One of the questions I receive weekly is in regards to what social networks or applications I find most useful for recruiting and employment branding. We as hungry recruiters can’t help but wonder if we’re the only ones using LinkedIn or Facebook for sourcing and if there is something out there that’s easier or more powerful that could help us get the job done. Some of us still struggle with deciding what tweeting tool to use (TweetDeck vs Twhirl vs X) just to stay in touch – and so we ask our peers constantly, "What’s new?" or "What’s working?"
These are solid questions from anyone trying to get the most out of their time and resources. After all, who doesn’t like to check out the latest buzz on what’s working for others and take advantage of the saved time or money? Enter into the scene: Wakoopa!
Born almost a year and a half ago, Wakoopa.com is a nifty little community that’s driven by a small application tracking file installed on your computer or laptop. Once running, Wakoopa tracks your software and web application use and then feeds the data to your profile page at Wakoopa.com (yes, there are widgets available for your blog.) At first glance this is just a neat way to display – in various formats – how you’re spending your time on your computer as well as the web. Digging in just a bit reveals that this community has much more to offer. Oh – and for those of you with privacy concerns, head here.
Wakoopa not only allows you to share your software usage with the community but also your opinion and questions. Just a click away from my profile page I’m able to see reviews on Twhirl, Plurk, Digsby and more – because based on my usage these are software applications that Wakoopa "thinks" I might be interested in… Yes, it’s recommending applications to me and providing data to back up it’s choices.
One of the neatest features are the teams. You can easily join or create a team to track and compare application usage, trends and recommendations based on similar interests. Are you a Twitter user? Sign in and check out what tweeters are using. Are you a Mac user? Join the Mac User team to see what the newest and most popular apps seem to be. How about joining a team of Recruiters to see the latest trends in application use for your industry? Heck, there’s even a web 2.0 team!
So in the interest of thinking bigger – what if we took Wakoopa a step further than just finding the right software for the job at hand? Hands down, it’s a fantastic tool for tracking application trends in our industries or interest groups – but could this tool be used to find passive candidates? Could Wakoopa be used to identify a niche market and watch their software use and surfing habits and better craft our approach to targeted marketing and networking for said niche?
With teams already focused on web development, engineering, and various colleges… I think this is worth a strong look as the communities continue to grow.
Hey Recruiters and Employment Brand enthusiasts…. Start here.
