Employers all around the world are wrestling with whether employees should be able to access Facebook and Twitter at work – but some businesses are explicitly requiring that job applicants feel comfortable using Twitter.
Just for fun we did a search across Craigslist job postings in some cities around the US to see how many listings mentioned Twitter in each location. The top city this month? New York City, with 196 jobs welcoming Twitter use. If you live in Bismarck, North Dakota though – no one on Craigslist is looking for Twitter users on the clock.
A few others…
Mentions of Twitter
in Craigslist Job Postings
November 1st-18th, 2009
- New York City, NY: 196
- San Francisco, CA: 159
- Boston, MA: 115
- Seattle, WA: 50
- Chicago, IL: 50
- Portland, OR: 41
- LA, CA: 40
- Austin, TX: 26
- Dallas, TX: 17
- Phoenix, AZ: 11
- Houston, TX: 11
- Denver, CO: 6
- Philadelphia, PA: 4
- Boulder, CO: 2
- Zero in Bismarck, ND
Admittedly these are still very small numbers. In my home town of Portland, Oregon for example there are 41 listings that mention Twitter so far this month – out of 3,400 listings total. That’s just over 1%. Note also that some number of these listings in some cities are posted by recruiters with their Twitter profiles listed (that probably says something still) and real-estate startup Redfin is looking for two agents in most of the cities we searched.
None the less, it’s a fun list and may say a rough something about social media adoption by businesses in different places. Businesses that are down with the internet are generally down with the Twitter, it’s emblematic of adult social media use these days. Most of the jobs listed were for marketers who would broadcast over Twitter, but customer service jobs were well represented too. There’s a whole world of business opportunity on Twitter that’s based on listening, but that will take a while to catch on.
Of course not all of these are good jobs – would you want to be “a full-time, experienced social media expert” working for $10 an hour? How would you like to be a community manager for a company that’s raised $6 million in high-profile venture capital? “This is a part time unpaid job for 3-4 months that could lead to a full time position. Around 20hrs per week, but must come every day to the office.” Times are tough, but those positions are a far cry from what some top bloggers and social media consultants are making. There could be some real gems hidden in these listings, though, and it would be interesting to study rates of pay in social media by location.
Are there any secret enclaves we didn’t think to look in? Let us know if your town is unlisted but has a substantial number of search results in the jobs section for Twitter this month.
In the mean-time, see you in Boston!
See Also:
Reading Blogs at Work: Why You Should Do It & How You Can Make it Worthwhile
Working bird illustration by Pasquale D’Silva.
