Pass the Hatorade, Please

Just came across this interesting dicussion thread on Slashdot, and thought I'd share. Apparently employed IT folks hate recruiters.

I have to admit, reading through some of the ideas make me chuckle. Others made me a little worried about the sanity of the people that posted the ideas. :o

Facebook: The LinkedIn Killer

As some of you may already know, there's a big hoopla over what happened yesterday at 3pm in San Francisco. What am I talking about? The Facebook Platform Launch, an event that elicits comparisons to Steve Jobs and his keynote sessions for Apple (it's funny to hear other people say that Mark Zuckerberg was "channeling" Steve Jobs at this event...).

The most evident thing at this event? Facebook's undeniable ambition to become the #1 most visited site on the Internet...which also leverages its community in a manner that will allow it (and many partners) to build unprecedented services and applications for the semantic web. The most striking comment in this event? That Zuckerberg and company are "targeting Google next." Joking or not, I think it's safe to say that even making a comment like that speaks to their ambitions of taking Facebook to the next level.

So here's something I'll throw out there. Facebook is already stickier than MySpace and LinkedIn. The fact that they now have 70+ applications under way for the site only means they have the potential for getting more sticky as it expands its user base. Indeed, nearly 50% of its user base is 25 years or older. I can believe this statistic because I'm one of them...

My bold claim: Facebook has the potential of disrupting LinkedIn's model...and the model of many other social networking sites. I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Facebook begins to play on the same fields as some of its other peers such as LinkedIn. What if Facebook created a professional networking forum within its site? It's feasible, given its current growth rate of non-college students...

For the time being, I don't think LinkedIn has anything to worry about since it has a handle on its demographic. But if they're not careful...and if they don't constantly innovate...I wonder just how much staying power it will have.

Digg Marries Monster...Meet TalentSpring

So I have this dilemma that everyone else has (at least, anyone that spends a lot of time on the Internet)...keeping track of the semantic web/social networking phenomenon. I swear, a day doesn't go by that I don't hear of at least 3 or 5 new sites that have "interesting" twists on current sites.

I only wonder how many of these have staying power...how many of them are "sticky" enough to create communities that keep coming back. But it'll be a few years before we know the answer to that question, so in the meanwhile, here's a new site that has yet another interesting premise.

If Digg and Monster were to be mashed up, I would imagine the result would be similar to TalentSpring. Read on from Techcrunch:

Like traditional resume marketplaces, TalentSpring is database of resumes from those seeking work or looking for new employment opportunities. Where as tradition resume marketplaces are generally search driven databases, categorized by user submissions based on location, experience etc, TalentSpring uses a ranking system to rate resumes so that top resumes float to the top of TalentSpring whilst lesser resumes drop. Resumes are ranked by other job seekers. Upon signing up and submitting your resume, to have your details included on TalentSpring you must score 12 sets of other candidates in your own professional area. The voting system is a one resume or another proposition x 12. Users are presented two resumes side by side and must mark which candidate they feel is better suited for a position in that particular field. ...Costs for the service are highly competitive, starting at $195 for a single position with various unlimited use packages also available.

So...check back here in a few years to see if this latest site gains traction. ;) At $195 a pop, it doesn't seem like such a bad deal if TalentSpring can actually get a decent collection of resumes. Which makes me wonder: how long is Monster going to take before they roll out any Web 2.0 initiatives of their own?

This Isn't a Tribute to Star Trek...

So after months of waiting, I finally got my invite to Spock. It's one of many new "people search engines" that is debuting on the web right now. It's still in invitation only beta, so if you want to check it out you'll have to sign up and wait for them to come calling you.

I've been playing with it thus far today, and I have to admit, I'm beginning to believe their claim of having 100 million plus profiles on their site already. I've gone through a good portion of my own hiring team, and haven't found one yet that ISN'T indexed in this site.

On top of that, I've been giving it a run through with the current project I'm working on...and it seems to be holding up pretty well. Granted, it's far from perfect. Many of the profiles have only the most basic information about individuals (city, sex, company, title, etc.), so as a Talent Researcher one still has to do some legwork to uncover more information. But if you're just starting your search on a particular individual, it's a good start.

I'll be interested to see how this site evolves as it draws nearer to a "Go live" date. Until then, I'll continue tinkering around...and giving updates on my blog whenever I find something new.