Jeneane Sessum on The Candidate Of The Future

Jeneane looks in to the future, and sees online social networks becoming many people's primary source of affiation and self-identity (at least I think that's what she is getting at). So, businesses will have to get past the user generated content psychobabble, and grasp the meaning of user-generated demographics: we are who we choose to affiliate with.

One spin out of that might be choosing to "hire" entire social networks, rather than individuals. I have long argued that the individual is the new group, but it may also work out that the social network is the new individual:

[from Your Candidate of the Future is a Social Network by Jeneane Sessum]

The candidate of the future may be a 20-person social network living in MySpace or SomeOtherSpace with thousands of users of their own who come along with them to do business with you.

Or they might not. Do business with you.

Have you thought about how to attract and engage social networks in your organization?

Do you know that, actually, they'll be evaluating YOU?

Do you know how you'll compensate them?

Have you thought about acquiring a social network?

Do you know that it's just as likely that they'll own you?

Am I high?

I don't think so.

Maybe this is exactly what Google and Yahoo are doing when they acquire Flickr, MeasureMap, or Del.icio.us: acquiring a small social network that can produce innovative products. But as Jeneane says, watch this space: more of this to follow.

tags: jeneane+sessum, social+networks, myspace, the+individual+is+the+new+group, the+social+network+is+the+new+consumer

Comments

[Bill Seitz]

I think it makes sense to echo RossMayfield's categories and think of this applying to a given CreativeNetwork rather than SocialNetwork.

http://webseitz.fluxent.com/wiki/EcosystemOfNetworks