What do these new hires say about where we’re going? We’re improving the depth and breadth of our products. And we’re expanding the sales pipeline to keep up with ever-increasing demand.

Here’s a quick overview of these stellar additions to the team:

Brad Burke
With more than 15 years of technology development and leadership experience, Brad has a proven record of delivering results for data-centric companies. Prior to Networked Insights, he served as CTO of The Patent Board, where he was responsible for company development, technology operations, and all data services. Prior to that, he was the director of technology at QInteractive. He previously held technology leadership positions at SBI and Company and Accenture. Brad holds a Bachelor of Science in manufacturing management from Purdue University.

Paul DePinto
With 20+ years experience in sales, Paul has been instrumental in the early stage growth of several technology and marketing services companies. As vice president of sales at Ripple6 and Invoke Solutions he spearheaded the building of world-class sales organizations leading to the turnaround and growth of both organizations. He also held sales leadership and sales positions at Sightward, Entrust Technologies, Red Brick Systems (now part of IBM), and Information Builders. Paul holds a bachelor’s degree in business management from Seton Hall University.

Both Brad and Paul step in at a time of unprecedented growth for Networked Insights and social media analytics in general. Their combined talents are exactly what we need to take the company to the next level.

• You Have 0 Friends. The latest episode of  South Park mocks Facebook even while the marketing team exploits it.
• The glass is half full. Approximately 48% of Americans over the age of eleven have a social networking profile and usage has doubled in just two  years. Social networking has become a part of mainstream media behavior.
• Political participation by apathetic younger generations has historically been low, but Democracy UK aims to change that. Even before the polls open, social media will have played a crucial role in UK election results.
• It’s a small world. When tragedy hit a small coal mining town in West Virginia, social media provided an avenue for a world-wide outpouring of support.
• In war, there are no unwounded soldiers; they continue to fight the demons of battle. The Department of Veteran Affairs attempts to use social media to provide support.
• Better safe than sorry. Companies and IT departments are struggling to find the right balance when dealing with employee use of social-networking sites. Acceptable use policies should address these five questions.

• TMI? Celebrity tweets and status updates are creating a new breed of paparazzi and stalkers.
• How do you work this thing? Kentucky basketball coach Jon Calipari appears to be a social-media savant, but his philanthropic ventures and fan transparency are largely orchestrated by his assistant.
• Life is like a box of chocolates…  An on-line assault on the Nestle brand organized Greenpeace is made FAR worse by the company’s response. The lesson? Don’t insult the public, especially when our brand is in crisis.
• What do @THHEE_JAY and @Solly_Forrel have in common? They’re both Twitter users who hate the new healthcare legislation. Both of them have expressed that dislike by calling for the assassination of President Obama. And both of them are under investigation by the Secret Service.
• Big Brother is watching you. Well, at least the HR department might be. A new service assists companies in monitoring employees’ social-networking activities.
• First, the “King of Rock n’ Roll.” Then, the “King of Pop.” Now, the “Boy Prince of Social Media?” Justin Bieber has taken over the pop music world by taking social media to new heights (or depths) on his way to super-stardom.

• Nerds use social networking to find big red balloons. Would you like that $40,000 in cash or check? MIT students quickly solved Darpa’s treasure hunt by going viral.
• See traditional and digital marketing integration at its finest: 5 companies that got it right in 2009.
• I call your “search-engine optimization” and raise you “real-time search” plus a huge dose of social-branding reality. The nimble behemoth continues to evolve as Google integrates real-time search.
• Now when drug dealers say, “everybody’s doing it,” they’re telling the truth. Pharmaceutical companies take their recommended dose of social-media medication.
• Step right up. Don’t be shy. Brands look to flex their marketing muscles on the social web.
• CEO: Are you sure this is going to work? CMO: 2/3 of us think so. Companies to increase social media budgets in 2010.
• Come out, come out, wherever you are. The location-based social networking space just got a little more crowded.
• I want $55k/year, 401(k), vacation, stock options, medical/dental insurance, tuition reimbursement, gym membership, and access to my social networks. See the future of employee compensation demands.

And the winner is… human resources. There has been no more widespread adoption of social media benefits across the enterprise than in the process of finding, recruiting, attracting, and keeping top talent. Say it ain’t so – the department that in some companies still relies on time-clocks is leading change?

You want disruptive influence? How about spending less than $200 to fill a position that would have cost $30,000 – $40,000 to fill via traditional recruiting services. Such was a recent experience using LinkedIn. This single tool has provided both enormous efficiencies in traditional hiring processes (promoting openings, finding candidates, screening applicants, checking referrals,) and massive cost savings (recruiters, job boards & newspaper ads, HR staffing). It is almost single-handedly killing the job board industry.

Then there are the social media tools that help HR stay current with salary trends. Glassdoor.com leverages the newfound willingness that people have towards sharing their pay information and general opinions about their employer. The implication for companies is twofold: 1) a quick and easy way to access highly specialized and regionalized pay data; 2) an opportunity to get a different perspective on the ever changing workplace culture. Both were difficult pieces of data to get previously.

And one of the newest trends in HR is to use social media participation itself as a qualifier for potential new hires. Brazencarreerist exists to connect companies to talented bloggers on the premise that individuals with the discipline, assertiveness, and confidence to regularly publish their opinions on the web will translate into a highly effective workforce.

So while customer service, product development, and marketing functions all are still trying to figure out where to tie-in to the social media madness, HR has found the biggest and most consistent ROI thus far. HR winning a race to be progressive?? It really is a new world.