UGC, BRB, LMAO, TNT, TBS, Blah blah blah

UGC, MGC, LOL, OMG... Ugh! What is up with all these stupid acronyms? Why can't people just say it? User Generated Content, American Broadcasting Company, Turner Network Television, Secure Socket Layer, etc.

Anyway, that was my "three week to the end of the semester" rant. Kinda short but oh well. Where was I? Oh right, UGC (grrr....), to me, is icing on the cake for a lot of programs. Some of the best examples of user generated content can be seen in computer games like The Sims and The Sims 2, Half-Life and Half-Life 2 (mainly through the online battle simulation Team Fortress) and even some MMORPGs like Star Wars Galaxies. DISCLAIMER: I haven't played computer games in a long time so forgive me for my out of date examples. In fact, companies like Maxis (developers of the Sims series) and its parent company Electronic Arts, have an entire site devoted to user generated content for some of their games.

This content really provides a great way for some people to be discovered (similarly to SecondLife only not as lame) and it adds a personal touch to the game. Games like The Sims and The Sims 2 (these games are simulation games that focus on living out a virtual life) work best when a ton of new content (like clothes, furniture, cars, building materials, etc.) is created to expand the game. Sure, official expansion packs like Sims 2: Pets, "": Vacation, "": Hot Date all provide a lot of fun new content and animations but there is still something quaint about using (forgive me) UGC.

Web is to Polarizing as ...?

The Web has polarized politics? I find that somewhat amusing considering that politics (which has been around a lot longer than the Web) was already one of the most polarized aspects of human society. Politics, like religion, does a marvelous job at mixing and stirring irrational beliefs to the point where the only outlet is through emotional outbursts. I have to laugh silently to myself whenever I see people "heatedly" talking about some political issue. Whether it be about the massacres in Darfur or the current administrations draconian (you didn't honestly think I would hold back, did you?) view's about stem cell research, it never fails to give me a little amusement to see people turn red faced and start raising their voices. To be fair, I'm not that passionate of a person so to an extent, I have to admire people like that. They believe in a cause and are willing to fight for it; or, at least, speak a convincing lie.

But, I can't understand why some people think that the Internet has polarized politics. Politics was already polarized to the point where you can't sway people anymore. Just like polarized sunglasses reflecting the glare of sunlight, political beliefs reflect the light of truth from reaching so many people. What the Web has done, in my opinion, is actually filter some of that political glare. It is the new 100% polarization lenses that allow us to look past the talk and show -- in essence, the glare of politics. We can now see these great icons of American "beliefs" for what they really are: people.

Saying the Web has polarized politics is the exact same thing as saying that the gun created murders.

Friend me on LinkedIn!

So the next big thing in recruiting is networking and blogging?

That's not very surprising considering what Fay Hansen wrote about social networking sights (i.e. LinkedIn and Jobster) being a great tool to reach passive audiences. LinkedIn and Jobster both provide great tools to build your network and contacts and it allows recruiters to pro actively search and receive contact details from qualified, potential employees without the expensive third party filter.

Of course, other organizations such as Yahoo! posting their jobs on Craigslist is an interesting counterargument. I don't know why the internet giant isn't using its own free Yahoo! Hotjobs especially considering that only a few days ago, a woman was murderd after she responded to an add posted on Cragislist. If I were in charge of a multibillion dollar company I wouldn't want to associate myself or the company with something like that.

I believe that online networking sights and blogging are good tools for companies to use when looking to recruit new employees. But I also think that more traditional measures like job fairs and referrals (not through networking or blogging sights) are still good channels of communication with potential drones :) .