GETTING MILEAGE ON MY OP-ED... ORKUT MEDIA
Comment on Social Networks... My New Job

Forgot to post that my op-ed from The Boston Globe, "A lesson for the liberal elite," is up in it's original form at Orkut's Media section. Around the same time I wrote my piece, Orkut, which is Google's social network, sent out a notice on their new "media" section that presents weekly columns, an "Image Cafe", and a member submission section.

After I received notice that The Boston Globe was going to take my op-ed, I submitted my commentary to Orkut Media's editor and a couple weeks later I heard from them. If it were another newspaper, I wouldn't have submitted it since that is the typical procedure. I wanted to get some mileage since The Boston Globe has its regional base, and I thought more people should hear another Christian perspective in the whole political discussion of "red staters" and "blue staters"... "religious right" and "liberal elite." For those that haven't read it already, here it is on Orkut Media.

It's interesting to note what Google is doing with Orkut by adding this media section. Maybe it's just a social experiment that Google is letting their staff have fun with and letting it flow. I tend to think there is some strategic element involved. They are going the way many social networks should go, such as Friendster and MySpace, towards integrating content into their sites. Friendster has now become a glorified "yellowpages" and no real stickiness. MySpace is hot right now, but how long is this going to last? With content that is fresh and interesting, there is a reason to come back to a site and reason to meet other people. Let see what happens to social networks in 2005.

Lastly, I took this hobby of my a little further and accepted a part-time columnist position with AlwaysOn, a tech community blog. I posted links to the site before, but those of you that don't know it's great site if you're interested in technology, its recent trends, and mumbling in the global tech community. Many tech executives read and post on the blog, and they have great interviews that many journals don't carry, such as with Larry Ellison, Michael Powell, and Eric Schmidt. Anyways, my column will start in January 2005 and will run a couple times a month, so check it out if you want.

Also if you want to have an invite to Orkut, just email me at bernardbmoon@yahoo.com. I'm not active in it, but if you never checked it out and are interested let me know.