Yesterday there was a small storm in the Twitter teacup when Economic Times published this article : 10,000+ social media experts required as UB Group, LG Electronics, Canon, Future Group and others plan aggressive hiring
On digging into the article I noticed two things. One, they have got the numbers wrong at least when it comes to Dell. The article reports "Computer maker Dell made headlines last December when it launched the Social Media Listening Command Center in the US where it monitors more than 22,000 Dell-related topic posts in social media sites. The Centre has a dedicated team of more than 5,000 social media specialists who track the company, engage with consumers and even undertake customer service. And now, Dell plans to expand such centres."
I don't think that's right. Dell certifies its own employees on using social media for responding to social web issues. So in all probability these 5000 people (even if true) are not social media specialists - but specialists in tech support, customer service, marketing and communication. Take a look at this article that says the Asia listening center would have a full time strength of 10 and then you realise how mistaken is the TOI report.
Now to focus on the 10,000 number by 2012 - its given by the head of Ma Foi - and I urge people to take it with a pinch of salt. The big number that is stated there is by 24/7 Customer who have social media executives who update social profiles of clients. Even then a growth of 1000 to 5000 such profiles in one year sounds improbable. Even if there is going to be that kind of growth - I think that will not be pure "social media" profiles but lots of BPO, SEO and analytics profiles who will be augmenting social into their work
Compare this to the LA times article which quotes Monster.com's Kathy O'Reilly saying the openings in US are about 155 a month.
On digging into the article I noticed two things. One, they have got the numbers wrong at least when it comes to Dell. The article reports "Computer maker Dell made headlines last December when it launched the Social Media Listening Command Center in the US where it monitors more than 22,000 Dell-related topic posts in social media sites. The Centre has a dedicated team of more than 5,000 social media specialists who track the company, engage with consumers and even undertake customer service. And now, Dell plans to expand such centres."
I don't think that's right. Dell certifies its own employees on using social media for responding to social web issues. So in all probability these 5000 people (even if true) are not social media specialists - but specialists in tech support, customer service, marketing and communication. Take a look at this article that says the Asia listening center would have a full time strength of 10 and then you realise how mistaken is the TOI report.
Now to focus on the 10,000 number by 2012 - its given by the head of Ma Foi - and I urge people to take it with a pinch of salt. The big number that is stated there is by 24/7 Customer who have social media executives who update social profiles of clients. Even then a growth of 1000 to 5000 such profiles in one year sounds improbable. Even if there is going to be that kind of growth - I think that will not be pure "social media" profiles but lots of BPO, SEO and analytics profiles who will be augmenting social into their work
Compare this to the LA times article which quotes Monster.com's Kathy O'Reilly saying the openings in US are about 155 a month.
