Social Media

& Hiring
What Employers Look For Online
Recruiting on Twitter 45% of employers now report to using social media to screen job
candidates, according to a survey of more than 2,000 HR profes-
Accenture @Accenture_Jobs sionals commissioned by CareerBuilder.com. 11% reported that
Access Communications @accesscareers they expected to incorporate online tactics in their hiring practices
ACULIS, Inc. @aculis in the next year.
ADP @ADPCareers
35% of those currently using social media reported that they’d
Allstate Insurance @AllstateCareers rejected a candidate based on what they’d found in their online
Assurant Solutions @AssurantCareers search. And what exactly is it that turns off employers and causes
AT&T @ATTjobs them to reject a candidate? Here’s what the biggest “no-nos” are,
Burger King @BKCareers with the percent of employers who reported having turned a can-
comScore @comScoreCareers didate based on each:
Davita, Inc. @DaVitaJobs  53% provocative pictures or info
Deloitte Touche @JoinDeloitteUS
 44% drinking or drugs
Ecolab @Ecolab_Jobs
Ernst & Young US @Ernst_and_Young  35% bad-mouthed previous employers, co-workers, or cli-
ents
Expedia @Expedia_Jobs
Forrester Research, Inc. @forresterjobs  29% showed poor communication skills
Fullhouse Interactive @fullhousecareer  26% made discriminatory comments
Gartner, Inc. @GartnerJobs  24% lied about qualifications
Hershey Company @HersheyCompany  20% shared confidential information from previous em-
Hewitt @HewittCareers ployer
Hyatt Hotels & Resorts @Hyattcareers  14% sent a message using an emoticon such as a smiley face
Intel @JobsatIntel
 16% used text language such as “GR8”
J.B. Hunt @WeHaveFreight

Social-media users have gotten younger.
In May 2008, the median age for users of Twitter,
MySpace, LinkedIn, and Facebook was 32.25 years. That
number climbed to 38.75 years old since then. Here are the
specifics by site:
 The average Twitter user is 31. That number did not
change from 2008.
 The average MySpace user has gotten younger—26 as
opposed to 27 in 2008.
 The average LinkedIn user is now 39, down from 40.
 Most interestingly, though, is the continued “graying” of
Facebook. The median age is up to 26 from 33.
dates about others. This is an 8% increase from last year.
Twitter Distillation.
There is no disputing that Twitter is catching on. The num-
ber of unique users per month went from 2 million in De-
cember 2008 to more than 17 million in May 2009. But
what’s everyone tweeting about, exactly? Those numbers
are what’s most surprising.
Harvard Business School researches determined that the top
10% “of prolific Twitter users accounted for over 90% of
tweets.”
Most Twitter users post just once a day.
1 in 5 Twitter users have never posted.
Let’s Talk About Me.
Approximately 19% of all Internet users report that they use
Twitter or another service to share updates about them-
selves or see up

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 Twitter Basics:
FAQ Applications
Desktop Client
How do I find my friends? Tweetdeck
When you create an account, you can Twhirl
search for people by name or user name, Twitterific
import friends from other networks,
or invite friends via e-mail. Once you've Smartphone
What is Twitter? found your friends, follow them to start
Tweetie
Twitter is a service for friends, family, and getting their updates.
Twitterific
co–workers to communicate and stay con- How do I know who I’m follow-
Twibble
nected through the exchange of quick, fre- ing?
quent messages. People write short up- After you click the follow button on some- Post to Multiple
dates, often called "tweets" of 140 charac- one's profile, you're following them. The Accounts
ters or fewer. These messages are posted to follow button will change to a green check
your profile or your blog, sent to your fol- Twitterific
mark next to the word "Following" with an FriendFeed
lowers, and are searchable on Twitter actions button on the right to remove a
search. person if you want to. If you've registered Twittelator
Do I need anything special to use your phone with Twitter, you can set up Monitoring
it? text preferences for a person as well. See
All you need to use Twitter is an internet a list of people you're following by click- Twitturly
connection or a mobile phone. Once you're ing on the following link on your profile Tweetmeme
in, type your first update into the web or your home page's sidebar. Twist
box. To get an idea of what other people
How do I know who is following Topify
are saying or doing on Twitter, check out
me? Twitscoop
Twitter search (http://search.twitter.com), to
see what Twitter's all about. You can search Twitter sends you an email when someone
by keyword or just check out the trending new follows you. Set up your e-mail pref- Share Pictures
topics to see what's hot on Twitter right erences to notify you when you have a Twitpic
now. new follower. The followers link on your Picktor
Can I edit a tweet once I post it? profile page or home page's sidebar will
also tell you how many followers you
No. You can delete an update by clicking have.
the trash icon on the right side of the update,

Twitter Glossary
but you can’t make changes and anyone
who receives your updates may have al-
ready read it.
DM “Direct Message.”
# Sign
When DM proceeds a user’s name, the tweet goes only to
Called a “hashtag.” Used to signify a searchable topic. At
the user. It is a way to have a private conversation with
Tagalus (http://tagal.us), you can search for the meaning
one or more of your followers. Used to respond to some-
of a particular hashtag. Similar to a “keyword” and makes
one directly, ask a question, and keep back-and-forth ban-
it easier for people to find your posts based on their inter-
ter off your main Twitter feed and out of the public view.
ests.
WHOIS [username]
RT (“retweet”)
RT is short for retweet, and indicates a re-posting of someone Gets profile information for that user
else's tweet. This isn't an official Twitter command or feature, Tiny URLs
but people add RT somewhere in a tweet to indicate that part of
their tweet includes something they're re-posting from another Trims URL lengths to allow for posting in microblog
person's tweet, sometimes with a comment of their own. lengths. Tinyurl.com; Bit.ly; Cli.gs
Example: RT @MollyDiBi [Text of MollyDiBi’s tweet] [Your
comment or thoughts].

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