I am here to live my life out loud.. at least until I get fired
Over at Avalonstar, Bryan Veloso asks if we are condemning ourselves with what we write on our blogs.
He related the story of “Kristine”, who was terminated from her college internship because of some posts that she had written on her blog. In other words, she was Dooced…
I can honestly say as a manager, that I’ve rarely Googled someone to see what they are writing on their blogs – or to see what is linked or said about them out in the blogosphere. However, many companies are doing exactly that in order to learn more about their prospective hires. As a blog network owner, however, I always Google prospective bloggers and skim their writings.. more for their writing skills however, rather than their opinions…
While I applaud the courage of someone who chooses to “live their life out loud”, by writing about their passions in a public place, such as on their blogs.. I also believe that there can be a price to pay for what we choose to write publicly.. and that price could be the job or gig that we so desparately may want..
Then again, is that really the place that we want to work?
I’d read a few instances of this but didn’t know what it was called until reading your post. Interesting, and I would agree that if a company has issues with honest communications (Naked Conversations), than you probably may not want that job anyway.
There is a price that we pay for what we write, and I feel that the sorrow stories that are put out there are mostly from those people who had secret lives that should have never seen the light of day anyway. I guess the moral of the whole thing was to know what you’re writing and know the effects of it. I’ve written two long entries mocking Google, I’ve written an entry questioning if my host was really legit (thankfully, they saw it as funny).
It’s just really interesting seeing all the different opinions on the subject.
I remember your post about Media Temple Bryan – I got a good giggle out of it and it turned into a good series of posts for you.
I think we all have to be cautious about what we choose to write online – especially if we don’t work for ourselves – and write under our real names.
~Matt
I think if you`re writing well on a subject you are knowledgeable about, you are not condemning yourself but doing a great thing.
If on the other hand your opinios my ruffle feathers then I`d agree.