Promoting Professional Geekery #15: Pass The News On

News is your friend.  I'm talking real news of course, not a lot of stuff out there that is to real news what cheese product is to cheese (a greasy, unsatisfying substitute).

News is also friend to everyone who's out there*, like yourself, trying to start, build, or maintain the professional geek lifestyle.  So if you find a choice bit of news that's good for careers, for being informed about choice professional lifestyles, or is something that people have to know (like, say, an economic meltdown), pass it on.

Understanding and finding out about important news is vital to anyone's career – even mores for those of us working in the information-heavy, ever-changing geekonomy.  That one bit of news you pass on could be the critical piece that helps someone out and inspires them to greater things.

  • Find some news about the ideal company or client's latest changes?  Tell people who do want to work with them or who already do.
  • Find out about an important trend?  Let people know so they can capitalize on it.
  • Hear about a useful new gizmo people may want to use to make their careers easier?  Tell people (which reminds me, Wunderlist is awesome).

Get the news out there.  We're busy sorting through feeds, news, and rampant piles of B.S. disguised as news.  You can make the difference:

  • Send the news to the right people so they can make use of it.
  • Send the news to a mailing list, group, message board, etc. that has the progeeky people you want to reach.
  • Post it to your Twitter or other social media.  If you're a serious newshead maybe have a separate feed for it.
  • Post it somewhere like . . . well you know a blog.

Just get the news out there.

One of the best things beyond keeping people informed?  You get them looking at the news more seriously.  Once they see a few good articles they investigate more, take a look at your sources, etc.  You help encourage people to pay attention to valuable news.

They may even start sharing their own news, making it part of their lifestyle, and getting a better grasp of the big picture – which is a very professionally geeky way to look at things.

Steven Savage

* Go on, MAKE the Gamera is friend to all children joke.  You know you want to.