This is your Life

There has been a big shift in the Social Media Business in the last week. Turns out this man wants to pick up where Michael Aspell left off in the quest to document peoples lives, only the book you will be getting isn't red, its blue.

Facebook last week made available to developers their new "timeline" profile layout (along with a host of other news handling changes, consult mashable for those). The profile step-change has caused controversy amongst the early-adopters, and is likely to spread to widespread ruckus when it goes on general release this Friday. (upgrade your profile in advance here)

Essentially the timeline feature takes data aggregated over your lifetime Facebook history and spans it into a timeline of your events that would put Grandmas finest photo albums to shame. I've got to say I found it a little alarming to trawl through the last 5 years of my life in Facebook form, but it was intriguingly voyeuristic and I must say I think its an improvement.

It would seem that this idea, aimed at making your profile more valuable to you, stems from Google+ putting the cat among the Facebook pigeons. Developers at FB seem to be pushing for a more compelling reason to remain loyal to the Social media long-timer in the face of stiff competition and a tumultuous sea of change. Invariably Google+ will repost with a counter-suggestion of why the shiny new kid on the block is the best bet for your social investment and so it will continue.

Much like any market competition model however, we are seeing a new currency gaining strength (even as the majority of euro-zone currencies slide into panic). Social currency is a lucid term, but one thing that active Social Media users can be sure of is that they now own something of value. A users loyalty, and the profiles, news feeds, and circles or lists which it powers, are valuable assets. With the Social Network owners seeking to steer powerhouses of huge user numbers and reap the benefits of advertising and market power which that brings, we can all bring our cows to market and watch the butchers scrap.

Never before has your personal data been worth so much, making how and when you give it up almost as important as watching your bank statement. A recent project investigating the value of online customer leads for service providers gave me a glimpse of the lead-buying world. With a single customer sign-up being worth in excess of £25 in some cases, it is staggering what some companies will pay for a small window of your attention and a glimpse of a direct debit.

So in times of economic uncertainty, be sure not to undervalue what you are handing out online. The brand of you is coming into fashion.

(Just remember that however you dress it up, you are the one providing the content and to quote one of my old lecturers: "garbage in still equals garbage out")

Not just a Third World Problem

Not long ago prospects for graduates and school leavers were said to be at an all time low. In recent years there has been talk of 70 graduates for every available position, or record numbers of unemployed apparently milling the streets staring at the heavens and waiting for jobs to fall. In some camps there seems to be a general attitude of closing ranks and clinging to employment, with those looking for work being left out in the cold.

I attended a family wedding this weekend and was asked by a plethora of relatives whether I had yet secured a job after graduating. Even in the way they phrased the question there was a tone of premature empathy, not dissimilar to the way in which people talk about the death of a pet or some spilled milk. Luckily enough I do currently have a job so was able to return the volley with a description of my seemingly miraculous employment.

I am being a little facetious perhaps given the involvement of family, but what concerns me is the bizarre phenomenon of employment prospects becoming overly pressurised and ultimately paralysed by a perceived scarcity of jobs and the threatening axe of redundancy. Of course times are indeed hard, but shoots of recovery are beginning to show. I feel that its time for employers and employees alike to take a step change to speed the process along.

One great way to oil the wheels of the employment market is to take on interns. Historically Apprenticeships have been a great way to inject young talent and enthusiasm into a trade, and I recently met Glenn Crocker from The National Apprenticeships Service who is doing a sterling job of uniting young people with practical jobs in industry. Internships are a great equal in office based or service industries and I firmly believe its time for more to be made available.

6 months or even 6 weeks of intern work for a candidate provides a two-fold benefit. Provided the employer and intern have selected wisely then they will enjoy a mutually informative process which should yield great value for money for the company and solid experience for the individual.

Admittedly it wont always work out, and there is an overhead for an organisation of any size to take on someone even in an unpaid position. The cost of induction and training needs to be considered and offset against the value the intern can realistically provide. But the majority of Internships I have seen, blossom into full time employment because of the increasingly positive working relationship that occurs when you unite enthusiastic young people with an open minded organisation. Take the employment figures from The University of Surrey for instance. On average 97%+ of graduates are working within 6 months putting them top of UK employability. This is no coincidence, the main contributing factor being the prevalent year in industry intern scheme which plants the seeds for just such blossoming employment prospects.

What I am not in favour of however, is the trend in unpaid Internships. Companies of all sizes are watching their belts, even making use of a few new notches, but this is not an excuse to bludgeon the next generation with oppresive and unfair working conditions. We come back to my original mention of a 'closing ranks' mentality. Increasingly I hear about organisations who sustain unpaid positions telling their interns that the pot is empty, yet cranking up sales incentives and payouts for other staff, or plunging capital into ambitious expansion plans. Some would make parallels between taxpayers and UK bankers at this point, but this does not do the problem justice. A fair days work for a fair days pay. It's not just a third world problem.

The Sharing Compulsion

We've all done it, fired off an interesting email, plastered a link on facebook because we think it might interest others, or taken a picture and uploaded to show the world your latest visual treasure. Perhaps even just clicked "like" or now "+1" against a particularly interesting Social Media titbit (unwittingly promoting and sharing it with your own connections).

With the currency of internet sharing now flowing freely, it got me thinking about how this human behaviour came about. The idea of electronic or internet sharing is of course a relatively modern concept, however upon consideration the human compulsion which drives it is not new at all. For hundreds of years we have basically demonstrated our appreciation of interesting material through the medium of clapping or cheering. When we witness something that is sufficiently compelling, we put our hands together in a spontaneous (and public) demonstration of our endorsement. Likewise we have been compelled to praise high achievement or interesting content in the form of newspapers, television and radio for many years.

My suggestion is that the subconscious rationale for public endorsement is ultimately the same in all the scenarios above, and what we now witness daily online is in many ways the most natural extension yet of the human disposition for sharing. There are a huge range of ways to quickly share information between your internet peers. A few great examples I have come across are below:

The Google Chrome Share button extension

A great tool for quickly sharing a webpage or content to any one of your networks or email accounts. Auto populates the subject field or post description saving precious seconds for the avid sharer.

4shared file sharing system:

Well integrated and cleverly designed, 4shared gives you an easy way to share and access files accross desktop computers and mobile devices alike. Perfect for those wanting to share larger files or something only stored locally on your machine.

Pinterest online pinboard

A recent find for me, an easy signup online personal pinboard. Allows you to quickly and easily add visual content you would like to share and also pick up on others shared images. A great way to chuck out some of your visual treats and the design of the site makes it a hotbed for sharing without being overwhelming.

By no means do I profess to be an expert in the psychology behind the sharing compulsion. However the New York Times recently knocked up a study that explored the motivation and personalities involved in our latest gregarious revolution. One interesting point raised is that 85% of recipients said material which is shared multiple times gains a sort of human hallmark from peers which allows readers to better grasp and understand the information. A really interesting concept for those using social media and sharing to promote their brand material.

The study also highlights a kind of 'socially responsible sharing', with 94% saying they are careful about what they share and how useful it might be to others, and 84% sharing to show direct support to a cause which is close to their heart.

So the culture of sharing develops in our bustling online world. Ultimately it would seem that the trend will only increase, hopefully improving the wealth of knowledge we can digest as individuals, but also providing increasing capacity for brands and Businesses to grow through engagement with people who are genuinely interested in their offerings.