While some companies are hiring people to promote the company brand on Twitter, others frown on their employees’ personal use of social networking during work hours. And now, it’s being reported that people waste so much time Tweeting/Facebooking/etc. that it costs British companies $2.2 billion a year, according to a survey put out by Morse. The results are based on 1,460 people surveyed, who on average used Twitter or Facebook for 40 minutes during the business week.
But is time spent on Facebook and Twitter really wasted time? As TechCrunch points out, there is a “difference between being productive and ‘not wasting time’:
I’d like to see more research in this field, but more focused on office workers who spend the majority of their day staring out the windows, yapping about last night’s television highlights with coworkers in the coffee and/or smoking room, attending meetings where no decision or progress gets made, or simply working on stuff that’s not particularly considered to be productive for their employer, the British economy as a whole, or the rest of planet Earth.
As a protective measure, some companies have banned the use of social networks by having the IT guy block access to the sites. The Washington Post put out guidelines on what to Tweet and what not to Tweet. Perhaps these tips could have prevented ABC employees from tweeting that Obama called Kanye a “jackass” during an off-the-record interview. Needless to say, basic Twitter etiquette will continue to evolve: In the meantime, don’t say anything that will get you fired.
And if you happen to be on Twitter, follow us — @discovermag.
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Image: flickr/ Mykl Roventine
Job hunters, maybe you should be building your Twitter network instead of your resume—at least if you’re interested in the position of Senior Manager-Emerging Media Marketing at Best Buy. The electronics giant reportedly listed “at least 250 Twitter followers” among the requirements for the position.
The Telegraph reports:
According to the advertisement, the chosen candidate would be “the primary lead for the Best Buy’s mobile, social, and video marketing & media efforts to drive in-store and online sales, create sustainable word of mouth evangelists, and brand loyalists.”
Basic requirements for the job included a Bachelors degree, two years of mobile or social media marketing experience, four years [of] people or resource leadership experience and one year of active blogging experience.
The job opening, which was at the company’s Minnesota headquarters, appears to have been filled. But because companies increasingly look for candidates with good social networking skills, it’s a good bet that job-seekers will see similar specifications in the future from other employers.
Just don’t tweet about how you hate your job, because your boss is probably on Twitter, too.
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Image: Courtesy of Twitter
At Friday’s “Cool Jobs” panel at the World Science Festival, a microbiologist, parasitologist, bioengineer, and biologist demonstrated that science is in fact not only important but also pretty darn cool.
The four panelists presented themselves and their work in very different ways. Microbiologist Hazel Barton showed pictures of herself completely covered in mud while studying microbes in caves. Bioengineer and “Da Vinci Detective” Maurizio Seracini played a trailer for a documentary on his discovery of a long-lost famous mural by the mysterious painter. Biologist Tyrone Hayes provided vivid examples of the impacts of pesticides on frogs. Dickson Despommier showed architectural drawings of vertical farms—a topic we’ve touched on before.
But even more inspiring—especially for somebody who already knows that science is cool, which we do—was how the guests explained their career progressions.
Barton stressed that she had taken a meandering path to become a microbiologist, originally focusing on biology because she hated physics, chemistry, and math.
Seracini had studied biomedical engineering as an undergraduate and then attended three years of medical school and one year of architecture school before employing new imaging technology to the field of art history.
(more…)
