Reading Edmund White's latest autobiographical volume, City Boy, on the train to XpertHR towers this morning, I came across a thought-provoking twist on Andy Warhol's maxim that "in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes," which can be applied to the topic of employer branding in 2010. Could it be the case that - in the social media-saturated present - everyone can be famous for 15 minutes, but to only 15 people?

The evolving power of social media and their potential integration into HR processes mean that "annual employee surveys, performance appraisals and job interviews [...] won't exist in five years." This is according to Grant Mason of Yackstar.com. But latest XpertHR benchmarking data suggest any integration of social media into HR processes may be a more gradual process.

Several of the comments on my recent post about employers and social media raise the issue of smart phones, something that I didn't mention in the post. Rather than replying briefly in the comments thread, I think this issue merits a post of its own.

On the long-haul flight back to London from the US Society for Human Resource Management convention in San Diego yesterday, one issue kept gnawing away at me as I mentally digested the experiences of a few days spent on the Pacific coast of California with 11,000 human resources professionals. As the cabin lights dimmed, I found myself thinking about whether social media - Facebook, Twitter, blogs and so on - represent a threat or an opportunity for employers.

You're an HR professional and you have decided to dip your toe in the Twitter stream. Where do you start? I would recommend this handy introduction posted yesterday by US HR blogger Mark Stelzner.

The number of employers utilising social media to communicate and engage with their employees is growing rapidly on both sides of the Atlantic. This trend was brought home to me by the quantity and quality of comments I received for my recent post on employer branding, which posed one simple question: "Are your staff your best ambassadors?". These comments are well worth reading through in detail, as they highlight a number of examples of companies engaged in leading-edge practice in this area - including (alphabetically) Asda, Sodexo, Wal-Mart and Zappos.

Taking part in the 2010 employee communications survey from IRS for XpertHR will provide you with the chance to see how your policy and practice on employee communications stacks up against those of your comparators and competitors.

Key areas covered by the survey include the following:

• which communication methods UK employers are using, and which ones work best;
• how social media are changing the face of internal communications;
• how employers have used communication programmes to lessen the workplace impact of the recession; and
• HR's views on how interacting with employees can make a difference to the organisation.

• For almost half (46%) of organisations, the major organisational change affecting learning and talent development in the next five years will be a greater integration between coaching, organisational development and performance management to drive organisational change
• For almost four in ten (37%), it will be greater responsibility devolved to line managers.
• Main changes in organisations' learning and talent development departments over the last year included the department becoming more business-focused (38%), a reduction in external suppliers and a move to in-house provision (31%)
• Use of e-learning has increased the most in the past year, with six in ten (62%) organisations saying they use it more now than in 2009.

• In-house development programmes - 56%
• Coaching by line managers - 51%
• On the job training - 30%

E-Learning 1.0 was all about delivering  content, primarily in the form of online courses, produced by experts - teachers or subject matter experts.  E-Learning 2.0  or Social Learning is all about individuals (co-)creating content in a variety of formats and sharing information and knowledge using tools like blogs, wikis, social bookmarking and social networks both within an educational or training context to support a new  collaborative approach to learning as well as to support their own personal and group learning and working activities.

We asked respondents to the survey what they consider to be the best HR blog. We're very pleased to report that XpertHR's Employment Intelligence blog received a healthy number of responses. But in the interests of avoiding any accusations of bias, Employment Intelligence is excluded from the list of best HR blogs presented here. Six front runners emerged.

Yesterday I looked at some of the key findings of the 2010 XpertHR survey of HR blogs and blogging habits. The survey looks at leading-edge practice in HR blogging: nearly half of respondents say they are active HR bloggers, and the sample includes the authors of some of the best and most authoritative blogs on issues of direct relevance to HR. Moving beyond our survey sample, it is safe to say that blogging on HR issues is much less widespread across the UK HR profession as a whole. But should UK HR professionals who have not yet dipped their toes into the so-called 'blogosphere' consider doing so? And what can they get out of becoming active HR bloggers?

The experiences of a leading US HR blogger demonstrate the range of benefits that HR blogging can offer.

The vast majority of HR professionals read HR blogs, and many find these blogs influential. These are among the main findings of an informal online survey of HR blogs and blogging habits conducted by XpertHR in January and February 2010. The survey drew responses from 72 HR professionals and HR bloggers predominantly based in the UK, many of whom are actively involved in the HR blogging community. The survey therefore provides a vital insight into the leading edge of HR blogging.

• Highly effective communicators are making greater use of social media than their less- effective peers
• Reasons for not increasing the use of social media stem from a lack of resources and knowledge
• Social media tools are mostly used for collaboration and team building, adapting to change, and promoting health and wellness.

• Document their social media policy
• Develop tools to measure the success of social media at their company
• Build executive support

Reading, commenting on, or even writing your own HR blogs can represent one of the most direct and accessible routes into the world social media for HR professionals and employment practitioners. And it can bring great benefits in terms of networking and shared expertise and insight. We're currently running a brief online survey of HR blogs and blogging habits (external website), and would greatly appreciate your views. Completing the survey should take up no more than 30 seconds of your time. The results will be published here on Employment Intelligence in the coming weeks.

Last week, I highlighted a recent blog post from recruitment and HR consultant Matt Alder, in which reveals a "dirty secret" regarding how employers utilise social recruiting. Today, in a blog post summing up his experiences of last week's excellent TRU London "unconference", Alder notes what might be considered another "dirty secret" just waiting to be revealed: many employers are unwilling to 'go public' on their use of social media and social recruiting (external website).

The recession has created opportunities for HR and recruitment professionals to raise the standards of their recruitment activities and embrace social recruiting, yet the majority have failed to act on these opportunities. But Generation Y and post-election cuts in public spending will force significant change in recruitment activity. These were just some of the predictions to emerge from a lively debate at the TRU London 2010 "unconference" (external website) last week, which asked a simple question: "Where is recruitment going?"

In the week running up to the second TRU London (The Recruiting Unconference London) (external website) event - which took place in Soho yesterday and today - organiser Bill Boorman (external website) posted the following update on Twitter: "I don't think social media has changed the world, but I think it has changed our world!"

For me this summarises the spirit of the TRU London event (which I attended this morning) in fewer than 140 characters. TRU London is a hugely creative and forward-thinking event run by and for recruiters and HR professionals who recognise that social media have significant implications for their work.

• It is informal - casual dress, friendly atmosphere
• It is noisy - maybe because we have a room that has two discussions in it (one at each end) running at the same time
• It is unstructured. The only structure is that provided by track leaders who are responsible for one hour slots based on a discussion point. There are no presentations
• Anyone can chip in and challenge at any point
• There is a good level of conversation - people share what they are doing. This takes place in the room and on the social networks such as Twitter
• It is broadcast - a lot of people are sharing the conversation across the social networks
• There is a good energy here - attendees are sitting down, standing up. No one is falling asleep at the back of the room
• People do not stop talking - there seems to be a constant level of conversation
• There is a lot of participation - the informal nature of the event seems to enable people to speak up
• It is very good to network as the feel is friendly and informal

Last week, we looked at whether it's time to take social media seriously in the workplace. For employers who decide that the time has now come to see if social media can work for them, there are two key questions they must ask themselves, according to recruitment consultant Andy Headworth on his Sirona Says blog.

Back in November 2009, we noted that many employers are cutting out traditional methods for advertising vacancies in favour of zero-cost social recruiting options. Now, in a fascinating blog post, recruitment and HR consultant Matt Alder reveals a "dirty secret" regarding "a massively disruptive trend" in how employers utilise social recruiting: free, automated Twitter job feeds (external website) appear to represent a direct route to applications from high quality candidates.

More than three-quarters of UK employers (76%) do not currently have a formal policy in place regarding employee use of external social networks (external website), according to a survey of 2,100+ organisations from Manpower. For employers contemplating how social media might work for them - and how best to regulate this - communications consultant Abi Signorelli has put together 11 invaluable tips to consider when formulating a social media communications strategy.

• The format is less about lectures and more about facilitated discussion
• That means participants are expected to interact with discussions
• The event is split into different streams or 'tracks' providing attendees with a broad range of topics to dip in to
• Track leaders, as they are called at TRU London, are experts in their area so can facilitate a high level conversation around their topic
• Social media and social networks provide the communication channels for the event
• Unconferences attract a far greater audience online than at the event thanks to the live coverage on Twitter, Facebook and blogs.
• The event will be unpredictable - taking thinking in different directions
• It is rare to attend events where HR, recruitment and social media intersect at the same place and at the same time

Social media will cause profound and positive change in the way work is organised (external website), according to US business author Tammy Erickson, writing in the Harvard Business Review.

Every penny counts for HR practitioners in the current economic context faltering profitability for many organisations and weak overall economic growth. And so, as I tell Jeya Thiruchelvam in this week's XpertHR Podcast, benchmarking employment practices can represent a highly effective way to keep on top of costs and do their jobs more efficiently and more cost-effectively.

Social networking is driving a fundamental change in recruitment practices in 2010, with implications for all parties involved in recruitment, according to an excellent introduction to social recruiting (external website) from the Guardian. For many organisations, traditional recruitment practices are being swept away, with employers, candidates and recruitment agencies becoming involved in an evolving online "conversation".

The implications for the workplace of social networking technologies and how people interact with them look set to rise in importance as touchstone issues for HR over the coming decade. And reading, commenting on, or even writing your own HR blogs can represent one of the most direct and accessible routes into social networking for HR professionals and employment practitioners. We're currently running a brief online survey of HR blogs and blogging habits (external website), and we'd greatly appreciate your views. It's entirely free to take part, and should take up no more than 30 seconds of your time. The results will be published here on Employment Intelligence in the coming weeks.

I'm delighted to announce that XpertHR's new benchmarking service (subscription required) has been launched today (Thursday 14 January 2010). This is a major enhancement to XpertHR, providing our subscribers with the opportunity to access a huge resource of customisable HR benchmarking data. The interactive features of XpertHR benchmarking enable you to tailor your own bespoke HR benchmarking data. We think it'll quickly prove to be an invaluable tool for our users.

The rise of online recruitment methods over the past decade has resulted in a completely transformed recruitment landscape with social recruiting at its centre as we enter 2010, according to a fascinating blog post from recruitment consultant Andy Headworth. He argues that social recruiting now represents the cutting-edge of recruitment (external website), and that recruiters must adopt social recruiting methods in order to meet evolving candidate expectations. Consequently, platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube and blogs should be seen as "primary recruiting channels", and "will become the recruiting battlegrounds of 2010".