Sunday, March 13, 2005

Blogging is good for your career

Many mainstream news agencies have reported on the dangers of blogging and how it could get you fired. Do you personally know anyone, other than Dooce, that has been fired for blogging?

We have written about the potential negative consequences of blogging in "Queen of Sky Blogger got sacked" Nov 9, 2004; " Expect Your Blog To Be Read" Jan 4, 2005; " Blogging either for or about a company" Jan 8, 2005; and " Careful what you post - don't lose your job!" Feb 16, 2005. I am very excited that Boing Boing points out this article by Tim Bray explains why blogging is good for your career.

Tim Bray says "blogging is a career-booster" and gives these 10 reasons:

  1. You have to get noticed to get promoted.
  2. You have to get noticed to get hired.
  3. It really impresses people when you say “Oh, I’ve written about that, just google for XXX and I’m on the top page” or “Oh, just google my name.”
  4. No matter how great you are, your career depends on communicating. The way to get better at anything, including communication, is by practicing. Blogging is good practice.
  5. Bloggers are better-informed than non-bloggers. Knowing more is a career advantage.
  6. Knowing more also means you’re more likely to hear about interesting jobs coming open.
  7. Networking is good for your career. Blogging is a good way to meet people.
  8. If you’re an engineer, blogging puts you in intimate contact with a worse-is-better 80/20 success story. Understanding this mode of technology adoption can only help you.
  9. If you’re in marketing, you’ll need to understand how its rules are changing as a result of the current whirlwind, which nobody does, but bloggers are at least somewhat less baffled.
  10. It’s a lot harder to fire someone who has a public voice, because it will be noticed.
Tim Bray continues by boldly stating "I’m increasingly convinced that it’s a good idea to let your employees blog" and suggests that your company read his posts about The Sun's Policy and how they got it. I like his closing statement regarding mainstream media's fascination with bloggers being fired: "If I were cynical and paranoid, I’d suspect that the media running these stories were frightened of something."
djuggler's personal blog is Reality Me and consults as Superior Internet Designs.


Posted by: djuggler | 7:14 AM |