It seems fairly common today to see the media examining the phenomenon of people (especially high school and college students) posting information — to Facebook, MySpace, Friendster, or just personal blogs — that may one day haunt them in a job interview.

So, it really shouldn’t surprise anyone that someone has gotten into hot water (career-risking hot water) over a carelessly personal, ill-thought posting to the newest 2.0 phenom, Twitter. Except that in this case, it was a seasoned professional and well-known blogger who works in PR.

If anyone should know better, it should have been Steve Rubel. He posted to Twitter on Friday that he receives PC Magazine (for free), but that — despite working for a firm that represents and pitches stories on behalf of many high-powered tech clients (Palm, Microsoft, etc.) that court PC Magazine and its readership — he throws the magazine away (presumably without looking at it).

It might have gone unnoticed in the swirl of tweets, but the Editor in Chief of PC Magazine, Jim Louderback, did notice. And clearly, it had an effect. His guest editorial on the PR blog Strumpette is definitely worth reading and considering (second link below).

A little thought can go a long way. It’s a small web after all. (Thanks, Daring Fireball)

Update Apr 19 Link to original Twitter post corrected.

John Gruber, writer of one of my favorite blogs, Daring Fireball, will complete his first year of blogging for a living on April 20. In April 2006, John quit his regular gig to live full time off of writing his blog. It has been a successful experiment so far.

As with last year, John is looking for members to pay $19 annually to keep him afloat (there’s also membership free with any t-shirt purchase). Members receive access to full RSS feeds and other goodies that the general public can’t access. Plus, during the three-week membership drive (and since the beginning of the year, it seems), members are eligible for a raffle including 128 prizes (at last count).

An interesting concept, no? In a way, it reminds me of public broadcasting pledge drives, and it results in a similar high-quality, low-ad volume product that informs and entertains in ways that traditional broadcasts/blogs don’t often reach.

So, if you like DF (if you’ve never been, give it a look), consider supporting him. The membership drive ends tonight, but I’m sure that he’ll be glad to take you as a member any time.

I eagerly await the results of how successful this latest drive has been, as a bellwether for blogs as an independent, reader-supported business model. (Full disclosure: I’ve sent in my bucks.)