Dialog Box

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.

Count me in, too. A major earthquake has just struck Mexico City, and, like prominent blogger Robert Scoble, I heard the news first through Twitter, the relatively new instant message/mini-blog service. Twitter was alive with reports moments after the quake — even before USGS and other authorities made their initial reports.

Even now, the conventional media is just picking up on this story. Checking moments ago, only the L.A. Times has mention of the reports — CNN, ABCNews, and others are still chewing on the Imus story.

I’ll follow up on this later with more on Twitter, but for now, take a look at Scobleizer’s blog for more info.

While it won’t (yet) replace Photoshop, an impressive new web app is in the beta stages, called Picnik. Definitely worth a look, if for no other reason than to admire the desktop-like function of this web-based app. Is this what the future of applications will look like? (Or the future of Photoshop, at least?)