Did you know that you could blog on Facebook? I (somewhat) knew that but, never really focused on that part of Facebook’s functionality. I guess its because I tend not to think of Facebook that way. And just in case you are scratching your head with a confused Scooby Doo look on your face, I am speaking of Facebook Notes.

According to Facebook…

Notes is a feature that lets you publish what’s on your mind in a full rich format.

This is an example of a Facebook Note in case you are not clear on what one looks like.

To get to Facebook Notes, click on the Notes app in the Facebook lefthand sidebar.

In typical Facebook fashion, you will see all the notes your friends have made in a newsfeed format.

What I like about Facebook Notes is that they can be searched. Of course, said Notes must be made public in order for you to find them. (With Facebook Notes you have the option of making your Notes private or available to a select audience.) Ironically, I did not have much luck searching Facebook Notes on Facebook and had to turn to Google. Check out my search string below.

site:facebook.com/notes cloud.computing

Among the results, I found a link to this:

If I scroll down to the bottom, I see comments that people have made on the note, who liked the note and who shared the note. Since this note is focused on Cloud Computing, there is a reasonable assumption that these are potential leads that I might want to recruit should I be looking for passive candidates with an interest in Cloud Computing. Make sense?

What I also like about this is that when I look at the profiles of people who have commented, I do not always see where someone works. However, based on a comment, a like or a share, I know they have the potential of being someone I want to recruit and I have a way of reaching out to them. Although, I would most likely seek them out on LinkedIn and connect with them that way. Why? If you send a message to someone on Facebook and you are not connected to them, then it will go the “Other” mailbox which is often overlooked and typically (in my case) filled with spam. (As shown below.) I could of course, pay $1.00 for my message to get in someone’s Facebook inbox, but that can get expensive really quick.

Recruiting People on Facebook

So, what do you think of this approach to Facebook recruiting? Please leave your thoughts in the comments below. Thanks!

-Jim