Catching the RSS Wave

When online news articles and technology bloggers began proclaiming sometime in 2008 that Twitter would become the AP newswire of the future, I literally laughed out loud. Dismissing it as techno-hype, I was completely certain that the American news reporting icon would continue to command ownership of top newspaper headlines and web pages from here to evermore. I also pondered that the majority of intelligent and web-savvy global workforce participants would simply not be all that keen on keeping up with 140 characters worth of what Brangelina's cat had for dinner or the super awesome shoes that Emily just snagged at Macy's.

I take back my LOL.

I'm still not interested in the cat or the shoes. But mix in a few breaking news incidents, some recruiting industry press releases, newsworthy unemployment trends and several hot tips from my favorite freelance writing blogs, and suddenly this now relevant news feed explosion means my two-year-old mobile phone needs a serious web access upgrade. Welcome me to the Web 2.0 social media revolution.

Twitter is obviously not the only bird in the new social media flock, though it certainly will be credited for a fair share of the swing to immediate communications transfer. The fact that the AP News Wire was a full nine minutes behind the first Tweeps who broke the story of the 2008 Los Angeles earthquake has been widely publicized, as was the desperate tweet saying simply "ARRESTED", sent in April of 2008 from Egypt by a Berkeley grad student to his tweeting pals, a tweet that ultimately secured his freedom. (http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/04/25/twitter.buck/).

Exposure like this catapulted Twitter to prominence in a very short time. But combine the growing popularity of http://www.linkedin.com for professionals, to the available instant alerts from an employment site like http://www.indeed.com to this tidal wave of data, and this tool for instant sharing transforms into an incredibly fast and powerful personal online headhunter. You recruiters? You've never had a way to be so instantly connected to so many potential candidates. How's that for a new kind of bird?

The recent accounts of conventional media's notable drag to embrace these emerging outlets make for a very interesting chronicle. PBS.org's IdeaLab (http://www.pbs.org/idealab/) contributor Chris O'Brien stated in his July 2008 blog that the "narrow" Twitter tool "...has a long way to go before it gets the attention of the mainstream." I believe Mr. O'Brien would now agree that the way has not only been distinctly made, but the social media network wave has burst through the traditional communication dams and created a "twunami" whose ripples will continue to rock the platforms of traditional media.

I do believe that the term "Social Media" may perhaps no longer be a relevant description of this limitless and ever-changing tool. For some, the moniker "Social Media" may still evoke images of glittering heart-emblazoned Myspace pages or the OMG photo album from that party you now wish you never attended. I would more accurately describe the entire phenomenon simply as, "Instant Modes of Communication." IMOC - sounds rather catchy. If this IMOC acronym becomes a staple of Future terminology, let the naming origination credits rest herein. And if it doesn't catch on, well, I'm sure it won't be the first, or the last, Web 2.0 casualty.

Are you ready to catch a Wave?

Nanci Lamborn
BrightMove Team Writer

Nanci Lamborn is a 20-year veteran of human resources and recruiting. She currently recruits in the Atlanta area for the insurance industry and recently obtained her SPHR designation.