twitterers is not meant to be exhaustive, complete, or even exactly what the HR student is looking for. But it is a start. Sign up for Twitter and start following some of the folks on this list and see what you think. Give it a chance. It's said that it takes a while to determine how you can best leverage Twitter for your own purposes. I can say unequivocally that Twitter helps me every single day, and sometimes, I hope I actually help some of my Twitter friends.
Please add any names of 'key' folks to follow to the comments, and happy Twittering!