Twitter, Ralph Nader, and the other 97%
SteveI plead guilty to the charge of contributing to the hype, buzz, hyperbole, or whatever term you care to use surrounding the astronomical growth of Twitter.
I have spent way more hours than I care to calculate tweeting and reading tweets.
I have written probably 10 or so blog posts about Twitter, (and for a little blog like this one that is quite a bit).
Twitter has been a great resource for me, (and quite fun at times I admit). But I feel the need to point out a couple of things about Twitter that I think are relevant and important.
Yesterday the internet monitoring firm ComScore released a report on Twitter usage that indicated approximately 4 million folks in the United States accessed Twitter in February 2009, which was a 1,000 percent increase from a year ago.
Wow, incredible.
Did you also know that the US Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates non-farm US employment to be about 137 million?
For the math challenged, that amounts to less than 3% of the people employed in the US visited Twitter in February. (Actually the real percentage has to be lower, there is no way all of the 4 million Twitter visitors are all employed, but the precise percentages are not the important thing).
You know how much 3% is?
Photo - Mike Licht
That's about how much of the popular vote that (kook) Ralph Nader received in the 2000 US Presidential Election.
3% is an incredibly small percentage, but just about the perfect size for an effective echo chamber.
For the HR professional and the HR Technologist, this is an essential statistic that bears attention. The vast majority of experienced, capable, and effective HR practitioners are not on Twitter, don't care how many followers you have, are not versed in the art of crafting Tweets to increase the likelihood of the 'retweet', and don't know who Scoble or Brogan or Kawasaki are.
That does not make them less intelligent or valuable to the organization.
Sure 4 million people are on Twitter. But HUNDREDS of millions are not (at least yet).
And they run HR departments, own small and medium size businesses, and makeup the VAST majority of the working population.
Look, I said before that I think Twitter is an awesome and powerful platform, but it is not the end-all, be-all that is going to solve HR's pressing issues. It is what it is.
And right now it is about 3%.
(Now hurry up Twitterfeed, and pick this up so it gets to Twitter so that someone will actually read this)
Reader Comments (6)
Steve - great post. Excellent points - but don't you think that HR people should be out there and exposed to social media tools like twitter - if for no other reason than to understand the potential value to the organization?
It makes my head spin around when people ask why "those blogs don't come to me"? or such things... No doubt the person asking that is a highly competent HR pro, but is also one missing important skills from their personal toolbox
So your post is not wrong - but I don't agree with you either :)
-- Michael
Great post! I agree with your statement that Twitter is a very powerful tool if used correctly but not the 'end all of all' and definitely not a silver bullet for recruiting or HR.
Great tool to network and connect with people you otherwise would not have a chance to connect to or with even if they have a profile on linkedin. Plus right now it's new and free!
-Becky
Michael - I do agree that HR folks would see the value of the Twitter and other social networking tools once they have had the opportunity to try them out and perhaps learn what all the hype is about. I teach about these tools in my class, so I certainly believe in their potential and utility. Really the point I was trying to make was that the vast majority of HR folks that I come in contact with are not part of the Twitterverse so to speak, and sometimes I think those of us that are tend to forget that. But of course over time this may change and we are certainly seeing more and more adoption of these technologies, primarily by recruiters, but slowly by other HR functions. Thanks very much for reading and for commenting.
Becky - thanks for sharing your thoughts, you know how I feel about the usefulness of Twitter, you were part of my 'Expert Panel' that was completely organized through Twitter. I was just thinking about this as I did what must have been my 100th Twitter demo to some grad students the other night. So I felt like venting a bit, I am allowed, my name is on the blog! Thanks again for reading and commenting.
Keep it up, Steve. Starting a new HR gig on Monday. I plan on bringing my knowledge of 2.0 tools into the workplace. The company has 75+% of employees offsite, and I believe that having a way to communicate quickly and easily would really make a difference in their performance. Preach on, brother.
As part of the 3%, you'd definitely have to admit that we are, by far, the coolest HR people around, wouldn't you?!
Ben - Thanks for the comments and best wishes on the new gig! I know based on your talents and inquisitiveness you will be a star!
Lisa - Of course we are the coolest! Well, you and the HR Maven are anyway!