Monday, August 13, 2007

Web 2.0 Research

For those of you not following my new blog, Blogging Without a Wire (which is all of you, apparently), my status is that I'm working 1 hour a day blogging small unimportant posts for one company. It pays me about what I'm making through ads on this site.

Which means, I'm well below income level, right now. I was hoping to already have a new position as a corporate blogger, but no luck so far. I was hoping I could do this before I had to take out my Keren Hishtalmut, but this seems inevitable at this point.

With my KH, and my pitzuim from my previous place of employment, if it ever arrives, I'll have another few months. Add my current salary, rental income, and blog income, and I have another month. If I get the Hebrew Apples to Apples done, and there is not too long a delay in getting paid, another two months, perhaps.

It's a tenuous life striking out as something new. Most "blogging" positions pay zero or maybe $5 plus theoretical ad revenue. I can't see how anyone can live on that.

I'm looking for work

I'm looking for an honest paid position, where I'm not only blogging, but working to develop a company's brand around the internet. Following threads, posting in forums, building a site and a company support policy, working with site design, working with customers.

These jobs are hard to find, because it's still a pretty new idea. But I'm willing to give it some more time.

The state of Web 2.0

Meanwhile, the higher paying blog positions require more extensive knowledge of Web 2.0. I'm researching a few thousand companies to see how they tick.

Some have open job positions (I've seen over 200 jobs available at Web 2.0 companies, so far, and I'm barely through 250 companies). Few have blogs.

Too many have sucky About pages, hidden About pages, or none at all. Some assume you know what they do before you use them, so don't bother to tell you. Some prefer to wax on with grandiose claims about the theory of the Internet and how they fit in - without ever telling you what they do. Of course, these turn out to be sites that do the same things as a dozen other sites.

And still: No Blacks or Latinos work on Web 2.0 sites. About 1 out of maybe 30 or 40 founders or managers are women.

Full details when I'm done. If you want my full research notes (or you want to fund my research) let me know.

Yehuda

2 comments:

Dave The Game said...

Seems like you and I both are interested in making money through game design and blogging: two jobs that everyone wants but don't pay very well.

Still, good luck finding a gig! Your extremely diligent and insightful blogging about games shows you could be a big asset to a company's web presence.

Yehuda Berlinger said...

Thanks, Dave.

Yehuda