Blogging as our future? I hope not...

What made blogging what it is today?

Blogging has become the new internet phenom that is almost an addiction to most people who use it daily. Companies now use blogs to see how their customers feel about their products, to find out suggested improvements and see what competition has to offer. I am afraid that blogging will turn into something negative as many things on the internet have; ie Facebook and MySpace. They both started out as great ideas but have gone too far in their innovations that it has become a turn off. Facebook used to be for college students who want to stay connected with their friends at different schools, but now it is has become a resume for employers, dating service for the young and old and a way for administration to check up on students and especially athletes.

Over the past 3 years, many college sports teams have had seasons postponed or even cancelled because of their facebook profiles and pictures showing alcohol or initiation rituals. Many athletes decided to get off of facebook completely beacuse of the risks. I certainally hope facebook did not intend to head in this direction, but it is bound to happen in all blogging. How is a company supposed to trust the feedback when they dont know who is writing and if it is sincere?

Who you know

After reading the article "The people who make organizations stop- or go" it made me think about the concept of its not what you know, its who you know which is a phrase i have been hearing more and more lately. Over winter break, I attended a NYC trip hosted by the AU Career Center where we went on site visits to six different companies to hear how they broke into their industries and what they do on a daily basis. The majority of employers had one common theme, they knew someone, or they got an interview through a recommendation of a friend.

The article talks about informal networks and identifies four common role players critical to an organization. Each player has their own informal network, in which they are connected. This also made me question, knowing someone may get your foot in the door, but will it secure a long lasting position? And if so, how do you make the connections to get your foot in the door? If the relationship/connection goes sour, will it affect you in the future?

About Me

My name is Jackie Lane, 21 years old from Long Island, NY. I am a senior in the Kogod School of Business at American University located in Washington DC. I began this blog as an assignment for my Information technology class titled, Social Networking and Business and will be posting blogs for the remainder of the semester. Please respond as you please.



“On my honor, all posts on this blog are my own”