The Web and the Illusion of Expertise
On the Internet, everyone is an expert. I’ve come to realize this from being on Twitter and roving around the HR and Recruitment social media space, and this disturbs me.
One of the most important things to me is authenticity, which goes hand-in-hand with truth and other qualities like it. Authenticity is important to building an audience and building credibility, but I’ve witnessed a lot of people building authenticity and had myself thinking, “How in the world can they be doing this?” I thought about it, cursed a few times, had a beer, and then it came to me. Well, really, it just came to me, but whatever.
Community. In other words, these “authentic” people (Bloggers, Tweeters, what-have-you) have essentially found others willing to agree with their ideas and opinions. In this world of social media, those folks are also (usually) willing to reshare the content. And so the cycle goes, turning into a self-sustaining circle jerk of like-minded personalities that does nothing but recycle and re-hash the same content and ideas.
Cliques, anyone? My, how little changes from high school…
The next step, of course, is the “community” self-styling itself as a collective of experts. This works, by the way, because of how “authenticity” is constructed; it’s akin to a virus, really. And bingo: you’ve got a load of bullshit coming down the pipeline, probably 2/3′s of which is more self-serving drivel to position the community as experts, and the other 1/3 consisting of the recycled content.
So in the beginning of my post, I singled out the HR/Recruitment social media space. My bottom line opinion about it is just what I’ve written here: a bunch of self-styled (and self-rewarded) influencers who do more collective hot-air blowing than any real change. I can’t even count how many blog posts, Tweets, and statuses have reflected and condemned some of the worst HR practices – discrimination, bad decisions, etc. – and yet, I’ve seen nothing remarkably changed about the industry by all of these “influencers.” So, again, my contention is that their “influence” stops as soon as it hits the computer screen.
And so the illusion of expertise. Expertise on a subject goes beyond just knowing it and talking about it. Expertise would have you effectively sharing these ideas to enact meaningful change. If these “influencers” can’t produce meaningful change in the industry they purport to represent, the only thing they’re influencing is other people’s perceptions of them.
Sorry, I’m just not that into you.
July 29th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Jonathan Hyland, Stephanie R Thomas. Stephanie R Thomas said: from @jon_hyland : The Web and the Illusion of Expertise http://bit.ly/d5BAHm [...]
July 29th, 2010 at 7:50 pm
Jon
I tried, trust me I tried but did not come close to the justice that you presented here.. .. and Yeah, I am in H.R.. and am seeking the change of which you speak.
Ah, I can go onto a rant.. but here was my attempt
Is it really Influence, or just a Typical Load of Industry B.S? http://bit.ly/cOU6ey
July 30th, 2010 at 9:50 am
JH…the illusion of expertise? Fantastic way to describe the fad of social media influence.
I don’t have any issues with people’s beliefs that they’re being authentic but the sheer volume of “content” that ends up as virtual landfill material astounds me; most of this is nothing more than Viagra or 416 spam.
It’s laughable how many of the “experts” have contacted me and asked me to help them become Fast Company’s most influential person…uh, why? Will becoming the most influential person stop future oil spills or prevent terrorists attacks? How about literacy and civil rights? Yoo-hoo, anything at all???
To me, the real issue is one of sustainability and collecting followers won’t make a cause or change sustainable if most followers are passive. It’s like collecting matchbooks from places you’ve eaten and placed them in a glass bowl for people to see. Wow…
I too am not that into you.
July 30th, 2010 at 6:55 pm
Thanks, Karen! I loved your article, and I feel you went into more depth about how I feel that these influencers function. They take advantage of peoples’ lack of knowledge of topic, talking it up as the next “big thing,” and then line their pockets thanks to client ignorance. Dante has a place in Hell for these people…
July 30th, 2010 at 6:57 pm
Thanks for the compliment, Steve. I think we need to start a website or something, because we are a testament to the fact that generational differences are minimal or moot. You’re a Boomer, I’m a Y’er, and yet we seem to agree on quite a lot when it comes to HR, recruitment, motivation, and so on.
By the way, we need to get coffee next week.
August 3rd, 2010 at 6:24 pm
Jonathan,
Thank you for your well written and honest expose of most talent acquisition practices and processes.
*It has evolved from a sign in the window, an ad in the local paper; technology accelerated and greatly enhanced how we could communicate about anything.
Now the “It” referred to earlier is the same basic practices of send resume, hope and hope some more. Nothing in my thirty years of recruiting has brought more to degrade and minimize potential employees. You need help? And you ask for people to stick their “paperwork” into it.
Frankly, nearly all job seekers with whom I was able to speak refer to these virtual holes in the castle wall as The Black Hole. Referencing, I am confident, that all that enters this dark portal must abandon all hope much as it must in the cosmos…
In summary, the “Get a Resume-Send a Resume-Hope Process” is not what it once was, (and never actually was great, it was just what everyone did).
Technology rationalized continued use of the same “process” while it made it massively effective in creating fast and widespread distribution.
Jump ahead to today, don’t worry I won’t bore you with the same stagnant and worsening economy. Nonetheless the US DOL reports that there are 3.1MM jobs open. Actually it is more likely to be 8-10MM jobs.
Ironically, the drop in job advertising is more a result of the overwhelming response employers face by every communication pathway available. One can only imagine, for the sake of both employer and applicant, how much a submission feels like a lottery ticket, great when you do it, but in a few days, oh well…
So why no connection of the dots? The reasons are legion but none matter. We face challenging times and only directly effective talent acquisition, executed as a contact sport, will help to resolve this crisis of unemployment.
Workers, administrative staff, all people up to the “C” levels are continuing to gain work, albeit many are underemployed or part-time by need. They must learn how to seek, find and seize an opportunity. They simply have not received effective training as to how they can gain sustainable employment.
Employers need to answer the call to evaluate their hiring practices. They then must transform, as effectively fast as they can into recruiting entities with the magnetism that attracts crucial talent and manpower.
I humbly but simply recognize this all makes sense and therefore, it falls quickly under the stubborn scrutiny of those who resist recognizing the need for overdue change.
Bringing an employer from a hiring entity to a recruiting magnet starts with a commitment to the best people and therefore results.
Oh yes, what to do with that dusty rule book of recruiting, better to recycle it. Its content has already been broken.