I think that your comment “Many organizations have already used online social networks like facebook or myspace as a sort of pre-screening test for potential employees and even as a recruitment site” is very accurate and demonstrates some of Facebook’s weaknesses.

Business (and increasingly universities as well) use social networking tools to gain additional insight into how prospective employees will fit into corporate culture based on their personal activities. I don’t know that that’s necessarily a positive thing – it seems to blur the boundary between personal and business time in favour of always having to be responsible to potential business interests in your digital conversations with others. I really don’t think that my potential or current boss needs to know about my personal life, but social networking sites do, in part, allow for that kind of blurring. Of course people can set up privacy guards, but my Mom doesn’t know how to set those up, nor does my Dad or lists of other intelligent but not techno-savvy individuals.

As for the Facebook being useful for the CIA and Ernst & Young, I think that it’s largely because they’re targeting the dominant market that uses Facebook – college students. Of course they are attracting other groups, but college students are their target markets.

NGO’s can also use Facebook, but I think that in their Facebook should be an element of a wider strategy for communicating with members. The more ways of communication that an NGO opens, the most time is spent in transmitting the same message throughout the established communicative mediums and this can often lead to message dillution. Facebook users often assumes that events organized by its members are shared amongst current members (though not always, as there is the option to alert people that are not members of Facebook). That’s great, if the people you are trying to contact are members of the social network already. Otherwise there is a barrier of entry – people have to be willing to spend the time to learn about the network, how to adjust privacy settings, et cetera. I don’t know how realistic a proposition that is for people who aren’t already sold on the social networking phenomena.

I am no longer a student and began using facebook a few months ago. I have found old friends (some I haven’t seen in over 20 years) as a direct result of facebook. I would not have known where to begin looking for at least a few people who I have now happily found by looking at the ‘friends of’ lists on my friend’s profiles.

So, beyond the day-to-day, facebook also excels at establishing and re-establishing connections. How could this affect business? By making networks visible, tangible.

Many organizations have already used online social networks like facebook or myspace as a sort of pre-screening test for potential employees and even as a recruitment site.

While I agree that there are many facebook elements that are certainly professionally unnecessary – my organization does not need to know if I am single or tired or attending so-and-so’s birthday bash – I think that it does have a lot to offer beyond student life.

So do some of these guys

Ernst & Young Becomes First Employer to Use Facebook: http://www.collegerecruiter.com/weblog/archives/2007/01/ernst_young_bec.php

CIA gets in your face(book): http://www.wired.com/techbiz/it/news/2007/01/72545

A beginner’s guide to facebook for non-profits: http://www.wildapricot.com/blogs/newsblog/archive/2007/05/23/put-your-non-profit-on-facebook.aspx

Oh, and I personally know at least two grandmas on facebook!