There seems to be this overarching assumption that the way the general populace uses social media is the same way that technical talent will use social media. And while that might be true on a larger scale (for example, social networks as a whole are gaining more members and more professional members at the same time), is it really true on a more tactical and operational level?
The folks over at GlobalSpec put out a report recently on the “industrial use” of social networks. And while the report is geared more towards marketers and sales professionals, you can bet there is a lot of dirt in the report that sourcers can take away. First of all, let’s touch on LinkedIn.
From 2010 to 2011, LinkedIn continued to gain more members across the board and the same seems to hold true for this survey. Among the groups surveyed (engineering, technical, manufacturing, and industrial professionals according to GlobalSpec), LinkedIn usage grew from 37% of professionals to 55% from 2010 to 2011. That’s a big year-to-year jump.
While using LinkedIn was probably a no-brainer for many sourcers, it is good to know that this continues to be an area that LinkedIn might be even better at covering than the past.
Another part of the survey examined the use of the group functionality in LinkedIn. More than three in four people surveyed were in five groups or less. I think anyone who has searched for people outside of the recruiter and super-networked groups of people isn’t too surprised. Maybe more surprising is that nearly a quarter are in more than five groups.Even for recruiters creeping up on their group membership limit, that means a better chance of possibly connecting.
Most group members are understandably passive. While most are reading discussions, they are doing little else. Nearly half report themselves as simply being a member (which, what I can only assume is limited participation, if any at all).
Adoption rate of Facebook is still number one, capturing 66% of those surveyed. And the survey indicates that people might be using Facebook for more business-related activities.
Three in five surveyed like pages of companies and join groups in their industry on Facebook. And a little less than 40% participate in work-related discussions or read content related to work on Facebook.
That indicates to me that at least some of your likely audience is open to work-related discussions on Facebook (which, of course, includes employment).
Maybe the most surprising stat from the rest is that while only 22% of those surveyed had a Twitter account, a sort of shocking 29% have a Google+ account. That would be the same Google+ that started in 2011. Considering Twitter’s tepid growth in comparison to other social networks among this sector of professionals, if you are doing major sourcing in this area, it might be worth a second glance to make sure you are making efficient use of the platform.
Overall, techies still seem largely consumptive when they use social media. They are using these networks to primarily gather information and network with people in their industry. Even nearly a third admit of using it to find a new job.
When it comes to the companies that these professionals are at, almost 50% have a Facebook page and a large proportion have community/discussion sites for customers or employees, videos, blogs or company sponsored LinkedIn groups. It seems that while companies continue to be conservative in diving into social media, their employees aren’t necessarily in the same boat.
So what can you take away from this?
You can get the entire report from here with a few fields of the form filled out.
