Your Future Employees are Networkers

Do you know how networked your future employees are? Are your managers aware of Facebook and MySpace – and all the implications they entail?

Your future employees are the social network generation. They make “friends,” and some make thousands of connections. An article in USA Today titled Meet My 5,000 New Best Pals outlines the mentality of the NetGens:

Call it a hobby. Call it an obsession. Call it the new way of socializing in the networked world. Call it “friending,” the way millions of teens and young adults obsessed with social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook are making connections.[...snip]

For some, friending is not just a pastime, it’s also an indication of social success or failure, says Susan Lipkins, an adolescent psychologist in Port Washington, N.Y.

“If you go to college and you don’t have a full bunch of people on your MySpace or Facebook, then it’s implying that there’s something wrong with you,” Lipkins says. “Listing your buddies and your friends is a way of establishing yourself, of feeling connected and feeling like you’re accepted.”

Connections matter to NetGens. In business, we often talk about peoples’ ability to network. How cool would it be to create a Facebook for your company, especially if you’re trying to lure in “the cool kids”? In some way, your employees would certainly get to know each other faster. After all, some things haven’t changed, whether you’re a Baby Boomer, Gen Xer, Gen Yer, or NetGen. It’s not what you know that matters, it’s who you know.

About the Author

Frank Roche

Frank started IFRACTAL over 7 years ago with Sarah Chambers. Together, they've created HR communications and HR software for some of the world's leading companies. Frank is also studying Flamenco guitar and origami.

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