We just wrapped up an awesome session with Kris Dunn, who you probably know from The HR Capitalist and Fistful of Talent. He joined us at the annual user conference as a keynote speaker on Social Media and HR. This session provided great insight into why HR pros should care about social media, including the top 10 reasons why they should invest time in social media tools – here’s the high level version:

10. Sucks to be a dinosaur…do you want to be left out of the conversation?

9. Rock and roll is dead….and so are print advertising and career sites.

8. Elvis, Tony, Soprano and the Internet…they were all “fads”

7. eLearning is turning into uLearning…don’t wait for third party content.

6. Do you want to push paper or be a player? (See Toby from the Office)

5. You’re so vain. What do candidates see when they Google you?

4. I trust people I meet on the net. I trust people with established online brands, and so will employees, candidates, and employers.

3. You can build professional authority without posting beer bong pics.

2. Social networks and connections will drive knowledge transfer.

1. There’s better food at the Marriott than at the Motel 6…HR jobs are a marketplace and social media can enhance your career, drive your value as an HR pro to current and future employers..

If you are going to take action, Kris outlined three ways to do something about social media:

• Lurk – read something
• Start or join a conversation – interact by commenting and getting into the dialogue.
• Build your own brand – share knowledge.

He finished up by discussing the “hot” tools for your development including blogs, readers/feedburner, LinkedIn, industry social networking, and Twitter.

A big thanks to Kris for joining us in Ottawa.