Joi Ito starts this conversation by elaborating that he has used his blogging, his reading of blogs and his (in)famous chat channel to recruit.
What I can see emerging is a way to amplify the strength of weak ties. (I knew this before, but it's becoming more crisp to me now.) IRC allows me to see the style and personality of many of the people online. Blogs help me see what their interests are and focus is. LinkedIn provides a professional context for referrals. I think that supporting the process of developing your assets and character and finding a job that best suits you will be one of the single most important benefits of social software. I know I've been ranting about Emergent Democracy and about level 2 and 3 in Maslow's hierarchy of Needs, but I just realized that social software may be most important in addressing level 1, finding the job that brings home the bacon. I know this is stupid of me and everyone is saying "doh" right now, but this, to me, is a big "ah ha".
I recently hired two people who were IRC regulars. I felt very comfortable after "getting to know them" over the last few months on IRC. Of course face to face meetings and interviews were essential, but the time spent with them on IRC really added to my ability to judge their character. I realize now that I am actively recruiting from my network of weak ties on the Net and also using the Net to meet interesting people to connect with others who might be good collaborators for those interesting people. The Net has always been a big part of my arsenal of networking tools, but I think it's reaching a whole new level.
Ross Mayfield then comments:
Ross Mayfield's Weblog: Social Networks, Jobs & the Third Place
Hiring someone is an act of trust. What Joi is getting at is how social networking models can augment trust.
Recall that trust is greater at the bottom of the model (see its table). Private, referral based, networks provide what Joi calls context for his hiring decision -- but fundamentally its the referrer putting their social capital on the line for the recruit. That and a Physical meeting may suffice in most cases, but first impressions often fail no matter what your interview process is.
There are also some interesting comments about how people come to get jobs, usually through people they loosely know. This of course validates the M. S. Granovetter, 'The strength of weak ties : A network theory revisited' in Sociological Theory (1), 1983. Although I have seen this in action I have never yet felt its effect. I've either got a job through no ties or through strong ties.
Can social software aid the process of 'tie' building? Undoutably, in fact it already does. I know I have built ties with a number of peopl on my blog roll.
Can it augment trust? Again I say, 'yes'. Although I don't expect anyone I converse with to 'offer' me a job, it does help me to develop a network of people who can help me, whom I can help and perhaps most importantly enrich my thinking on the world.
Posted by Paul Goodison at August 18, 2003 10:10 PM | TrackBack