What's your take?

[gayla]

It's really kind of depressing seeing all the companies cut jobs - internet networks downsizing, etc.

What's your take on the entire situation? Who and what do you think will survive and when it comes to economists, who do you believe?

I've always been ultra sensitive to change and I feel the internet tides shifting and can't quite place my finger on the direction they are going?

Is anyone else feeling the shift?
What are you doing to weather the change?

Could sure use a little bit-o-positive at the moment.

Gayla

[davidcubed]

For me, the shift has been this: lots of companies wanting to do stuff online, but they don't believe there is a strong ROI right now so they don't want to pay much. I have more people asking me for work today than I have at any other point in my career, but they all want to pay me like I have no experience... :$

Sorry its not entirely positive, but it is interesting to me...

[gayla]

Even if it's not positive feedback - it is realistic.

Thanks! I guess more than anything - I just need a bit of a reality check. I feel myself being pulled in a new direction - but being the darned cancer female that I am, I struggle with change every step of the way.

It could be change for me - it could be change for the world around me, but something is definitely changing.

Anyone know if Dion's Psychic Friends is hiring? ;-)

G

[hart]

There was a frontline show called "House of Cards" this week - 2 hours .. did anybody catch it? it was quite fascinating ..

http://www.progressiveblue.com/showD...4?diaryId=3548

here's a summary slideshow http://www.cnbc.com/id/28892719/

Despite all of that and real situations .. I personally think that there still is a lot of work out there available to do, and businesses and people are spending money looking to get work done ... Yet some people spend more time worrying about where their next dollar is going to come from .. that they actually forget to realize they can be working instead of thinking about working. It's always been like that - i,m.o. - the world's downsizing management and upsizing production but everybody wants to be in the management side of that yellow line and retire early - I know I do

[gayla]

That's kind of the way I already feel - that there's a shift happening, money to be made/had - but it's a matter of recognizing it when it comes your way.

To me, that's just a little on the scary side

I'll be checking out the house of cards - looks like it's going to air again so I'll be sure to DVR it.

[ifranky]

I agree with David, but I think online might be one of the first sectors to initiate the recovery. This will not be with higher investments in advertising, but probbably with new jobs.

After companies like CBS and Amazon, heck even Google, bought several so-called 2.0 platforms, the next step will be to grow their own platform. Paraphrased: the internet is going to become a new corporate area, every day more and more. So I say now is the moment to profile yourself, as broad as possible, and then you can become part of the new 'interactive team' as soon as believe in the economy returns. Make sure that over the next 2 years you develop your rolodex enough to become a 'senior' [insertwhatevertitlehere].

I might offend several people on The Hive when I say that there will be less opportunities for the independent player in the next 3-4 years (mainly due to the high amount of available candidates), so do not hesitate to try to become part of a 'company'. Even if it's only for a short stint and network building, because online everything will repeat itself again in some years: people will leave their safe corporate job and go independent again. And they'll be the new Zeldmans.

The next 3-4 years belong to the corporations and to building huge online platforms. Just think about what b5 initiated in their network.

[gayla]

Thanks for your feedback. I'm enjoying seeing the varied views on this topic.

[deb_n]

Personally, I think that jobs for people with our skills are going to be in demand. Businesses need an online presence to succeed nowadays. They need social media to succeed and we're the people who can help them. I'm not upset, I'm happy to have finally found somewhere to fit in - and be a part of the action.

I think many online content or blog networks didn't last because they did too much too soon. They hired hundreds of bloggers for hundreds of blogs and couldn't manage them all. Instead of cultivating a blog at a time, they promoted hundreds. The thing is, small niche blogs got lost in the mix. All the bloggers are anonymous to people outside the networks. It would have been more to their benefit to start a blog at a time. Build it up, get advertisers, promote the blogger, etc. Then on to the next blog...and so on. Plus if you pay your bloggers very low wages they're not going to stick around. Folks want to trust the people behind the blogs, but how can they trust a blog's information when the bloggers keep taking off for greener pastures?

I agree with iFranky, it's best to get onboard with a company looking to establish a social media presence. It's not hard, I found my job without even looking. It meant reinventing myself a bit, but I'm having my cake, and eating it right now, so I can't complain too much.