Blog Content for Sale

After reading Derek Powazek's blog entry on user-generated content, I too have come to despise the term UGC. When did the novelty of blogging become something so dreadfully commodified. It seems like a throwback to the Orwellian 1984, my blog is not newspeak nor will it ever be, and that's what UGC makes it out to be a part of.

In addition, UGC is implying that because I'm writing from the position of the end user, I'm just not as good as other outlet's produced content. This is complete bull. I've read hired published writers who's vocabulary might be more extension than mine, write complete garbage. I've seen news conglomerate who are bias to the point of disgust.

The contents made by the end users weren't meant to be rated, and I agree with puchoo from India when he says, "the quality assigned to a UGC platform is never absolute but perception based."

I leave you with this from Henry Copeland: "Calling blogs consumer-generated media is like calling sex the "clothless generation of heat, musk and mucus." The essential excitement and motivation just doesn't come through, does it?"

Virtual Insanity

With all the stuff on the web nowadays, sometimes it feels a little overwhelming.
This song reminds me a lot of that notion, and its music video is great. One of the first music video I've ever seen, and can remember. Enjoy.

Sweet New Look

Got seriously jealous looking at other bloggers' sweet layout, so I shopped around on the web and modified me a template. Viola! presto! New Layout! I think its real spiff, how about you?

P.S.
I know its spelled voilà, but who doesn't like a good viola (awesome instrument btw) joke? I certainly don't know anyone who doesn't.

P.S.S.
Ok it's pretty lame (the viola thing, not the layout, the layout is friggin' sweet), if its any consolation, I am wired.

P.S.S.S.
psssssss...if anyone want to check out my group's assignment 3 here's a link: http://docs.google.com/Doc?id=ddq2xrmh_1ppbkg7

Tagging Ron Paul

Maybe its the impressive content of my blog, or maybe its because I wrote about Ron Paul, and then tagged him, but my last blog entry so far has 29 diggs and counting on digg.com. Del.icio.us Democracy

The Ron Paul's post gotten me the most traffic ever according to Google Analytics. Amazing. Maybe I should tag Ron Paul on every post from now on till the 2008 presidential election.

Great idea? or Greatest idea?

Del.icio.us Democracy

Six months ago, John Edwards' campaign might have been "arguably the most technologically innovative, experimental, and aggressive." But now? you can't go to any social bookmarking site without stumbling over something about Ron Paul. That's right. A republican candidate that's not even a top candidate for republican front runner.

Do I support his views? No, but you can't but admire how effectively Ron Paul and his constituency is utilizing the web. If I wasn't semi-interested in politics and kept up with it, I probably would've thought Ron Paul was going to be the republican's front runner based on his exposure on the web.

Of the 7 republican debates Ron Paul participated in, Paul won 6 based on online voting from the debates' sponsors (I was going to link to MSNBC's online voting result based on the Michigan debate here, but it would seem in MSNBC's infinite wisdom to not only not close the poll, but only allow you to view the poll by voting on it first).

Ron Paul is currently the top search term on Hitwise, and the only presidential candidate in the current popular list at Technorati. The amount of visitors for ronpaul2008.com on the daily are substantially greater than all the other republican candidates combined according to Alexa.com (The first time I saw the traffic chart at Alexa, I thought I forgot to press something because all I see is the traffic for Ron Paul, but if you look closely at the bottom of the graph, you'll see the traffic for all the other sites). Ron Paul also has the most traffic and subscribers at Youtube.com, where all presidential candidates have used this year as a means of promotion. This is not coming from a young presidential candidate, Ron Paul is a 72 years old great-grandfather.

Ron Paul is probably not going to win, but that's how he is able to explore the unconventional methods the web has now introduce into the political arena. Appearing on web-based shows (an interview conducted in a college dorm room), and using the web to raise money. Michael Prospero's blog entry at fastcompany.com made a really good point, "Paul's greatest contribution to the election may not be what he adds to the political conversation, but how he adds to it."

Internet as a political vehicle is just at its infancy, politicians are still trying to perfect how they are going to approach this method of campaigning. As my generation become more politically aware and candidates become more internet-savvy, the future facebook, myspace, youtube, and social bookmarking sites such as digg, del.icio.us and Technorati are going to be the battleground where candidates are going to duke it out.

*added 9:50pm Sunday

Man I just re-read what I wrote, its pretty dry, but politics has always been a dry topic to talk about. However, that's where internet comes in. Internet imo, the freest medium we currently have, is already and will continue to change the political landscape to become even more commercialized than when MTV came on the scene with Rock the votes. Its getting more people to talk about politics than ever, its increasing visibility of the political world to more demographics whether they want to or not. Which in the end, I think, is a good thing.

Candidates who can keep up and be hip to the internet using population in the future will get their agenda heard. Whether or not that will convert into votes is something we'll have to see.

Résu-blog

Blog substituting as my résumé? or supplementing it?

Man, oh man, time to eliminate all the childish, snide and random remarks I've ever made on my public blog entries. Pictures too. Gotta fix those grammar errors as well.

While I tend to try and make my blogs as accurate a representation of myself as I can, without cheating my readers with an online persona, the phenomenon that's blurring of the line between personal and work, contributed in parts to blogs used as résumé, is a bit jarring. The part about playing, in the saying: "work hard and play hard" is now becoming a penalty.

The blog I linked to higher in the post was by Adam Darowski. In it he's says how blogs can fill in the blanks where a regular résumé can't. Sure I agree with that. Résumés really don't contain anything substantial, especially for people looking for their first job. I don't even see the reason for a résumé aside for screening purposes. Especially when I hear stories where people getting jobs with fake credentials on their résumés.

However, unless employees volunteers a blog for the employers to see, I really don't think employers should be allowed to use what they find online to penalize someone from getting a job without some kind of explanation.

Tom Kyte from Oracle came to my class a week or so back and commented about how he googles potential hires before interviews to get a better feel of an individual. Maybe its just me, but I find that to be unsettling. Sure if I'm working for a company, I'm representing that company where ever I am. It still doesn't make me feel any better that I'm being searched.

Now I understand where Tom Kyte is coming from. In his position at Oracle, anyone he's hiring is going to be taking on a pretty high ranking position within Oracle. It's understandable that he don't want to find his next head of database management to be dancing on a Las Vegas craps table drunk out of his/her mind on Flickr.com. But how about students like me?

Here's my problem with using blogs as a résumé:
- Will something I wrote 2 years ago be used against me?
- Will employers take into considerations that its written 2 years ago?
- Will employers tell me they searched for me online?
- Will they tell me the reason they won't hire me is due to something I have online? (of course not)

Solution?

In addition to a résumé, employers can ask for a detailed package of past projects, case studies, documented experience and other information they would want from a potential hire. If that's in the form of a blog, awesome. Sure they can still use the résumé as a screening device, but when they're actually hiring someone, ask for the things they're looking for. I'm tire of companies being ambiguous about the kind of people they're trying to hire. For example, I have tons of friends losing job opportunities but not knowing why. Employers should give feedbacks. Its not the potential employees that needs a blog, its the employers. Hiring practices should not be secretive. Here's an example of a recruiting blog.

Seriously, are the money spend by HR in hiring someone really used to its full extent? Searching online to know about someone, imho, is the lazy way out.

On the other hand, I will be submitting my blog as part of my résumé. Why? It IS a great way to share a part of who I am to potential employers . However I'm doing so voluntarily. If a company wants to search me online, I feel I should be asked.

If searching online about potential hires ever become a common practice in HR departments worldwide, I can guarantee that the permission to use those information will become a legal issue.

On other news...

Redskin beats Jets in OT. Thank goodness, I was pretty much crying and cursing during the half. Hope the Patriots vs Colts game will be an epic. =]