No Facebook?

On March 13, 2019, Facebook went down for over eight hours. Believe it or not, the world carried on. E-commerce didn’t crash and human social interaction continued. Facebook itself, however, could lose over 80 million dollars in lost revenue.

Facebook entered the scene in 2004. Since that time it has grown to be a company worth upwards of $500 billion with approximately 2.3 billion users worldwide. Along the way, it has either defeated or bought out rivals. Even the mighty Google is packing in its social media platform Google+. Even though Facebook has dominated the social media market something has to come along that’s better? Right? How long can one company continue to dominate the market?

Losing interest?

Interest in Facebook may be waning. Nearly 3 million users were loss in 2018, many using SnapChat, YouTube, or Instagram (Which is owned by FB). This is due in part to privacy issues that have been uncovered over the past several years. Early users of the platform were young adults. Facebook weathered a loss of users several years ago when “parents” starting using Facebook for personal reasons and to keep tabs on their kids. But over the years users returned or were replaced by new, younger users.

Tech investor Jason Calacanis launched a contest in 2018 called the Openbook Challenge. Calacanis is offering teams $100,000 to build a billion-user social network that would replace Facebook. You can get updates on the project here Open Book Challenge 

Will companies find another way?

Once Facebook exploded businesses realized they had to get in on the social media game. There are 80 million small and medium business pages on Facebook in addition to large corporations. Companies use Facebook like individual users, keeping followers up to date on the latest happenings. Once Facebook allowed advertising businesses could reach an even larger audience. When Facebook experiences outages, in addition to user dissatisfaction, it also causes revenue loss. Continued privacy issues and major outages will likely push personal and business users elsewhere.

Google and the other search engines offer myriad ways to highlight and advertise your business. If not taking advantage of these options now, companies would certainly gravitate in that direction. Whatever eventually does replace Facebook probably would allow advertising and business pages. Unless that replacement is truly a social media platform that disallows corporate infringement.

When Facebook does tank the world will continue. We’ve made it through when companies and media outlets that have been providing services for over a hundred years have packed it in. We’ll get through without Facebook.

The statistics used were found through general Internet searches and featured in the blog post 41 Facebook Stats That Matter to Marketers in 2019.

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Ban the box update

NOTE: This post was originally published in August 2016 and has been updated with more recent data.

The Ban the Box movement was initially reviewed in this blog in the 2013 post, Should the box be banned? The movement continues to grow and this blog has updated the progress.
Since the last update in September 2018 there hasn’t been much in the way of new legislation. However, some states are refining their Ban the Box laws. Massachusetts passed a Ban the Box law in 2010, which included private employers when most states have laws only covering State job applications. 

In October 2018, a Massachusetts criminal justice reform bill went into effect that included further Ban the Box regulation. The new regulations include disclosure of misdemeanor convictions for three years instead of five. Employers cannot inquire about expunged records. Applicants that have had records expunged may legally answer “no record”.

While past private employer Ban the Box bills have failed in Colorado (Law already cover State employers), the 2019 legislature may be amenable to idea.

What is “Ban the Box”?

For the last several years there has been a movement to remove from employment applications the “box” that asks the question, “Have you ever been convicted of a crime” or any inquiry about criminal history. What has become known as  “ban the box”, the campaign feels that one’s criminal history should not be a consideration of employment at the time an application is submitted, rather, at a later time during the interview process. It is felt that asking this question on the application reduces the chances of those with criminal records to be employed. Employers should meet applicants first, get to know them, give a chance to explain themselves and then get to the criminal history. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has updated its policies, issuing guidelines in 2012 suggesting that employers wait until after a personal interview before making inquiries about criminal history.

In January 2014, there were fifty-six cities that had “banned the box”. As of September 2018, that list included over 150 cities and counties, and 32 States (Eleven of which have laws that include private employers)

CURRENT STATE LIST

Arizona

California*

Colorado 

Connecticut *

Delaware 

Georgia 

Hawaii*

Illinois*

Indiana

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana 

Maryland 

Massachusetts*

Minnesota*

Missouri 

Nebraska 

Nevada

New Jersey*

New Mexico 

New York 

Ohio 

Oklahoma 

Oregon*

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island* 

Tennessee 

Utah

Vermont*

Virginia 

Washington*

Wisconsin

*States with laws that also cover private employers

The Society for Human Resource Management posted a good article that breaks down laws State by State, which can be viewed at Ban the Box Laws by State and Municipality .

Maryland Ban the Box

            Maryland’s law took effect October 1, 2013, and applies only to State of Maryland employment applications. State government cannot ask about criminal record or criminal history of an applicant until the applicant has been provided an opportunity for an interview. Exempt from the law are positions in the Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services. Baltimore passed a similar law in 2014, restricting employers with 10 or more workers from asking a candidate about criminal records until after a conditional employment offer is made.

In 2017, Louisiana became the first state to enact a ban the box law for state institutions. Maryland passed a law in 2017, but the Governor vetoed it. In January 2018, the Maryland legislature overrode the Governor’s veto, reinstating the law.

As the laws regarding criminal history continue to evolve the legislative season is a good time to review your interview and questions and job application content.

Click here for other posts relating to Ban the Box.