Radian6 Layoffs Prove Social is Not All About Technology

Techvibes broke some big news yesterday.

But it wasn’t the page views, retweets, and Likes that blew us away. It was the comments on our article.

Shortly after publishing our piece confirming a slew of layoffs at New Brunswick’s Radian6 readers started weighing in with their two cents, job offers, and best wishes. Surprisingly most of the best wishes were from competitors in the social marketing and analytics space.

As Ian Gertler so eloquently said, “the incredible level of respect and professional admiration in these comments is refreshing.” Here’s a sample:

HootSuite’s Dave Olson: “As VP Community at HootSuite, i am rather sad to see this. Radian 6 – from the other coast of Canada than us – we’re a noble competitor and industry light. Regardless of Salesforce’s plans with R6 (and yes they are a competitor to us), it’s simply sad to see diligent community builders cut loose. In my (biased) opinion, cultivating community and sparking internal culture are critical roles which simply can not be outsourced, ignored or underestimated. Best wishes to all who received the dreaded news today.”

Sysomos Community Manager Sheldon Levine: “While these guys have been and are a competitor to my company, Sysomos, I got to know a lot of the R6 team over the past few years and I was a bit upset to hear this news. Just because our companies are competitors doesn’t mean that I couldn’t be friends with some of these people, and it’s tough to see great people lose their jobs. I won’t say anymore about this, other than I wish all of these former employees the best of luck in the future and that any of them can feel free to reach out to me to talk any time.”