What I Know About 'Social' Recruiting

Here's what I know about 'Social' Recruiting:

1. It isn't social until myself or my staff has seen our candidates face-to-face. A candidate can be an absolute rock-star on paper (or LinkedIn or Facebook or Twitter), but if I haven't seen whether the candidate is fully capable of engaging me, making eye contact, firmly shaking my hand or composing their body language... they aren't going to my clients. On the rare occasion I can't meet a candidate, I have taken to Skype; at least I can get an idea of how engaging this candidate is. After all, talking through a keyboard isn't very 'social' at all!
2. My teams use Twitter, Facebook, Niche Blogs, LinkedIn, Hi5 and other social media outlets, but they are also mandated to attend truly 'social' events. This means they frequent outtings by ERE, CAPS, NAPS, Tweet-Ups, Whine N Dine's, Career Fairs, and Community Forums. I can't afford (nor can my recruiters or researchers afford) to forget how to conduct themselves in social settings. People wouldn't believe how many 'social guru's' I've met at conferences or other engagements who couldn't hold my attention in a conversation unless they were inhaling helium balloons and I had humor invested in listening. I'm serious... Do your recruiters AND your researchers a favor... drag them from behind the dust of a keyboard and put them in an open room of talkative, networking socialites.
3. My business DOES make money off of recruiting and sourcing through social media networks, but that doesn't alone, pay my bills. So, yes... I may tweet, update, link, connect, follow, blog, fan or whatever else you do on these sites, but unless it pays for my son's college tuition in whole - you shouldn't expect me to spend my entire day @replying, DMing, thanking mentions or tracking google mentions... Why? Because I make my money by closing deals or securing other companies with research that closes deals... THAT'S what I am good at. THAT'S what pays my bills and THAT'S as much as I know about this whole Social Recruiting trend. Yes, it helps pay a few bills here and there, but it's not my cash cow and it's not where I will spend 90%, 70% or even 50% of my day.