The New Kid on the Block

So, I am the new kid at The Arland Group and what was my first duty at the company?

Well, other than fill out my tax forms and sign up for the company fantasy football league, my first project was to update my FaceBook, Twitter, LinkedIn with my new job information.

The days of setting up a desk with pictures and obligatory office tours have been replaced with status updates, comments, and tweets. Makes sense, really. I got the job through a referral and mutual friend.
In fact, my digital presence, reputation, and presentation spoke more
about me than any word-track I could have used in the interview. Luckily,
I had the common sense to make those Cabo Flip-Cup Championship pictures
private...or did I? Be right back....

Ok, where was I? Apparently, my job change was interesting news to others in my 2.0 community. More importantly, this recent turn of events spread like wildfire and has produced at least two weeks of being treated to lunch and drinks. You just can't argue the validity of web 2.0's ROI (Return on Investment) when updates result in pro bono liquid carbs.

The not-so-great side of all of this connectivity is trying to keep the fact that you are in talks to change jobs a secret from your employer or any gossip barterers. For the few weeks preceding the public announcement, I was convinced that word would leak out and be transmitted on the web faster than Mario Andretti in a recalled Toyota coupled with similar end results.

The bottom line is that new social normal"">mediums have changed the way we connect, send and receive information but social media isreally nothing new. I am sure that the Western Union telegraph office had their share of spikes with the latest trends in stovepipe hats and gossip

surrounding celebrity ankle views. Before that, we had the Pony Express, before that, smoke signals and cave drawings told the story of how one could save more than 15% on your horse insurance. Man's need to engage and connect with the world around him can be traced back to man's need to have engaging significance in his world flavored with a dash of narcissism.

What I am saying is that it seems we have always had social media in some way shape or form, but the current 2.0 mediums have taken it up a notch by given us real-time feedback, relevant engagement, global related
connectivity and, most importantly, a more granular view into the mea culpa genius of such inspired pioneers as Kayne West and Lindsay Lohan.