The show of hands was clear.
There were at least 20-30 people out of 250+ whose companies still block access to Facebook and other social networks. This revelation came literally at the nondescript interim Facebook headquarters at the end of day of ERE Media's latest must-attend event, the Recruiting Innovation Summit.
Facebook is a company that lives and breathes their own marketing mantra, "The web is being rebuilt around people." But there are still companies who build fences around the web, and vendors who only peek into others' yards, afraid to join in on the social media marketing fun.
But not Facebook. I learned yesterday that they hold Hackathon Projects, 8-hour marathon programming sessions where employees build something new.
No normal day-to-day work. Only building something new. All in 8 hours.
For example, the Facebook "Like" button was a Hackathon Project from only one year ago. (I'm still pulling for a "Right On" button.) Facebook Hackathons are not just for the software developers; they're for all employees. That means that everyone from marketing to recruiting and more get to build new stuff.
Here's another inspirational Facebook mantra, "Move fast and break things." It's okay, because stuff can be fixed and made fancy again.
It's true that Hackathons probably wouldn't fly at 99% of companies today, because too many worry about "clock-watching" instead of "innovation" -- innovation that the 1% knows can and will skyrocket productivity and revenue.
But the "99%" attended and represented at Facebook headquarters for the summit. They were there to learn innovative new recruiting strategies and the technologies that drive them. It was their Hackathon, their 8-hour marathon learning session to consume, digest and apply their own customized strategic versions back at their headquarters.
Hopefully.
And on the other end of that, recruiting technology and services companies like Branchout, Pinstripe, Jobvite, BraveNewTalent, Scavado, Jibe, Avature, SelectMinds and Dice were there with their own innovative "social" marketing Hackathons, from Branchout's mobile text surveys to Dice's 100 recruiting tips shared by the attendees.
Yep, I'm the dork with the chalkboard thought bubble. (Although I know a lot of firms who could use a marketing hackathon, that's for sure.)
It was like OccupyFacebook in nondescript building 4, with the web being rebuilt around us, the people.
Because we're the most important part.
Labels: ERE Media, Facebook, HR technology, recruiting, social media
