Friday, March 28, 2008

My Blog Resume?

So apparently your blog is a new way for companies to look at a person for a potential job. Is this a good thing? I think right now it looks like it could be, but then again when you started a Facebook account, you probably never thought it could be used against you when job searching. I'm guessing the same could be for blogs, however, blogs could be helpful at the same time. I think it's similar to social networks in that you need to be careful in what you put out there, but at the same time, your thoughts could get you notice.

According to nytimes.com and monster, there is a list of 10 simple rules when looking for employees, some of which include the person's attitude, sense of humor, and someone who you can change in terms of skills. It is hard to find a person that can be changed in terms of personality, but you can train them in certain skills. You could easily see someone's attitude or sense of humor by looking at their blog and getting a feel for what they think about certain topics. Blogging is a new way to compete with people who are searching for the same type of job.

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Social News Meets Business

Social News websites are starting to pop up in the internet. These sites are a way to pick out important news and see people's opinions and other comments on the issue. According to the article 'A Beginer's Guide to Social News Websites,' "these social media channels will give you a platform to showcase your content and website to a large audience." It takes topics that get the most attention. A popular example of this is Digg.

(Digg.com: What is Digg? Take a Quick Tour!)


I think these sites can be helpful towards businesses. First, blogs in general are very random and not very organized. By having this kind of site that limits what it brought in, could make it more organized. Second, it picks important topics or products, especially things that get some attention. This could be helpful to businesses because they can go to a specific cite and get more reliable information and opinions on something that can relate to them.

Digg is one example of a site that does this and as the photo shows above, you can pick and choose what kind of information you want to look for.

Monday, March 17, 2008

Virtual Teams are the way to go...

It seems virtual teams are how today's company's are running. It makes it easier to communicate with others without having to be in the same place. There are many positives to doing this, in that people don't need to leave their families or do extensive traveling. However, I still find there is an issue that is important to consider. First, you are not getting the same face to face communication with the people you are working with. In a way, you are sometimes working with a faceless person. I think this virtual teams are crucial fore businesses today to help get things done at a faster pace, but I still think in some ways communication is becoming less important.

According to an article from MIT Sloan, there are 10 rules for helping make virtual teams more productive. Some of these rules even work with this issue, in that when working with a virtual team, you should start with a group of people who know each other. Another is increasing the amount of communication between workers. With these tips I think communication can become as important as it used to be. Who knows what will happen next...

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Where should I network?

Facebook? LinkedIn? Ryze?

There are multiple networking sites... but some are more related to social networking, while others are more for business networking. I think there is a different between networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, and LinkedIn and Ryze. According to ABC News "social networking sites like Friendster and MySpace... social networking business model(s), while attractive for users, has not yet proven a consistent money maker. (Will the Web Replace the Business Lunch?)" I don't believe the social networking sites will move into the business networking arena. Facebook, for example, let's people add photos and has applications depending on someone's interests. How many people post pictures to do with work or are more likely to have a business application over an application called "Would you rather..." or "Graffiti?"

I also found it interesting to use some of these sites, such as LinkedIn as a way to keep in contact with old business associates and remembering people you have worked with. Whenever I thought of business networks online, I thought mainly of Monster.com, in which you found jobs, rather than keeping in contact with people to make new contacts. I think this is a strong way to keep networking, and also enforces my belief that Facebook and MySpace will have a hard time trying to make its way into a business networking area. How can they move in that direction when even their business applications relate to sport fans and common interests in music?


... If anyone is interested more about online networking, I found a blog all about online networking sites. Some even include LinkedIn, Ryze, and Second Life. There are tips, courses, recommendations, and more.