How the Facebook Economy Trumps the Real One

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Talk about the dream job. A corporation hires you to read facebook all day looking for employees saying bad things about them. The only prerequisite is the ability to read, and an interest in other people's personal business.

none of OH 11:36AM January 17, 2011

I would argue that video games and other time-wasters have had the same effect on the unemployed. Rather than being the cause of rising unemployment, perhaps FB came along at just the right moment when people have time on their hands AND are looking for additional connections. (Have you run the same correlation tables on LinkedIn - that seems to be the first stop in a job hunt....).
Admittedly, some FB users do seem to be lulled into some false sense of "security" however - why they would think that "only friends" can see the information posted there is beyond me. Rule of thumb should be that you should never post anything on FB that you would not want pretty much pasted on your forehead as you go thru your day for everyone to see.... Evidenced by the off-handed comments made that have lost people jobs and relationships.
(I see no rationale or justification for the valuation of Facebook....but once Goldman Sachs is involved...well, careful Mark Zuckerberg).
Like rock music and millions of cable TV channels that came before, FaceBook is only the devil if it is used for evil.

Barb Hendrickson of MI 10:11AM January 17, 2011

Last summer, I had made a comment about 'wish we didn't have to work on the 4th of July'....
I was working retail for the summer. Am a PhD .... / and am very aware of what Facebook is all about. HOWEVER: I received a phone call from the corporate offices of that company ( part time - summer job) .... and was told to cease and desist from making any mention of the Corporation!? All i did was say that "I wish that we didn't have to work on the 4th'.
I was so shaken, that a wrought iron art easel fell on my head/ tore into my scalp...and I did lose my summer job , to make a long story short.
I was a model employee, never phoned in ill, always on time....and conducted myself most professionally with the upscale customers who thought that I was the manager. A lot of expensive extensive tests.....! For months. Since Florida is a no fault state I was told that there was nothing that I could do.
IN short, I wish facebook would wither up and die . They get information, employers read about them, and I had only used mine to send pictures to my cousins in Italy!
My happiest day will be to see FaceBook cease and NON-EXIST! It is because of them, and nosy employers, that they don't have jobs.

Jan Herrmann of FL 5:57PM January 16, 2011

I agree. I saw that same issue a while back and had a dicussion with a few friends. I work for a very large service company that just laid-off 10 people in the marketing department. Why? My insider said they were going to use facebook and didn't need the extra employees. Facebook is an wonderful example of how you can reduce workforce. Everything is only a click away. THERE IS A REASON IT'S WORTH 50 BILLION, It helps companies reduce employees who are the most expensive liability when running a company. WAKE UP PEOPLE!

Danny of CA 11:10PM January 15, 2011

How about simple arithametic? To many people chasing to few jobs, using up diminishing resources, and with not enough - "PRODUCTIVE", - governement intervention in regard to using Tax Dollars for Re-establishing a solid job market foundation in America, ensuring that low & middle income earners are working and therefore won't have time to Build Castles In The Facebook Sky - nor, - will want to waste their time doing so. And, instead of artificially, - and temporarily, - propping up the top tier earners, we might just become a True Economic World Power from Real Dollars earned, instead of the phony printing press money status that basically circulates only among the elite class.
Dunno -- just a thought as I sit here waiting for my bus to catch up to the church/school grounds, that I sleep on, outdoors, as a homeless, cause I can't get a job at age 58 here in Hawaii. (and on the street, is on the street, no matter of someone else's percieved notion of hawaii being Paradise. - It ain't!
ciao!
M.S.A.

Mark S. Alexander of HI 2:30AM January 15, 2011

If facebook and other time consuming forms of entertainment are the source of unemployment, then television, gaming consoles, and the like could be equally at fault. I suspect that with the economic downturn, a greater number of people had the time to invest in facebooking accounts, therefore explaining the parralel trend.

Barry of AK 12:10AM January 15, 2011

How about this proposition: there is no causal relationship between Facebook and unemployment. Facebook just happened to be growing as unemployment increased. Guess what, my daughter has grown every since 2005. Is my daughters growth causing unemployment? No? Is unemployment causing my daughter to grow? No? They are unrelated, just like Facebook and the economic stats.

Bob of IA of CA 11:20PM January 14, 2011

Obviously, the connection between FB and unemployment is related to the time available to post on the website and the rising gap between the employed and jobless. The more time thejobles have to spend on the social media the more time the employed worker can spend productively in the work force, and the more time each of these exclusive groups spend on their associated lifestyles the rise in FB users increases. What this study did not reveal was how many of the FB users were unemployed at the time each data point was collected. I suspect what you'll is a confluence between existing employment data and increase in FB links.

Vince of OH 11:15AM January 14, 2011

in the right wing mind. Instead of facebook causing unemployment. It is in fact a response to there being no jobs. I am glad the young are identifying conservatives like you as bullies though.

Jenn of IA 1:35AM January 14, 2011

I don't know if all of this is tongue in cheek but it is all tied to the credit markets pulling back on funny money. People have less money to spend on doing stuff - now they have more time to spend on a site that is free. Someone capitalized on it and was at the right place at the right time.

Renee Burrows of NV 5:25PM January 13, 2011