Twitter does have its benefits but I don’t see that it is effective for marketing of any kind, at least in the short run. If you add a lot of effort then you may have something.

I won’t stop Tweeting, but I will cut back. I did not sign on to become a semi-professional entertainer.

But very happy is is not a rant….

You’re funny, David. You’re not going cold turkey now on rants, are you!?

You’re absolutely right. Twitter works for people whose candidates are actively using Twitter, and while growing, it isn’t for everyone. Understanding who uses Twitter and why is the first step, and if your people aren’t there yet, it would be a waste of time for recruiting (though I still say there are productivity enhancements for small business that could do you well). You’re way off on the target markets. Teens and college folks aren’t on Twitter. It’s marketing, technology, PR, healthcare, small business, healthcare, government and the unemployed of all stripes. It’s being driven by GenX and Boomers who like the 140 character ease of posting. That doesn’t mean your executives or job-seekers are on the site.

Each of these sites is about the expectations of the users. If you know them, you can use them to your advantage in hiring. If you don’t, you’ll stumble and curse the toys the kids left out.

As for tweets as job spam – I know there are lots of uses of the tools, but I don’t see how using microblogging is effective. It’s simply broadcasting, and in my research, a low value way to do so. It’s great if it works for some, but for most, it’s not valuable, and actually creates more work.

If you recruit entry-level candidates, teenagers, or ad agency pros, Twitter might be a worthwhile channel. The talent I target is typically Gen-X or older, and frankly, Twitter doesn’t add value for them . . . but there may very well be value for other recruiters given their markets.

So IMHO, Twitter comes down to A. Your Target Market (their attitudes and behaviors), and B. Another Touchpoint (to potentially exploit given the previous (A).)

Note: While Twitter has proven to be a waste of my time, I can say that the ‘status update’ functionality on LinkedIn has conversely proven to be immensely valuable to me. Yes, I understand the irony, but we’re not speaking the merits of targeted micro-blogging here, we’re talking Twitter specifically.

Thanks for the shout out. My answer to your question is here:

http://www.marketingheadhunter.com/2009/04/twitter-and-b2b-marketing.html

I have over simplified in the sense that my post does not take into account Twitter followers who follow my Tweets but not my blog. But nearly all of my blog’s “regulars” (or “hyper-responsives” as we say in ecommerce) have migrated to my Twitter feed.

Thanks for reading,
Harry Joiner
http://www.linkedin.com/in/marketingheadhunter

Heh, heh, heh. If you think that you have to be closely connected with anyone in order to search the entirety of LinkedIn then you are truly behind the times and should seek a little advanced LinkedIn training. By the way, you don’t show up on Google either. Or Twitter. Hmmm.

The Dylan quote you used went on to say “you’re old role is rapidly aging, get out of the new one if you can’t lend a hand” which seems to imply that anyone not completely bowing to the Twitter gods is an old fogie who should hang up their cleats. It seems that you are now both attacking and defending any thinking that has come before you. I guess you are a little confused.

The only one here that is insulting large groups of people and demanding that theirs is the “one true path” is you (whoever you really are). The rest of us are just having a discussion.

Tom Keoughan
http://www.toyjobs.com

I don’t want this to sound critical – I’m just involved in the discussion. It sounds to me like what Jim is saying and what is being talked about on the excellent clip posted by Dave Graziano are all things that I can already do more effectively with LinkedIn, Google, a Blog or well circulated email newsletter, and an email account.

I have run some search strings on Twitter and the results weren’t very impressive or useful. Certainly, that could differ for people working in other specialties. It seems to work well for both IT and media recruiting.

Of course, Twitter could be an additional tool to add to your toolkit but it seems to me like it is a less effective and efficient tool than others that we have already assimilated. It’s all the buzz right now but by 2011 it may have become the next Second Life.

Lastly, as for “Tom Parrent” (who strangely has no LinkedIn profile unless he’s the 46 year old Chief Risk Office of Genworth Mortgage Insurance Co.), he apparently had nothing to add except to quote Bob Dylan. I wonder if “Tom Parrent” realizes that Mr. Dylan is 68 years old…..new is just new; it’s not necessarily improved. Do you really think that the more expensive “new and improved” dishwasher detergent is really any better than the cheaper stuff you bought last week.

Amybeth seems to have it just about right.

Tom Keoughan
http://www.toyjobs.com

I do dispute Jim’s comment that “job postings on twitter are low value and high spam.” Tell that to the guy who happened to be using tweetdeck to filter on “programming jobs”, and found a job from a job board or direct employer that he never new existed before – he contacts the recruiter, gets the interview, and gets the job! This has happened. The great thing about twitter is that there are so many uses for this medium. And, if you don’t like what you see out there, you can filter items out or block certain tweets or users – you make your own Twitter experience. We tweet our clients’ jobs out to over 160 twitter channels, and we have thousands of followers on those channels who opt-in to receive those tweets (http://jobcircle.com/twitter). We also see a huge number of unique visitors checking out our job listing tweets. It works.

Twitter is the first real-time employer-2-jobseeker connection tool out there that seems to be gaining adoption more rapidly than anything else – I see twitter being an eventual evolution to the 1.0 job boards, and will (and already does) allow employers and jobseekers to connect directly with each other, real time, no matter where they are.

And, Dave, if you want help getting your jobs on twitter, we can help. Look me up any time at http://www.jobcircle.com/joe.

And on a personal note, by being engaged on Twitter, I got sponsored to attend the Web 2.0 Conference in San Francisco last April. Value there for me as well as for ERE and its readers

The thing to remember about Twitter is that it, just like other social media tools, is just that – a tool, a communication tool just like email, or a phone, or an in-person conversation. It’s not a groundbreaking new recruitment strategy – it’s just a new medium with which to reach your audience.

So, my belief is that Twitter is a time-waster only if you 1) did not have an objective when you joined or 2) have not engaged in enough 2-way conversation and are simply talking at instead of with people.

Just my two cents and as I always say, everyone is entitled to my opinion