Professional Branding For Progeeks #1 – What and Why?

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Let me be up front: the economy sucks, the job search sucks and is made worse by ossified HR and put-upon recruiters. So, anything that's wrong in the job search is at best, only half your fault.  That being said, it's time to look deeper at one thing that can help your job search and indeed your whole career even if self-employed.

Personal Branding.  Yeah, don't groan.

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News Of The Day 9/7/2011

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And . . . oh hell, more Big News stories. Here you go.

The Big News keeps on rolling in the geekonomy: Carol Bartz is out as the CEO of Yahoo. Not that there was much that could be done without trying radical, scary changes.

Now my take is that Yahoo HAS to get radical, and unless the staff, board, etc. accept that it's essentially doomed. Wether that'll happen now I'm not sure.

A helpful look back on Yahoo from earlier this year

Economics/Geekonomics:
Did productivity contribute to the Great Recession. This is a radical and interesting essay that lopsided productivity gains and changes that obscured some trends have led us to a seemingly paradoxical economy. We're more productive, with lower wages, with some amazing luxuries in our hands, without what we need to go forward. There's a LOT ignored in this essay (unionization, urbanization, etc.) but it's still one to make you think.

Movies:
OK, um, the 'Monopoly' movie snagged two writers who actually have done some good stuff. From my stunned perspective, let me reiterate a thought – perhaps these "hopeless" movies could actually turn out to be good merely by people rising to the challenge. In turn that may fuel even more attempts at adapting oddball properties. Maybe I won't be laughing at 'Stretch Armstrong.'

Social Media:
Facebook's doubled it's revenue according to the docs from Goldman Sachs that went to potential investors (remember my previous warnings about G/S). We don't have enough data yet on where the revenue's come from or how it's calculated, but you can rest assured it'll fuel IPO mania a bit more – which might be the point. Therefore I'm going to advise caution in regards to what this number means.

Technology:
And they're . . . er, off. The .xxx domain is open and we're in the sunrise period where companies and brand owners can apply for domains. Of course I can guarantee after this the floodgates are going to burst open as entrepreneurs, artists, and companies afraid of their rep snap up those names. I'm curious to observe this on several fronts:

  • To see potential legal battles.
  • To see what happens to non-corporate entities like fanfiction, fanart, etc.
  • To see if having a .xxx domain, even as a butt-coverer helps or hurts a company.

Video Games:
Disney is laying people off at Avalanche Studios. I want to watch this to see if more are coming as Disney Interactive works on getting its act together.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: So Yahoo.  Discuss . . .

– Steven Savage