March 13, 2005

Blogging from Sun Not Dangerous

TIM BRAY, FROM SUN, HAS BEEN GIVING INTERVIEWS to journalists of late on the "dangers" of blogging from work. His question @ ongoing -- It's Not Dangerous is:

Why? Uh, why is the mainstream press so incredibly interested in this people-fired-for-blogging story? Is this happening to a lot of people? No. Are a lot of people blogging? Yes. Has it happened to anyone senior enough to impact the company involved? No. Are senior people blogging? Yes.

If I were cynical and paranoid, I'd suspect that the media running these stories were frightened of something.


Hummm, could be. Could just be.

Bray doesn't feel the crushing oppression of blogging from work at all. In reaction he supplies us with this handy list that bears thinking about on all levels.


Ten Reasons Why Blogging is Good For Your Career

  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.

Print out that tenth reason and post it on your refrigerator. Then post more on your blog. Posted by Vanderleun at March 13, 2005 12:54 PM
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"It is impossible to speak in such a way that you cannot be misunderstood." -- Karl Popper N.B.: Comments are moderated and may not appear immediately. Comments that exceed the obscenity or stupidity limits will be either edited or expunged.

I'm very grateful for #10!

Posted by: irishlass at March 13, 2005 4:01 PM

I don't get that engineer 80/20 thing. The jargon baffles me.

Posted by: mark butterworth at March 13, 2005 7:48 PM

Mark,

I saw the article on Blogger Buzz. I mentioned it in my post, SATURDAY SLANT, HUMAN ACHIEVEMENTS, BLOGGER BUZZ... Could it be the that they mean the Pareto Principle? I am not an engineer, but I have read Richard Koch's book, "The 80/20 Principle: The Secret to Success by Achieving More with Less." This principle was used at a company I worked for in Ohio.

All the Best,

Martin Lindeskog - American in spirit.
Gothenburg, Sweden.

Posted by: Martin Lindeskog at March 14, 2005 5:03 AM