Japan has been behind western countries in which use of Internet and social media is already popular in recruiting and job hunting. For example, although companies have career pages in their website, concept of online resume such as LinkedIn profile is still unknown in general, and it is very recently that companies started to leverage social media such as Twitter in marketing as mentioned in the previous article Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS.
However, as introduced in an online article of Nikkei.com, a leading online website managed by a Japanese leading business media, some Japanese companies started to strategically implement social media in recruiting.
1. What is the background of implementing social media in recruiting in Japan?
1) Job seeker: Find gap between expectation and reality
As much as 30% of new graduates who started working leave in the first 3 years, even thought they are the people who managed to find a job upon graduation in an extremely tough labour market. This is a shocking fact in Japan where lifetime employment had been the social norm for many years.
The reason for such people leaving the company is that they feel the reality they face in the workplace after joining the company is somewhat different from what they expected.
2) Employer: Recruiting is stuck in a rut
Companies have been trying to be creative in recruiting such as implementing internship which is still not so popular in Japan and asking unique questions in the interview; however, soon the how-to books about overcoming such screening process will be available in the book stores and all job seekers will give the same answers written in the book. Therefore, the companies will not be able to truly understand candidates.
2. How a few Japanese companies started to strategically implement the Internet and social media in recruiting?
1) Interacting and engaging online
Major Japanese IT companies including as SoftBank and Cyber Agent started to leverage social media such as Twitter and Facebook in recruiting last year. They would have online conversation with job seekers.
For example, to a question “what kind of tasks are assigned to people who started working in your company?” they would answer “there are a few hard working people who are successful in wining many contracts. There are even some staff members who start giving services to our customers only after they started working in the shop floor.” These kinds of conversation which are quite common in recruiting seminars are done online.
This trend is now spreading to companies of other industries as well.
2) Implementing webinars
For example, a company that plan and provide wedding ceremony and party services started to leverage Ustream and Twitter in implementing webinars to new graduate job seekers. They already gave 3 webinars since 2010 autumn in which the CEO, general manager of the wedding ceremony venue and young employees participated to convey how it is motivating and challenging to work in the company. Total of 400 job seekers accessed the webinar real time. In addition the recorded video was viwered approximately 6500 times.
3. What are benefits of implementing IT and social media in recruiting?
1) For employers
(1) Minimize mismatch
By holding webinar before face-to-face seminar, companies can deliver information about themselves to as many job seekers as possible with relatively low cost, and this ultimately leads to minimizing mismatch. This would help them to deliver better information (quality and quantity) to many job seekers, which help job seekers to better understand the companies. As a result, it is more probable that only the job seekers who are truly interested in their company attend their live seminar and apply.
(2) Attract innovative and social candidates
Use of social media in recruiting acts as the first screening process in attracting and recruiting innovative and social candidates. Use of social media in marketing and other settings is becoming inevitable for companies and they would want to recruit innovative and social candidates to meet such needs.
By leveraging social media in recruiting, they would be able to recruit candidates who leverage social media daily to proactively attend webinar, who are more likely to meet their needs. Recruiting such candidates would be the foundation in creating new business that is necessary for companies to grow.
2) For job seekers
In general, they would find it more comfortable to ask questions online in contrast to in a real offline seminar where they are surrounded by many job seekers they do not know. And because they would find it easier to ask questions online and thus be more open, they would be able to obtain more information that is truly meaningful for them to find an employer that meet their needs.
When candidates become proactive in asking questions online, companies will be able to better understand candidates. This also leads to minimizing mismatch.
4. Future of use of social media in recruiting in Japan
1) Use of social media in recruiting is likely to popularize in Japan
It goes without saying that use of social media in recruiting would become more popular Japan as well from the trend mentioned above. This also aligns with the fact that 2011 is said to be the first year of SNS in Japan, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.48 – 2011 Japan’s First Year of Social Media / SNS. Indeed, a leading job hunting agency in Japan named 2011 as “the first year of job hunting leveraging social media for interactive communication online”.
2) Companies will face challenges as well
Increased exposure online means increased risks. As companies get more questions online from job seekers, it is more likely that they overreach and cover loopholes with ease, and that they only answer to positive questions and neglect negative ones. Such actions would give negative impression to potential candidates. Companies need to be authentic and open.
In addition, in online world in which anonymity is often allowed unlike offline world, there are risks such as spam and posting with malicious motives increase.
Furthermore, companies may find it difficult to evaluate potential candidates who are proactive in asking good questions face-to-face. There are some comments from hiring managers that they do want to recruit candidates who are social online but they do not want to recruit candidates who are not social offline, not being to interact and ask questions face-to-face.
References:-
Goodbye to Recruiting Stuck in a Rut and Disappointing Job Hunting – How the Internet is Used Today (in Japanese)
http://www.nikkei.com/tech/ssbiz/article/g=96958A9C93819696E3E4E2E2858DE3E4E2E0E0E2E3E3E2E2E2E2E2E2;dg=1;p=9694E0E1E2E5E0E2E3E2E3E3E4EB
Monday, 28 February 2011
Sunday, 13 February 2011
Vol.50 – Facebook’s Potential as Infrastructure of Online Businesses and Services
Zynga has already started providing social gaming leveraging Facebook, which has become a success, and Japanese gaming companies are to follow such a trend. Nikkei, Japan’s leading newspaper specialized in business and economy reported in its evening newspaper on February 12 that leading Japanese social gaming companies are to leverage Facebook in providing their gaming content to worldwide online users.
1. What is the potential of Facebook?
This implies that Facebook, a global SNS, has potential of becoming an infrastructure of online businesses services including social gaming and many others instead of being simply a SNS, leveraging its core competence of SNS “sharing information online”.
In a way, it is like Google, which has become an infrastructure of online businesses and services leveraging its core competence of search “finding and accessing information online” and expanded its product line-up and businesses domain.
It is quite possible that Facebook would further expand its product line-up and business domain and many other online business and service companies leverage Facebook as their online business infrastructure. To the author, this is one reason why many experts predicted that in 2011 Facebook will become Google (and Google become Nicrosoft).
2. What is the reason for Japanese companies now starting leveraging Facebook one after the other?
It is because Japan domestic gaming market had been growing rapidly but the growth has slowed down recently. Therefore, Japanese gaming companies need to look for other market or create other businesses to grow their overall business.
The former, i.e. look for and enter other market leveraging their content and know-how is the first option that is usually taken, and this means globalizing their business, similarly to other industry companies. Thus, many of them are now planning to expand their business globally.
3. Why Facebook is ideal for Japanese gaming companies as well as their counterparts abroad to leverage in growing their business globally?
It is because of the social infrastructure and global network of almost 600 million members. Japanese SNS such as Mixi is the leader in Japan but the members are mostly Japanese and the site and functions are made to meet basically needs of Japanese people only; therefore, leveraging such SNS is not appropriate in expanding their business globally.
In addition, Facebook has been a hot topic in Japan since January 2011, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.49 – Lesson from “Social Network”: Success Requirements in the Internet World. There have been online articles about how companies and business owners, not necessarily of IT industry, could leverage Facebook to drive marketing and business. Thus it is quite logical and natural for gaming companies to leverage Facebook now.
4. Which Japanese companies are to start leveraging Facebook to drive their social gaming business globally?
1) Sega
Sega http://sega.jp/ will start providing social gaming of baseball called Sega Play Baseball to Facebook users in the U.S., Europe and Asia from the end of this month. Online users would make their Facebook friends and play online baseball games with Facebook friends.
Basic fee to play social games is free, but Sega will gain revenue by charging fees for tools and other items to their users that make them advantageous in playing games or that make them more entertained.
2) Tecmo Koei Games
Tecmo Koei Games http://www.koeitecmo.co.jp/ will start providing their new simulation game to Facebook users from this spring. They will first provide to Facebook users of English speaking countries and plan to also provide to Facebook users of Japanese speaking people by the end of this year.
3) Bandai Games Inc
Bandai Games Inc http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/english/will start providing 3 social gaming including one of a popular action game in Japan by the end of this year. They have already started providing social gaming leveraging Facebook infrastructure for free as a trial, and plans to officially start the service that generates their revenue by start selling items in the near future.
1. What is the potential of Facebook?
This implies that Facebook, a global SNS, has potential of becoming an infrastructure of online businesses services including social gaming and many others instead of being simply a SNS, leveraging its core competence of SNS “sharing information online”.
In a way, it is like Google, which has become an infrastructure of online businesses and services leveraging its core competence of search “finding and accessing information online” and expanded its product line-up and businesses domain.
It is quite possible that Facebook would further expand its product line-up and business domain and many other online business and service companies leverage Facebook as their online business infrastructure. To the author, this is one reason why many experts predicted that in 2011 Facebook will become Google (and Google become Nicrosoft).
2. What is the reason for Japanese companies now starting leveraging Facebook one after the other?
It is because Japan domestic gaming market had been growing rapidly but the growth has slowed down recently. Therefore, Japanese gaming companies need to look for other market or create other businesses to grow their overall business.
The former, i.e. look for and enter other market leveraging their content and know-how is the first option that is usually taken, and this means globalizing their business, similarly to other industry companies. Thus, many of them are now planning to expand their business globally.
3. Why Facebook is ideal for Japanese gaming companies as well as their counterparts abroad to leverage in growing their business globally?
It is because of the social infrastructure and global network of almost 600 million members. Japanese SNS such as Mixi is the leader in Japan but the members are mostly Japanese and the site and functions are made to meet basically needs of Japanese people only; therefore, leveraging such SNS is not appropriate in expanding their business globally.
In addition, Facebook has been a hot topic in Japan since January 2011, as mentioned in the previous article Vol.49 – Lesson from “Social Network”: Success Requirements in the Internet World. There have been online articles about how companies and business owners, not necessarily of IT industry, could leverage Facebook to drive marketing and business. Thus it is quite logical and natural for gaming companies to leverage Facebook now.
4. Which Japanese companies are to start leveraging Facebook to drive their social gaming business globally?
1) Sega
Sega http://sega.jp/ will start providing social gaming of baseball called Sega Play Baseball to Facebook users in the U.S., Europe and Asia from the end of this month. Online users would make their Facebook friends and play online baseball games with Facebook friends.
Basic fee to play social games is free, but Sega will gain revenue by charging fees for tools and other items to their users that make them advantageous in playing games or that make them more entertained.
2) Tecmo Koei Games
Tecmo Koei Games http://www.koeitecmo.co.jp/ will start providing their new simulation game to Facebook users from this spring. They will first provide to Facebook users of English speaking countries and plan to also provide to Facebook users of Japanese speaking people by the end of this year.
3) Bandai Games Inc
Bandai Games Inc http://www.bandainamcogames.co.jp/english/will start providing 3 social gaming including one of a popular action game in Japan by the end of this year. They have already started providing social gaming leveraging Facebook infrastructure for free as a trial, and plans to officially start the service that generates their revenue by start selling items in the near future.
Saturday, 5 February 2011
Vol.49 – Lesson from “Social Network”: Success Requirements in the Internet World
“Social Network”, the movie about how Facebook started, has also been available in Japan since January 14, 2011. Many people who have seen the movie probably agree that it has many lessons in starting and growing business, such as importance in coming up with great ideas and/or identifying great ideas and implementing them quickly before your competitor, and quickly recognizing who to collaborate with and how.
It seems to the author that the KPS (Key Factors for Success) of Facebook’s start and growth can mostly be explained by The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries (2000).
1. What are The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding?
According to Al Ries and Laura Ries, they are the following.
1) The Law of Either/Or : The Internet should be viewed as an entirely new business.
2) The Law of Interactivity : A website must be interactive in order to succeed.
3) The Law of the Common Name : Common names such as Art/com are poor brands.
4) The Law of Proper Name : Proper names are to be preferred to generic names, and best names follow most of the 8 principles (short, simple, suggestive of the category, unique, alliterative, speakable, shocking, personalized)
5) The Law of Singularity : Unlike the “real world” where there is room for a number two brand, there is room for only one.
6) The Law of Advertising : Advertising off the Net will be far larger than advertising on the Net.
7) The Law of Globalism : The Internet will demolish all barriers, boundaries and borders.
8) The Law of Time : The brand that is first into the prospect’s mind has the advantage, not necessarily the first into the marketplace.
9) The Law of Vanity : Many categories should not be included under a single brand.
10) The Law of Divergence : Technologies diverge into PCs, PDAs, laptops etc.
11) The Law of Transformation : The Internet will transform all aspects of our lives.
Frankly speaking, the author agrees more laws than others but she feels in general the 11 laws are useful in Internet branding and marketing.
She feels the law #2, #4, #5, #7 and #8 applies to the case of the startup of Facebook, leading to #10 and #11 as well.
2. How The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Apply to the Success of Facebook Start up?
1) Business Model Based on The Law of Interactivity (#2)
Needless to say, Facebook is SNS, which is website leveraging on interactivity. This interactivity is not simply selecting from menu which is the interactivity of web 1.0 and/or typing in instructions and having the web site deliver the information in the form requested by the web user.
The interactivity of Facebook goes as far as interacting and sharing information with other web users in the online community in a real time. Such interactivity is something that distinguishes the Internet and social media from other offline media to create new business models.
2) First Mover Advantage to be the First Brand in the Prospect’s Mind in Niche Segment Base on The Law of Singularity and Time (#5, #8)
The two laws, of singularity and time, means that in the virtual world of the Internet, regardless of the size, industry etc. niche area needs to be defined by careful segmentation and the brand needs to be the first one in the prospect’s mind of that particular market segment.
This is how companies such as Amazon and Google succeeded. Amazon was the first brand for online book store and even the real world book store giant Barnes and Noble cannot deprive the number one position in the segment of online book store. Google, in entering online adverting market when Yahoo! already was number one in adverting mainly in banner ads, successfully created a more niche segmentation of online advertising based on search, leveraging its core business of search, which resulted in a great success.
In the case of Facebook, Foursquare was already a popular SNS and there was no way Facebook could be the number one brand in SNS in general; therefore, they first limited to Harvard students (and later expanded to some other top class university students) to create a niche segmentation of “SNS for top class university students”, and developed functions and contents meeting such targets such as friendship status. It was after Facebook had established number one brand in “SNS for top class university students” that the membership was made open to general public, which marked a turning point for Facebook to really grow.
3) The Great Name Based on The Law of Proper Name (#4)
The name “Facebook”, derived from the initial game of choosing the preference of the two photos of female student faces, is not a common name, and it does follow most of the eight principles of the best names. Also, to better follow the eight principles, “the” was dropped from the original name which was “The Facebook”, based on the advice from the Napster founder.
4) Expand Business Based on The Law of Globalism (#7)
After Facebook expanded to from Harvard only to some top caliber universities in the U.S., it immediately expanded to its counterparts in Europe (e.g. the U.K.) as the first step to global business expansion. This drove rapid growth of Facebook worldwide.
3. How The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Apply to the Recent Success of Facebook?
1) Adapting to Mobile etc. as well as PC Based on The Law of Divergence (#10)
Facebook started with website for PC but it soon adapted to mobile. It was quick at rolling out mobile version website and applications. In addition to expanding business globally, successful and quick adaption to mobile led to rapid growth of Facebook because it allowed users to post updates and share information anywhere and anytime.
2) Making Facebook Part of People’s Lives Based on The Law of Transformation (#11)
As a result of anywhere and anytime use of Facebook, it became part of people’s lives and transformed how people find and share information. Today many Facebook users log in everyday and start and/or finish their day by checking the updates of their friends and posting their own updates; some even frequently check and post updates in a day.
In addition, as Facebook (and other social media) became popular, the people started to obtain information by social media instead of search which was the primary and only way of finding and accessing to relevant information. As it became common for the general public to share information by social media globally, many decisions are now made based on information obtained by social media hence viral marketing is now a hot topic among marketers.
4. The Author’s Final Thoughts
The above KFS based on The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding of Facebook give us a guidance of requirements to be successful in Internet business, marketing and branding. The requirements are more prominent the more the web evolves from web 1.0 of static website to web 2.0 of social media. This implies that they could well become even more prominent as the web further evolves to web 3.0, which might be semantic web or something more innovative.
References:-
Ries, Al and Laura, Ries (2000) The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, HarperBusiness
It seems to the author that the KPS (Key Factors for Success) of Facebook’s start and growth can mostly be explained by The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding by Al Ries and Laura Ries (2000).
1. What are The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding?
According to Al Ries and Laura Ries, they are the following.
1) The Law of Either/Or : The Internet should be viewed as an entirely new business.
2) The Law of Interactivity : A website must be interactive in order to succeed.
3) The Law of the Common Name : Common names such as Art/com are poor brands.
4) The Law of Proper Name : Proper names are to be preferred to generic names, and best names follow most of the 8 principles (short, simple, suggestive of the category, unique, alliterative, speakable, shocking, personalized)
5) The Law of Singularity : Unlike the “real world” where there is room for a number two brand, there is room for only one.
6) The Law of Advertising : Advertising off the Net will be far larger than advertising on the Net.
7) The Law of Globalism : The Internet will demolish all barriers, boundaries and borders.
8) The Law of Time : The brand that is first into the prospect’s mind has the advantage, not necessarily the first into the marketplace.
9) The Law of Vanity : Many categories should not be included under a single brand.
10) The Law of Divergence : Technologies diverge into PCs, PDAs, laptops etc.
11) The Law of Transformation : The Internet will transform all aspects of our lives.
Frankly speaking, the author agrees more laws than others but she feels in general the 11 laws are useful in Internet branding and marketing.
She feels the law #2, #4, #5, #7 and #8 applies to the case of the startup of Facebook, leading to #10 and #11 as well.
2. How The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Apply to the Success of Facebook Start up?
1) Business Model Based on The Law of Interactivity (#2)
Needless to say, Facebook is SNS, which is website leveraging on interactivity. This interactivity is not simply selecting from menu which is the interactivity of web 1.0 and/or typing in instructions and having the web site deliver the information in the form requested by the web user.
The interactivity of Facebook goes as far as interacting and sharing information with other web users in the online community in a real time. Such interactivity is something that distinguishes the Internet and social media from other offline media to create new business models.
2) First Mover Advantage to be the First Brand in the Prospect’s Mind in Niche Segment Base on The Law of Singularity and Time (#5, #8)
The two laws, of singularity and time, means that in the virtual world of the Internet, regardless of the size, industry etc. niche area needs to be defined by careful segmentation and the brand needs to be the first one in the prospect’s mind of that particular market segment.
This is how companies such as Amazon and Google succeeded. Amazon was the first brand for online book store and even the real world book store giant Barnes and Noble cannot deprive the number one position in the segment of online book store. Google, in entering online adverting market when Yahoo! already was number one in adverting mainly in banner ads, successfully created a more niche segmentation of online advertising based on search, leveraging its core business of search, which resulted in a great success.
In the case of Facebook, Foursquare was already a popular SNS and there was no way Facebook could be the number one brand in SNS in general; therefore, they first limited to Harvard students (and later expanded to some other top class university students) to create a niche segmentation of “SNS for top class university students”, and developed functions and contents meeting such targets such as friendship status. It was after Facebook had established number one brand in “SNS for top class university students” that the membership was made open to general public, which marked a turning point for Facebook to really grow.
3) The Great Name Based on The Law of Proper Name (#4)
The name “Facebook”, derived from the initial game of choosing the preference of the two photos of female student faces, is not a common name, and it does follow most of the eight principles of the best names. Also, to better follow the eight principles, “the” was dropped from the original name which was “The Facebook”, based on the advice from the Napster founder.
4) Expand Business Based on The Law of Globalism (#7)
After Facebook expanded to from Harvard only to some top caliber universities in the U.S., it immediately expanded to its counterparts in Europe (e.g. the U.K.) as the first step to global business expansion. This drove rapid growth of Facebook worldwide.
3. How The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding Apply to the Recent Success of Facebook?
1) Adapting to Mobile etc. as well as PC Based on The Law of Divergence (#10)
Facebook started with website for PC but it soon adapted to mobile. It was quick at rolling out mobile version website and applications. In addition to expanding business globally, successful and quick adaption to mobile led to rapid growth of Facebook because it allowed users to post updates and share information anywhere and anytime.
2) Making Facebook Part of People’s Lives Based on The Law of Transformation (#11)
As a result of anywhere and anytime use of Facebook, it became part of people’s lives and transformed how people find and share information. Today many Facebook users log in everyday and start and/or finish their day by checking the updates of their friends and posting their own updates; some even frequently check and post updates in a day.
In addition, as Facebook (and other social media) became popular, the people started to obtain information by social media instead of search which was the primary and only way of finding and accessing to relevant information. As it became common for the general public to share information by social media globally, many decisions are now made based on information obtained by social media hence viral marketing is now a hot topic among marketers.
4. The Author’s Final Thoughts
The above KFS based on The Immutable Laws of Internet Branding of Facebook give us a guidance of requirements to be successful in Internet business, marketing and branding. The requirements are more prominent the more the web evolves from web 1.0 of static website to web 2.0 of social media. This implies that they could well become even more prominent as the web further evolves to web 3.0, which might be semantic web or something more innovative.
References:-
Ries, Al and Laura, Ries (2000) The 11 Immutable Laws of Internet Branding, HarperBusiness
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