Facebook f8 Conference, Open Graph and Why You Should Care Within the Recruiting World.

I knew there was something motivating Mark Zuckerberg to switch the “Fan” terminology to “Like.” And, I knew it wasn’t because “liking” something was ‘more lightweight’ than being a Fan of something (which is what Facebook’s announcement said last week as they rolled this change to users and page administrators). While I found the roll out/roll back/roll back out frustrating, to say least, as an administrator for a number of “Fan pages” (do we still call them ‘fan’ pages now?), I was convinced (and noted in a previous blog article) that this movement was toward a larger goal (one with big dollar signs). I was right (sort of). What I didn’t realize was the overtly ambitious role Facebook was going take as the NEXT step—which was announced at the f8 developers conference.

Now, you’re saying, “Why should I care if Facebook decides to change platforms?” “What’s the big deal of a bunch of ‘like boxes’ start proliferating the web?” Well, I clearly see the writing on the proverbial Wall—and it seems to me, Facebook is poised on the verge of making the entire web “social” – so get ready. 

Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post states:

Today at our third f8, we are making it so all websites can work together to build a more comprehensive map of connections and create better, more social experiences for everyone. We have redesigned Facebook Platform to offer a simple set of tools that sites around the web can use to personalize experiences and build out the graph of connections people are making.

This next version of Facebook Platform puts people at the center of the web. It lets you shape your experiences online and make them more social. For example, if you like a band on Pandora, that information can become part of the graph so that later if you visit a concert site, the site can tell you when the band you like is coming to your area. The power of the open graph is that it helps to create a smarter, personalized web that gets better with every action taken.

 We think that the future of the web will be filled with personalized experiences. We’ve worked with three pre-selected partners—Microsoft Docs, Yelp and Pandora—to give you a glimpse of this future, which you can access without having to login again or click to connect. For example, now if you’re logged into Facebook and go to Pandora for the first time, it can immediately start playing songs from bands you’ve liked across the web. And as you’re playing music, it can show you friends who also like the same songs as you, and then you can click to see other music they like.”

 So, from a recruiting and employment perspective, I want to call out two very important phrases in Mark’s speech:

“The next version of Facebook Platform puts people at the center of the web.” And, “…you can access [sites] without having to login again or click connect.”

So, you will soon be ways to target the millions and millions of Facebook users according to their ‘likes,’ their interactions with other FB users, their interactions with other web sites, etc. It’s a game-changing scenario that could feasibly enable companies (employers) to reach out (target) to people directly based upon very detailed user-relevant information. Imagine how this would alter your recruitment campaigns if you there was a ‘go to’ site that enabled you to tap into (basically) an unlimited talent pool? And this talent pool provided you the tools to siphon off very targeted sub-groups of people with similar ‘likes’ and skill sets and send them direct messages, emails, ads, etc. announcing your career opportunities all without asking these people to leave the comforts of their favored site. This my friends, is a game changing scenario (full blown advertising models, while still not rolled out yet, will be the next step…trust me).

As the web becomes more ‘social’ what are the ramifications for not only targeting but for hiring? What should the limits be regarding privacy? I signed up for Facebook to reconnect with old friends. And while the site has created the ability for people to ‘listen, watch, learn, comment and connect’ to the activities of others in their circle of friends and friends of friends, it’s quite another thing for this information to be tapped from a current or future employer. Where does my privacy begin and end with this new Open Graph platform? Are we opening up a Pandora’s box of employment law issues that we haven’t even thought of yet? Lots of possibilities and lots of unanswered questions.

If you’d like to read more blog posts on the f8 conference and Open Graph, Chad Richards did a great job of locating and listing the “Top 25 Posts About Facebook f8 Open Graph & Social Plugins”

Feel free to share with me your thoughts on the role of this new Facebook platform as it relates to your recruiting strategy moving forward! I’m sure there are questions or scenarios that I haven’t even thought of yet…