Blogging for Jobs

Bob Weinstein is a journalist who covers technology, project management, the workplace and career development.

  Career Development  

Five years ago, I never thought much of blogs. I was a disbeliever, a skeptic. I swore that blogs, blogging and blogging zealots would go the way of the Edsel and quadraphonic sound. Here today, gone tomorrow, fun to talk about at parties, great for making instant impressions with the opposite sex and just a cool thing to plug into because it's happening.

In short, I didn't think they had much intrinsic value. Well, okay, I've changed my mind. Even reasonably smart journalists can make mistakes. Read on, I promise you'll learn a thing or two.

Blogs, or Internet-based public journals, can be fun to read or write, and they can serve many purposes. Whether you're a self-indulgent narcissist driven to tell the world how great or weird you are, or you have information you feel compelled to share, blogs offer an easy and inexpensive platform to get your message across.

Or, if you just want to take advantage of a varied and often creative vehicle for plugging into any subject--from soufflés to counter-terrorism to White House gossip to new insights about Linux--you can bet that there are dozens of blogs out there that can give you exactly what you are looking for. Many well-written blogs enjoy reader loyalty akin to what syndicated columnists receive.

By the same token, there are more bad blogs than good ones. In 1999, there were only a few hundred blogs; now there are…

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