Alert! We have a social media gap!
Recently I attended a job hunting gathering in Hillsboro, Oregon at a local community college. Over sixty of us were gathered in a large lecture hall discussing Linked In. One person asked if there were any new networking tools to use besides Linked In. The leader had no suggestions. I promptly suggested Facebook, Twitter and blogging.
The reaction was shockingly negative. As I turned to look around at the crowd, I saw frowns, shaking heads and grumbles. At least 80% of the crowd was visibly upset and rejecting my suggestion. The group leader quickly stated “Linked In is the only one that won’t get you in trouble.”
I consider this a very large social media gap since this meeting was being held in the middle of the Oregon Silicon Forest community. Almost every open job for the job seeker involves making computer hardware or software.
So what do these terrified job seekers need to begin moving forward in social media?
The answer on page 2…
hjustice 
Nice commentary! Having recently (and reluctantly) come to the conclusion myself that certain business imperatives left me no choice but to reconcile myself with the reality of FaceBook, I appreciate the timing of this post and the measured and thoughtful approach you describe. You can’t just dive in blind and you can’t–much as I urgently would’ve preferred–reject the whole thing out-of-hand either.
I’d be curious to hear your impressions of that latest of networking monstrosities Google+. Maybe that’s something you’ll touch on as your blog unfolds.
(Oh, and BTW I really need a twitter advocate–I’ve got it but I’m quite sure I’m butchering it over there so far. *grin!*)
–Larry Iversen