The Austin American Statesman ran an interesting article in today's business section entitled: "Blogs can get you hired or fired."

Blogging is becoming more and more mainstream. This article says that there are 10 million Americans blogging and about 35 million reading those blogs. Those are pretty substantial numbers. I think this shows that blogging is not something that can be ignored, of course if you're reading this than you're not ignoring blogging are you?

One of the most interesting parts of this article is the mention of a blogger named Bray. When he's interviewed for a job they really don't need to ask him very many questions because they've already learned so much about him by reading his blog. They also talk quite a bit about companies that are hiring "googling" potential employees to learn about them and their backgrounds. The results of a Google search are probably going to be a lot more telling than what's in a resume.

Googling is not just something that hiring departments are doing. Your clients, customers and even fellow networkers are Googling you. Blogs are a great way to be in control of what they're reading about you. It's not like they're trying to dig up dirt, for the most part they just want to get to know who you are. They're also a great networking tool.

I recently posted a comment on another blog and their comment back was: "I think I've networked with more people in the past 6 mths than I did for the last 2 years - and all because of my blog."

I've only been blogging for a few months and the results have been unbelievable. Sure there are some potential pitfalls. Saying anything negative is going to have consequences (I think my mother had something to say about that: "if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all"). It's really just common sense. A blog is public, and essentially a permanent record so you need to really think about the consequences of anything you say. That may turn some people off, but I think the benefits far outway the potential pitfalls.

Happy networking (and blogging)!

Scott Ingram
NetworkInAustin.com