In her recent post, Casual But Powerful: Conversations that Need to Happen, Rayanne Thorn incorrectly credits industry ol’ timer John Sumser with putting on the first industry “unconference.”

While Mr. Sumser can undoubtedly claim a “first” for any number of things—after all he’s been around longer than most—the enigmatic Jeff Hunter was, in fact, the first to organize an industry unconference.

It happened in January 2007 on the campus of Electronic Arts where Mr. Hunter was the resident recruiting intrapreneur. He invited me to come. I went, as did most of the “tribe.”

Here is  Mr. Sumser’s take from the ERN archives: Taluncon Recap.

On reflection Mr. Sumser asks of the effort,

“Did it matter?”

and…

“What does it take to really make a difference? And, is a difference important?”

Six years on, pondering the exact same questions, I have nothing to add but conjecture. In an effort to clarify my own thinking I fear I may be confused things. Perhaps someone better qualified than I will see fit to pick up on Mr. Sumser’s unrequited rhetoric, setting me straight in the process.

In her post Ms. Thorn refers to John Sumser Presents the Recruiting Roadshow. As it happens, I had a hand at a few roadshow events, starting when RCI Recruitment Solutions underwrote the very first event in Atlanta, Georgia. Yes, the very first one.

While not the first unconference in Recruitopia as Ms. Thorn innocently misstates, the Recruiting Roadshow was, nonetheless, a first in its outreach to everyday, common HR folk. These were mostly accidental practitioners who lived outside of the well-trodden conference circuit. Typically, attendees were hardworking women with 2.5 children, who hailed from the administrative hinterlands of personnel, payroll, benefits, compliance, and affirmative action. Despite no offer of credits towards SHRM accreditation or coupons for posting on Monster.com, there were no complaints about the Recruiting Roadshow grassroots evangelism.

On the other hand, the men—far fewer in number—distinguished themselves with titles like Manager of This, Director of That, and VP of This, That, and the Other. We even had a Dean of Admissions once. While the women in the audience would be gasping “Holy cow!”  seeing for the first time what you could see on Facebook, the men were there to sanctify the proceedings with a chorus of “Amen!”

Industry headliners drawn from the area—big billers like Hank Stringer and Bill Vick; muckers like Don Ramer, Shally Steckerl, and Steven Rothberg; and stocking stuffers like yours truly—came to shed light on all things Recruiting 2.0. It was quite an eye opener for us that our audience did not reflect the spectrum of talent management professionals clued-in to what we saw as game-changing developments. Instead, we found wide-eyed deer who thought Twitter was a job board for ornithologists, blogging described a technique for felling Christmas trees, lifestreaming was something to do with Planned Parenthood, and open source was how mint jelly should be served in polite company.

How ironic that, in such a relatively short time,  Jeff Hunter’s cliquey, collaborative, democratizing, open source, transparency, lovey-dovey prototype—in contrast to John Sumser’s noble effort to enfranchise the digitally illiterate post Taluncon Recap—has been all but forgotten to naive revisionism. And when the initial woopty-doo held so much promise… what a shame.

Looking back, while each of their formulas requires no apology for contrasting genius, acumen and community service, it is hard to see Mssrs. Hunter and Sumser (or even myself for that matter) could imagine one or the other was a sustainable model. On the bright side, I imagine Mssrs. Hunter and Sumser sharing a bottle of Napa Valley un-Champagne, kicking back in rickety deck chairs and looking out on a spectacular west coast unset, reflecting on their most notable unachievement from their forays into unconferencing territory.

“What might that ‘unachievement’ be?” you ask. How about paving the way for the likes of Norton Folgate’s affable “unblogger” Bill Boorman for starters?

Contrary to popular belief, Mr. Boorman was not the first “unblogger” in cyberspace although recruiting claims no other, nor was Mr. Boorman the first to advocate antiestablishmentarianism from the gutters of London’s east end. Not by a long shot. But no one could deny, he is an original. I wonder though, with the exception of recruiting unconferences perhaps, could Mr. Boorman ever measure up to a titan like Mr. Sumser? While Mr. Boorman is described as “explosive chaos,” by Mr. Sumser, the latter is something of a prophet!

Whether contrived or not, Mr. Boorman has managed to synthesize Hunter and Sumser’s spin on the unconference model and built his #Tru events into a global unconferencing franchise. But wait, hang on a minute. Just think about it…“Global,” “Unconferencing,” and “Franchise.” Mr. Boorman has expertly capitalized on this triplicate incongruity.  Really, hats off to Mr. Boorman for unifying these unlikely bedfellows to produce what I can only describe as the prototype for peripatetic ménage à trois. A first in our industry for sure! Hoot-hoot!

Last, but not least, God bless David Manaster and his big tent ERE circus. ERE’s decidedly staid and predictable approach to industry congregation is appropriately marked by the spring and autumn equinox. Specialty events for sourcers, HR innovators and third-party recruiters are similarly ordered by an alignment of stars. I ask you, how can the unpredictable timing of an unconference ever compare to the rhythmic schedule of ERE events that beat like an east coast/west coast metronome, set in motion by none other than Chronos himself? Perhaps it such divine providence that keeps people coming, happy to shell out big bucks for ERE’s keeping with convention, order, and its heavenly appointment.

Above the unconference fray, ERE doesn’t pay much attention to industry’s radicals who rage against the naked commercialism of traditional industry shindigs. ERE does not confuse the rhythms of  influence, leadership, and business as usual with off-beat drum circles that  call “shameless self-promotion” and “back-scratching” in reply. As if having early-bird specials, group discounts, slick brochures,  keynote speakers, an expo hall, very respectable sponsors, and a freakin’ schedule for God’s sake, somehow corrupts the whole thing is too preposterous for words. Puh-leeeeaaase! Is it any wonder these things are priced to keep the drumming riffraff out?

As most of us in this business can attest to, the HR community is acutely risk averse. When it comes to things that are deliberately disorganized, counter-intuitive, and that challenge the status quo—as is the case with an unconference—most sane people would choose keeping their job over changing the world. In a culture where control, order, and predictability are the norm, and where failure is not embraced as part of “becoming” but something that might end up with I “be-going,” the headiness of a first unconference can become a migraine when one gets back to cube-life.

Based on my experience with traditional and unconventional conferences, I believe most HR decision makers would rather make an ERE-type pilgrimage. The stage-managed parade of peers recounting from the podium how Organization X successfully pulled a purple squirrel out of a an empty box is far more believable than the off-kilter magic of an unconference. After a week of traveling, gorging, and possible extramarital sidebars, when called to account for why my conference take-aways have produced no results, I’d rather have a PowerPoint deck, binder and 30-day free trial to fall back on than some vague memory of  how microblogging worked great for what’s-her-name in the pea-green smock who now consults for the Manta 10,000 [or was it million?]

Here is the upshot: For as long as hobnobbing over vendor-catered hors d’oeuvres followed by a heads-down swag-grab feels safer than rubbing elbows with industry heavyweights like John Sumser and contemplating my Klout score with Ms. Thorn, Bill Boorman and his #Tru franchise will be among the very few exceptions—including Paul DeBettignies and his unconference spin-off of course—that prove the rule which is:

Until it’s acquired by Mr. Manaster, or another smart agency alumn who sees a viable business, unconferences will continue to make more noise than waves. As companies spend more money on their recruiting infrastructure, people, processes and technology, things like #Tru Wherever will only attract and retain a  following of talking heads.

On that note, don’t expect to see me at any conferences this years, Kosher or otherwise. I’m saving up my money for a colloquium. Now that would be a first.

I had one such discovery yesterday. Just as the freezer cabinets magically flicker on as one idles up and down the supermarket aisle, so too when researching online, a passing comment can illuminate something that leads you to smack your lips with delight.

Left to my own devices I believe I would have eventually come up with the idea of combining cherry cheesecake and ice cream. But such concoctions are born of cravings unthought of until that first spoonful leaves you thinking about little else.

Now, before you get all besides yourself, you can be forgiven if you have abdicated responsibility for your career site to any of the following agenda-driven interests…

• Your ATS vendor may be fantastic at implementing customizations that make you feel better than the lowest common denominator in the functionality department, but have they given any consideration to usability for the ol’ web-portal? More often than not, vendors cookie-cut applicant-facing pages too but when it comes to users, job seekers rarely count.Oh, and to those disgruntled wannabe-workers, stop hating on Taleo, will ya?
• Your ad agency, creative peeps or style-guide/brand bores  may have a good eye for color combinations and sexy whiz-bangery but did anyone ask, “How would I search and apply for a job!“
• IT folk don’t always think beyond storage, and hosting, and vulnerability, and symbolic passwords, increasingly with their heads in the cloud I think. HR folk are likely more preoccupied with risk mitigation and compliance than if candidates can apply via their mobile device let alone from the page buried somewhere behind the online catalogs. And micro-managers of every description…well, that’s another story.

With so much already said and apparently so little done, I will not make the mistake of suggesting this or that as the universal panacea to sucky career pages everywhere. Rather, for the more ballsy amongst us,  a reinterpretation of “social recruiting” that actually rejoices in online embarrassments, real or imagined.

I was prompted to recall a series of  Tubes that documented usability testing for career sites when an email touting the  virtues of moustach.io dropped into my inbox today. You see, moustach.io is a usability testing tool and, by it’s own word, apparently everything we could have wished for:

• Wow! As if address the ATS vendor problems the people at moustach.io say this:  “Get feedback. Make better stuff.”One imagines this will be especially helpful for those vendors who can walk and chew gum at the same time.
• For the right-brained and right-thinking, they say: “moustach.io makes usability testing easy and inexpensive.”Loosely translated that means agencies can charge more for doing less–a luxury that has been dwindling with the decline of help-wanted classifieds–while in-house marketers can justify bigger budgets based on the bamboozle of moustach.io being so cheap.
• IT will be pleased. moustach.io claims it will “shorten the feedback [design] loop,” while HR will take comfort from the 360 degree fuzziness that comes with: “Ask friends, colleagues, and customers review your design and workflow.”  Micro-managers–in fact everyone in this category–will be especially pleased with: “Find the problems you didn’t know you had.” I know I was.

However, here is the social recruiting humdinger:

“Put your circles to work. You’ve spent all this time building up your social networks and categorizing your relationships. Its time to reap the rewards. Create a project. Share it on your networks. Sit back and collect feedback.”

I agree. What’s more, with a bit of humble authenticity, a dash of transparency, and a willingness to embrace the no BS in 140 characters or less, we should connect with candidates and invite them to rip our sites to shreds. Have them rate the site across industry standards and “best practice.” Not only will they get some long-awaited relief that finally they can tell us what they really think about our crappy career destinations–in other words real employment branding!–we can continue to ignore them to ensure this tactic goes on working.

Stop posting jobs with an invitation to apply. Start posting jobs with an invitation to critique. Track the uptick in qualified response.  And to avoid triggering the corporate immune system make sure you get them to upload their resume first, after logging on with the Facebook, Google, Twitter or similar username of course. After all, “it is a conversation,” give-and-take…if you know what I mean.

On a possible acquisition, I would have liked further explanation on what Mr. Iannuzzi means by, for example:

“We’re agnostic as to what type of acquirer it is. The real issue is we know we have value, and we know we can go around and look for opportunities to get that.”

What does this mean? Could a casual reader be forgiven for thinking that it translates, “Thank you, you saps, for your resume data and eyeballs, now go fuck yourselves because we just sold [you] out?” Surely not. It cannot be.

Can we at least hope that someone like Rupert Murdoch will save the day and buy Monster.com for the betterment of humanity? The so-called “founder of online recruiting,”  Bill Warren perhaps? Who then?

And I ask you, fellow Monster people, whatever happened to the mantra, “Never settle?” First-come-first-served seems like a bit of an about face, wouldn’t you say?

[No video? Watch it on YouTube]

By the way, to the small comfort that Monster.com sales in Asia have not suffered the level of decline as in the U.S., interested parties should first consult Recruitomatic’s sources on the ground in India before having “sunshine blown up their dresses.”  I am told the comparison of sales between Monster’s global operations is a stinky red herring. On reflection, I would have to agree.

[Trouble viewing? Watch it on YouTube]

[Missing something? Watch it on YouTube]

Of course, like a lot of things HR, it’s just an illusion.

I was reminded of what a useful reference that book is when I happened on Social Media Saturday: Who Are The HR Bloggers? posted by Laurie Ruettimann on her blog,  The Cylindrical Girl.

Social Media Saturday: Who Are The HR Bloggers? features an infographic that visualizes a survey of HR bloggers, presumably those listed in the day’s prior post  Ultimate HR/Career Blog List for 2011: V3.0.

Credit goes to Ms. Ruettimann’s lucky intern, comrades in marketing at Starr Tincup, for an otherwise delightfully decorative piece. And full props to Ms. Ruettimann for filing both posts under General Nonsense, even if it is, as seems to be the case, her popular site’s default category.

At issue here are four things…

• The use of contrived statistics to artfully confuse semblance with substance
• Perpetuation of a trend to present trivia as meaningful data and it’s subsequent regurgitation as “content”
• The promotion of pseudoscience as a legitimate basis on which to rank otherwise remarkably average bloggers
• Shameless linkbaiting  in the pursuit of lopsided sycophancy and the unending recycling of half-baked crap.

I propose a simple test to use with these types of “analyses” and glad handing posts. To determine if  the stats have any use other than promoting the publisher at the expense our lemming gullibility, simply ask yourself the question, “So what?”

By way of example, first a sampling from the grandly titled–if not exaggerated–The Ultimate List of HR/Career Blogs...

Gender-bender
52 per cent of the sample are male; 48 per cent are [surprise, surprise!] female. So what? Isn’t that the same distribution of the sexes as in Papua New Guinea, and just about as interesting?

Pretty pictures, bar-none
Not so much a “So what?” as a “WTF?” Under “Blog Category” can anyone tell me what categories correspond with which columns, and what do the values on the bar chart actually relate to? The biggest number 29 represents what exactly? And what’s with all the two’s?

A Global Village
The regional map shows in the legend 1 per cent of the sample bloggers are in India and the same percentage in the Netherlands. So what? If my calculations are correct that would be one and one-half a blogger in each location. And, if Eastern Europe–wherever that is these days–has three times the number percentage-wise, how many bloggers is that…exactly?

Total crap
And now for the shocker! 100 per cent of those surveyed–that means everyone, folks–said they are “Likely” or “Very Likely” to share content with their network. STOP THE PRESSES! Everybody, quick! Re-tweet, re-post and blog it in a list, yo!

Ho-hum…

Turning our attention to the Ultimate HR/Career Blog List for 2011: V3 list I couldn’t help but wonder why not call it a blogroll if that’s what it amounts to? Rather than validate the selection, I think the inclusion of Klout scores simply serves to confirm the industry default  that supposes if you don’t know how a particular metric is calculated you’d better keep your trap shut for fear of being labeled an HR primitive.  Allow me to enlighten you: Statistically speaking, Klout scores are entirely meaningless…46 per cent of the time.

Nothing but the BS, so help you blog
Included with each listed blogger’s name is their Twitter handle and Klout score. “So what?”

“So what,” indeed. Rather, I think this list with it’s Starr Tincup inspired blog-bling is a not-so-subtle attempt to engineer page rank.  Like the  infographics, the parade of pipers is a sweetening of the pot for the hive-minded and buzz-beguiled, and more self-serving than meets the eye.

In closing, and on a positive note, I have compiled Ms. Ruettimann’s blogroll into a search engine so that one might extract some value from the assembled list and its content.  And as Ms. Ruettiman’s closes her post, so shall I:

“Copy the code and paste it right onto your blog, yo.”

Unable to substantiate my suspicions that the decision to congregate in the Mecca of smoke and mirrors had something to do with “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas,” I shall refrain from speculating that, if not that, perhaps some polyester PR plonker persuaded SHRM’s leadership that there is no better place to engage the dissenting voices going ga-ga for transparency than on the Vegas Strip. Where better to make a show of it!

In the weeks leading up to this year’s swarm I became quite bored with the unfolding drama surrounding the Machiavellian goings-on at SHRM. I’m sure I am not alone among the uncertifiable HR wannabes who now find themselves turned off by SHRM’s reported bully-boy tactics.

If it ever crossed my mind to give my eye-teeth to cover the cost of a few years membership, re-certification dues and and whatever else it takes to get me a GPHR, suffice it to say I’ve started flossing again. Now, if I could only get that interminable “Anything you can do ICANN do better,” tune out of my head, I might find something to celebrate in SHRM’s nearing retirement age.

Small comfort then that the only thing I have is to sit at my computer and wonder as the SHRM conference streams in, captured live in 140 character soundbites.

As I anticipate each new #SHRM11 tagged tweet it occurs to me, maybe SHRM’s politburo are behaving like any establishment icon does when faced with the inevitable flattening of hierarchy that Things 2.0 herald. Words with newly minted meaning come to mind: democratization, crowds, transparency, conversation, collaboration, and trust. The very things it appears SHRM’s leadership are missing. And so it seems they are out of sync with the rank and file, disconnected from the so-called “community” they are charged to represent.

However, It seems to me that if we dig a little deeper than the detestable tabloid commentary that sensationalizes the otherwise mundane, what we might observe is far from ho-hum after all.

I see something of great significance going on. Not so much a changing of the guard among the SHRM powers-that-be but a redefining of who the powers-that-be are, including those who are outside of SHRM’s membership. A hard pill for a once proud champion to swallow.

The transformation of an organization that is by it’s very nature cautious, conservative, elitist and power-centric is never easy when it is being forced by modernity to change its ways. And when the reasoned arguments of the body it claims to represent call for change too internal strife is sure to follow.

Yes, take a closer look.The fascinating stuff happens, not in the headlines of industry screeds but in between the lines of carefully orchestrated propaganda. For example, when the language changes from talk of advocacy [acting on what the membership thinks] to a an Orwellian mantra of “thought leadership” [this is what the membership should be doing] it’s a tell-tale sign of something going on. I’m just not sure what. Do you?

Alternatively, maybe the decision to whoop-it up in Vegas was a test of sorts to see how members react to a behemoth’s emergence into today’s changed world. How much more authentic could you get than having your leadership’s outlook on life reflected in the glitz and glamor of flying first class, living the high-life, and playing games where the odds always favor the house. It’s disarmingly honest reminding me of something I read on SHRM’s site once:

“The first step in creating a culture is the behavior of the leaders…Culture is expressed through behavioral norms, rituals, and symbols that have meaning to those in an organization.”

So could it be, the choice of Vegas for this year’s conflab is another way of saying, “C’mon fellas, get on[the]board?” Who knows? I’m told that some people who get too smitten by Vegas eventuallly end up on skid row with nothing to eat but dog food. Perhaps that’s it.

Don’t get me wrong, I know millions of delegates from all walks of life pass through Nevada’s convention centers, casinos, and nicely appointed brothels every year. And I concede the possibility that SHRM’s choice of Vegas could have been as an innocuous as the rolling of the dice, an easy way to decide between two shortlisted cities, a Mormon Tabernacle Choir / Cirque du Soleil tiebreaker if you will.

Either way, in the final analysis, the choice of venue is a reflection on SHRM’s leadership, like it or not.

What a contrast from earlier years, the choice of venue and message too. For example, in Washington D.C. members were given an esteemed Secretary of State for leadership insight. Fitting I’d say for the industry’s advocate body, expected to navigate the cloistered corridors of power, making friends in high places, and finding themselves a seat at somebody else’s table.

But in Vegas, what were SHRM’s delegates treated to? A knight with a Virgin. Need I say more than…fitting?

So, the big tent is coming down and the delegates are returning to the familiar comforts of home. All that remains now is for us to observe if the long-term effects of the membership’s exposure to the brilliance of choosing Vegas for this years conference has any lasting effect. If history is to be our guide, it could be years before we know.

Next year, we’ll be hip-hopping in Atlanta. Well, that should be a rap!

1. Data? What data?

It can be difficult to make sense of the data that gets reported under “Social Media.” Harder still, accepting it could be useless in the context of traditional HR metrics, or under any circumstances, come to think it. Teasing intelligence from a new data set can leave one befuddled. Correlating things like “authority,” “increased awareness” “mentions,” and “sentiment” to the traditional metrics like time-to-fill and cost-per-hire may not only be a challenge of Rubik proportions, but ultimately an exercise in futility.

Such are the pitfalls of staying ahead of the HR technology curve, early adoption and social media illiteracy.

An absence of meaningful data can result from poorly designed programs, management oversight, technical problems like gathering the wrong data, or even having no data to collect at all. It happens. While glitches may indicate the pedestrian problems that affect every organization, the greater concern is this: Without the means to quantify performance or predict future outcomes, confidence is eroded in future leaps of faith and good judgment compromised.

For those of us who are used to winging it when there is insufficient data to chart the course, measuring results from social campaigns provides a rude awakening. It is impossible to fly by the seat of your pants when there is no indicator that one is even airborne. In white-out conditions, without an instrument panel that knows the difference between up and down, a corrective ascent may just result in an unhappy end.

2. Curve Balls

Unable to pace internal adoption with the dizzying rate at which the social web proliferates, escaping the gravitational pull of a world in a state of perpetual beta can consume more time and effort than staying in the game. Besides, where else can you get your emotional needs meet with 140 characters or less?

Many who impulsively jumped into the scrum of promiscuous linking did so without proper preparation or guidance. Now, forced to find meaning in a virtual space of auto-generated mediocrity, recalibration is too daunting a task. With little value to assign to “relationships” or “reputation,” it is easier to ride the long tail of diminishing returns in the hope a real crisis will legitimatize the abandonment.

What use are social media metrics now? For the me-too crowd the tools and technology that promised fulfillment in real-time don’t work that well when fashioned after conventional HR technology. Their struggle is in reconciling the fact that their application of Twitter looks like a default RSS-powered job board and the only way to get a thumbs-up on their Facebook fan page is to raffle-off an iPad.

Facing a seamlessly never-ending eruption of indistinguishable hash-tag jobs, tweets go unnoticed. One is reminded that in the good ol’ days you could line the bottom of the parrot’s cage with the Sunday help-wanted ads. The fact that your 1×1 agate ad was lost on a broadsheet didn’t preclude one from the hope that a job-seeker would find it by happenstance. If not, where better for Polly to poop?

Unfortunately, some providers assume that just-above-stupid is the new normal. LinkedIn continues to hybridize a next-generation job board for employers and job-seekers, while recruiters protest that rampant commercialization is squeezing them into network conformity.

Part real-time search engine, crowd sourcing bazaar, content curating machine, company directory and International Kiwanis watering hole, LinkedIn describes itself to users as an network where “Relationships Matter,” while describing itself to investors and developers as a platform. A modest differentiation for what is clearly something that seeks to be all things to all men. For those who may benefit the most from LinkedIn, well, they never go there. As a percentage of the world’s “most desirable” talent 100 million user is not that big a deal. And, supposing we could double that number? Who cares, so what?

3. We’re not in Kansas anymore

For America’s HR homogeny these kind of problem are compounded by an outdated playbook that insists employees are ultimately defined by profile, pay scale, performance, production and potential contribution. The HR playbook has no response for the kind of indiscretions at work that the social web invites from life in general. But then again, nor does the Church.

The social web [and depending on your place of worship] celebrates human experience with an exuberance that is is out of sync with boardroom decorum or budget meeting handouts. And while a KPI in a world of paradigm shift, sentiment remains hard to quantify in dollars and cents. These are the kinds of thing HR now has to contend with. But, steadfast, stoic and risk-averse by nature, HR’s unfortunate stereotype is itself at odds with the type of intrapreneurial champion most organizations need to get their Whatever 2.0 initiatives underway.

Yes, the social web invites risk. Yes, HR needs to mitigate it. This apparently irreconcilable tension presents quite a conundrum it appears that only tweeps, bloggers and unconference organizers are uniquely qualified to fix. It underscores the disparite nature of HR with societal trends. This prevailing condition does little to advance the cause of progress.

Hoping to avoid the potential workplace meltdown this type of divergence portends, Directors and VP of HR are subscribing to RSS feeds and trekking off to former Soviet Bloc countries in droves.

At the other end of the spectrum, the flawed humanity that clocks in for work each day has to resolve a different set of issues than those facing workplace engineers.

A layering of innovations has transformed personal computing. Once a desk-bound activity, today’s portable means for self-service, self-segmentation, self-expression, and self-actualization, comes in a tablet form that is perfectly suited for the occasional poke on Facebook and simultaneous Foursquare shoutouts from any airport anywhere.

But the advantage of widely available and affordable technology has not, as predicted, empowered an Army of Davids as a mobilizing force against the Goliath of work. Ironically, it has emasculated it. As opium was for the masses, so social media is for the herd.

4. Capital Ideas

Unwilling, to risk everything in the cause of noble values, the average person is emotionally and psychologically ill-prepared to unleash the social web’s potential for unbridled individuality, transparency, authenticity, and trust. Such naivety would undoubtedly result in more harm than good.

Everyone who wants to make a living must think long and hard before declaring themselves online. In a workplace environment where human potential is valued as capital, human potential applied to otherwise prohibited pursuits off-the-clock, even in a life gone by, renders the person worthless as an employee, a liability, or both.

Unable to concede the social web’s failure to significantly level the playing field, which he or she takes personally, Everyman congregates where the contradictions of group-think and having a voice are wonderfully blended in the soothing drone of social validation. Personalized homepages and one-of-a-kind avatars further reassures one that Self still matters, if only existentially.

In this incubator of bi-directional communication and content proliferation, mutant-concepts like “authority,” “influence,” ““reputation,” and “personal brand” are the standards by which our value is calculated. And, in a supremely ironic twist, this is how HR adjusts its measure of an individual’s “net-worth,” the new metrics of assessment.

When the time comes, and the data is in, getting hung-up on uninspired number crunching will slow down the “social human convergence” we all desire. Surely, now is the time to integrate social network analysis into our planning and decision-making processes. Our newly quantified social capital can then temper the otherwise cynical terminology that describes people as capital, and humanity like animal fat.

At last, with the convergence of personal, professional, corporate and social values is finally consummated — true to its Aesopian nature — the corporation can begin its acquisition of all the value, capitalizing on the intrinsic value of past, present, potential and future employees’ networks. Using their social graph to grow the organizations’ networks exponentially, at last an even wider audience of consumers can be imagined, engaged, bought and sold.

Hello, John? John? Are you still there?

The report captures the insights of the Nineteenth Annual Aspen Institute Roundtable on Information Technology, where business leaders, technologists, international politicians, academics and innovators explored how global structures and institutions are being confronted by the 21st century realities of distributed knowledge, crowdsourcing, open platforms and networked environments.

Read the rest here [PDF] »