Facebook.com recently unveiled its response to e-mail with its new “modern messaging system” according to an article from Wired.com. This service “combines all the ways people send messages — including e-mail, IM and SMS — into a single interface.” While this sounds similar to the way TweetDeck helps manage Twitter and G-mail offers instant messaging, this Facebook service will enable users to streamline their e-mail and social media using a single system. Mark Zuckerberg clarified, “e-mail is just too complicated, and teens were using systems that were much easier.” Perhaps Zuckerberg’s teen audience will value this fresh service, but will potential job seekers and hiring managers alike consider Facebook e-mail legitimate and professional?
The article goes on to explain details of the system, “It allows you to simply click on a friend’s face, type a message and hit Enter. Facebook handles the rest. And it comes with an optional ‘facebook.com’ e-mail address…While the system may not convince hard-core e-mail users to switch their messaging life into Facebook, the always-on, centralized system could prove to be highly popular with Facebook’s core crowd of youngsters.” More importantly, the article reveals how Facebook’s creator and possibly many others feel about e-mail today, “E-mail is too formal,” Zuckerberg said. “Think of the friction of trying to think of the e-mail address and think of a subject line, write ‘Hey Mom,’ at the top and ‘Love, Mark’ at the bottom.”
The number one question is will the workforce embrace Facebook e-mail or brush it off as an unprofessional domain that should not be utilized in the workplace, especially considering that many companies and organizations go so far as to block Facebook all together? There have been countless articles written on professionalism in and out of the workplace. Job seekers know that a well-organized resume and carefully crafted cover letter are a must for gaining consideration in any job market, just as HR managers have certain expectations when it comes to choosing a candidate that can highlight his or her experience and skills in a concise and clear correspondence. As an article on Monster.com titled, “Five ways to say I’m Unprofessional” points out, the number one at the top of the list is:
“1. Using a Cutesy Email Address for Correspondence
Example: cutiepie@domain.com, or — far worse — something like sexkitten@domain.com.
You Might Think: It’s a clever, memorable email address everyone will get a kick out of.
The Employer Will Probably Think: I can’t believe someone would actually list this email address on her resume, let alone use it to correspond with me. Will she do the same thing on the job if I hire her? Yikes!”
This Monster.com article identifies unprofessional e-mail addresses just as inexcusable as other cardinal job seeking crimes like, “Sending Your Resume and Cover Letter Without Proofreading” and “Winging Your Interviews Instead of Preparing Thoroughly.”
As Facebook has been a pioneer in social networking for both younger and mature audiences, Zuckerberg is now taking on new challenges with a messaging system and even attempting to trademark the word “Face,” according to an article on InsideFacebook.com, “when it’s used with online chat rooms or bulletin boards, after receiving a notice of allowance from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.” Still, while some use Facebook professionally, it appears that it is primarily considered a personal social networking site for friends and, as the article commented and Zuckerberg confirmed, a “core crowd of youngsters.”
The risk becomes how job seekers using Facebook e-mail will be perceived in the eyes of potential employers as the Monster.com article states, “In most job-filling situations, the employer has the luxury of choosing from several well-qualified applicants, all of whom could probably do the job. That’s when the little things, like the common but often unrecognized mistakes described here, almost always come into play. Make sure you avoid them, so they don’t cost you a shot at the job.”
Perhaps the best way to determine whether or not Facebook e-mail will become safe for work is to wait and see how hiring managers, recruitment associates and Human Resources departments in companies react to what will undoubtedly be a popular service that is typically associated with a blocked networking site.
As a hiring manager, what do you think about Facebook e-mail? Is it professional? Too personal? Should job seekers consider it as Facebook is so highly popular?
Or, alternatively, as a job seeker, is Facebook e-mail a risk you would be willing to take knowing that first impressions definitely count and that your e-mail address, just like your resume and cover letter, can determine whether or not you get a job interview? We’d like to hear your take.
