No, I'm not talking about being "Dooced." Let's say you're a young professional just starting out in the world of widgets. In an effort to promote yourself and connect with a like minded community, you begin blogging about your experience (all be it only months) and your recent activities. However, you haven't fully honed your skills and some of what you may post about seems trivial and/or incorrect in the minds of those in your field. Can you be damaging your opportunities?
For the most part, I believe other bloggers recognize junior folks and realize that great ideas can come from anyone. I also believe that good bloggers will take the time to educate the community and share experiences and insights without judgment. However, if during a job search, a hiring manager or recruiter comes across your blog and disagrees with your point of view, have you hurt your chances for that dream job?
This is just another scenario where it is crucial to look at the entire body of work, not just one post. Every blogger, no matter how popular, will put up a crap post now and again. Every blogger will also change their stance on issues previously posted on as a result of community feedback. It wouldn't be fair to judge an author on one chapter, would it now?
When considering how to leverage the blogosphere for employee research, marketing initiatives, research or anything else for that matter, make sure you take them for what they are worth. My blog is only a 3% representation of me, but you wouldn't know that, unless you asked. Just something to keep in mind.
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