Is who you know the way to go?

Employers are using social networking websites to breach every bracket. It first began with searching potential employees on facebook profile but now there are social networking job websites like Linkedin and Jobster. I find these websites to be useful for employers and employees. They allow recruiters to narrow down and evaluate potential employees. Some of these social networking websites are used as tools. These tools like Linked In help people connect with one another. They are allowing employers to find accurate information about people. However, I still believe in personal and face to face relationships. A person may sound good on paper or screen for that matter but it is not until you meet the individual will you know if the candidate is a valid match.

Even Barack Obama formed a Linkedin page!

Citizen Journalism is on the Rise

Last semester American University had two prestigious journalists speak at the school hardball Helen Thomas and MSNBC White House Correspondent David Greggory. When the floor was open for questions I remember a student asking how each of them felt about web 2.0 and the idea that John Stewart and his Daily Show was more hard news then the traditional nightly news. Gregory quickly answered the question and moved on to the next one.

Does this mean that journalists are actually scared of Jon Stewart? As Helen Thomas has says "there needs to be more hard news" and right now the traditional media is not producing hard news. This is why people are beginning to rely on non traditional media like blogs. News sites are now allowing users to write and report on there websites. The users are now the journalists. Citizen Journalism is the way our news media is now going and will continue to perpetuate.

Virtual Is The New Step to Reality

Remember when your professor said to the classroom that everyone would have to work in groups for the next assignment? A normal response from a classroom of students would be a moan. The professor would then respond how " you have a chance to see what it is like working in the real world." The question I am about to propose is that maybe students and professionals should require training in "virtual group projects". It is sometimes required for people to receive training in team building skills.

But has anyone thought of virtual teamwork skills? It is already hard for people to work together face to face. this article explains how a company who needs to work together online can create a successful team. According to a study in this article, "The Strange Beauty of Virtual Teams", it is more difficult for people to keep focused and on task with virtual groups. If someone is in a virtual group they need to be able to balance their online and offline work accordingly. If they do not, they will affect the rest of the team's project.

Facebook is yesterday, Lets Link in!

I remember the first time I heard about Linked In was this past summer while I was interning in Manhattan. It was the last few days of my internship and some of the supervisors were talking about their linked in profile and who they knew in common. Linked In is the facebook for business professionals. However, it does not have photo uploads and stickers like facebook and myspace. The sole purpose for this business tool is to network and to stay in touch with former colleagues. Linkedin has over 3.5 million usres and it allows people to build networks and to communicate with potential employers and contacts. Many people have even used it as a job search tool and found the job that will lead them to the next step in their career. The majority of students in the class are juniors and seniors. As we begin to look for jobs we should start utilizing this tool. When you are marketing you have to build and protect your brand. You are the brand and you have to sell yourself to employers.

Welcome to the Hotel California.......

While reading the article "You are what your kids" I could not stop laughing when the author talked about his daughter dating. "By the time she starts dating, I wont need to greet her dates at the door with a shotgun, I will have a digital history of tor the public to read. I can have my facebook account on private but it does not mean that the poor kid and know pretty much everything about him, before I meet him". We really have to be careful about what we put online (Especially you boys). The information is an open book people will not find a way to read it. You have to scrutinize everything you do online. A recent study by Pew Research stated that 55 % of online teens have their profiles restricted to a certain extent. This explains why we are so paranoid when posting our lives online because we don't know who will be reading and analyzing. This is why people must restrict everything. They need to think of the computer as a friend but also as an enemy. As the Eagle's song says "Welcome to the Hotel California such a lovely place such a lovely face"

Second Life Takes Over Reality

Second Life takes Advantage of Reality

When I first heard of second life I did not know what to think; a virtual world where you can interact with different users and create a new identity. You are fluctuated into a world with potential love interests, money to use, and even career opportunities and social networking?

We read about how people change their identity. Should they really do this? Now there is social networking and career opportunities on these virtual websites. People can network on Second Life and meet potential employers in the real world. I am personally not a fan of this. I believe in face to face relationships. Face book and social networking websites are great for keeping in touch with people but they make us lose a face to face connection. We need to get back with reality.

Internet Users Are Stupid?

"Welcome to the dark side of Web 2.0, where focused expertise is replaced by rampant amateurism; opinion is mistaken for knowledge; and credentials, degrees, and years of experience mean virtually nothing. Andrew Keen, author of The Cult of the Amateur: How Today’s Internet Is Killing Our Culture, is your tour guide"

This is the introduction commentary to Andrew Keen's feature "The Digital Emperor has No Clothes". To summarize, Mr. Keen believes that it is amateurs not professionals who are writing on blogs. I hate to break it to Mr. Keen and Nobel Prize winner Doris Lessing (won Nobel Prize, based her speech on how people on computers "lack culture") but not all the writers and creators of Web 2.0 are stupid. Many are college educated, knowledgable people. In a way he is offending people he probably knows.

I do agree with him when he says how it is smart for the New York Times and other traditional newspapers and magazines to offer themselves online. The New York Times has been a part of my childhood. I would come down for breakfast when I was a child and my dad would be reading the paper and drinking his cup of coffee. I would sit next to him and smell the coffee and the paper. This is the strength of the brand. They turned a threat into an opportunity by offering the paper onlne and immersing the site with blogs, podcasts, and continuous updates.