We Are Social’s Monday Mashup #10
Recruitment consultants find digital skills in short supply within PR industry
PR recruitment agency Major Players last week told PRWeek that there is a shortfall in candidates with a general understanding of social media. After analyzing a sample of 4,500 CVs from the past two years, only:
- 6% referenced social media
- 9% mentioned Twitter
- 2% talked about blogging
- 13% included ‘Facebook’ – although in some this was merely highlighted in the ‘interests’ section
This stands in fairly stark contrast to the current need for digital skills in the industry “with around 33 per cent of recruitment searches by employers being for digital and social media expertise, while a further 28 per cent require a general understanding of social media, generally in consumer roles.”
Privacy no longer a social norm, says Facebook founder
The rise of social networking online means that people no longer have an expectation of privacy, according to Facebook founder and billionaire Mark Zuckerberg.
Speaking at the Crunchie awards in San Francisco recently, he suggested that the rise of social media reflected the changing attitudes of ordinary people online. Though a great number of people are choosing to share more information online, the degree to which ‘privacy is no longer a social norm’ is debatable. Check out the full article in the Guardian, which sums up Facebook’s moves in recent to bring more information into the public domain, and the adverse reactions that followed.
Social Media and the Haiti crisis
Following last week’s tragic earthquake in Haiti, social media played a significant role in raising awareness and getting aid donations from individuals across the world. Below are a few impressive ways in which web and mobile technology have been deployed in the past week to bring the tragedy to light.
- Photos posted on Twitter shortly after the devastating 7.0 quake swept across the web causing an outpouring of support
- Twitter and Facebook users respond to Haiti crisis helping raise $35m in donations in 48 hours for the the American Red Cross
- Google worked with satellite imaging company GeoEye to make available accurate aerial imagery to help humanitarian aid get where it needs to be most
- Apple created an iTunes donation page [iTunes link] to allow users to donate money to the Red Cross directly from iTunes.
If you haven’t already done so, you can donate to relief efforts via UNICEF or the International Committee of the Red Cross.
PostRank Top Blogs of 2009
PostRank last week announced their list of the most engaged, most influential and ‘biggest mover and shaker’ blogs of the last year.
To create the list, they gathered and analyzed over 2 billion individual engagement activities on 20 social hubs, (e.g. Twitter, Digg, Delicious) and ranked 15,725 blogs in 491 topics. Check out the Top Blogs of 2009 here. Each topic contains a ranked list of blogs, along with each blog’s engagement profile and top posts for all of 2009.
Yelp takes on Foursquare with new iPhone check-ins
In the latest version of its iPhone App, Yelp has added the ability for users to “check-in” and share their location with friends, similar to what you can do on services like Foursquare. Unlike Foursquare though, users don’t compete to become the only mayor of a single location, but can become ‘regulars.’ We wonder whether removing the ‘game’ element will affect user uptake and the incentive to check in. That said, Yelp have an existing userbase of about 1.25 million people per month. Some key features include:
- Friends can see a list of all of your check-ins
- You can bring up a map of nearby check-ins
- Post your check-ins on Twitter
- Businesses can offer promotions and discounts to their regulars