Social Media's Indelible Presence

I have attended a very exciting social media conference here in the Atlanta Metropolitan Area at Kennesaw State University. Kudos to Kennesaw State by the way; the conference was out of this world and had the largest WOW factor that I have ever seen.

On of the most interesting aspects of the conference was the number of people and businesses that were there trying to get a handle on social media and what it meant to them and their customers, clients and constituents. The other major aspect of what I had observed was there were no public officials and or what we call politicians. If there is one thing that I know about social media is that the viral aspect of a message is that it tends to work best in politics. Surprisingly enough there was no one there from the public policy community that I was able to see.

The purpose of this post though is to bring your attention to the fact that one of the panelists in our morning session mentioned and was second by his fellow panelists is that forward thinking job candidates are touting their social media prowess as an attribute that should be considered for them to be hired. This of course was not surprising to me but what was surprising was the panelists unrequited glee that was associated with this statement. Of course I and others that were sitting with me all had a, "are you kidding me" moment!! That is right, if you need an edge, with all things equal social media skills just might put you over the top if you are looking for a new job.

There is more, another statement by another panelist from ATT stated that they just hired 40 people to TWEET; that is right to put a full-time twitterist. I don't even know if I am putting this in terms that is considered right in the vernacular. The point is this, social media has come to the fore of marketing, public relations and overall business activity. One of the panelist showed an example of a auto boy shop that blogged and you tubed their work on these networks while they were doing the work. Can you imagine the the publicity, marketing value and overall engagement for the customer that is worried about whether their automobile is being repaired with care.

I will leave you with this, social media has changed the world in such a way that it is revolutionary in a sense that groups of people that did not have a voice or a chance to make an impact on society now have the means to do so. The images and actions of those reacting to what has been happening in Egypt is a testament to this. Furthermore, a despot in Mubarak is about to get a taste of what social media can do. In contrast Mubarak can also use social media to rebuild a legacy long after he has left power. It is all in the way that we use this new powerful tool called social media. So get to it and build your own success.