• Read Today's Bugler.
• Download:   Integrated Employment Branding Presentation
• Download:   Roses in the Thornbush: How Marketing Can Leverage the Value of Recruiting                     and How Recruiting Can Leverage the Value of Marketing   

(March 29, 2004) - We've been following the blog thing for a long time. It's interesting at both a content level (lots of interesting voices) and a technical level. In particular RSS, the process that allows content to be widely distributed and syndicated, is catching on. RSS, you might remember, stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's a way of using XML to move data from a content owner to a user without the traditional websurfing.

Many major news organizations now provide an "RSS Feed". An RSS Feed is an XML tagged file which allows a website, news site or blog (actually any site) to provide to the world a list of its current contents. RSS feeds can contain all kinds of information from news to blog / weblog posts to stock quotes and more.

These days, we consume a large portion of our web information through a tool called a news aggregator. After visiting a blog (or a news source with an "RSS Feed", we simply click on the subscription button and, from that point on, content arrives seamlessly on our desktop once it has been published. No more trying to remember whether we've visited this site or that. It's a tremendous convenience. There are refined tools that will integrate this function with Outlook.

When all of the fuss about blogs is finally over, RSS will remain. The idea that the web is a "place to go" was a formative view. Like the original notion that the telephone would be used to broadcast symphonic music into the home, the metaphor of web as place helped millions of new users understand the process and overcome their fears. But, having to hunt as a part of the game is a primitive, non-automated approach. RSS and its descendants will convert the web into an always-on desktop communications utility.

Most of the big time resistance to blogging involves the fear of a loss of revenue. Since advertising currently depends on generating visits to a website, the idea of a visit free experience is terrifying to operations with ad-generated cash flow. Surprisingly, it's the traditional print media who are least afraid of the idea.

Meanwhile, there's a relative explosion of job blogs and related stuff. Lots of third party recruiters are working with a model that is similar to the Microsoft play we showcased last week.

Here are some examples:

• We are particularly fond of Jason's Semiconductor Jobs. Blending Blog, Job Board and Company directory, the operation is already profitable and a reasonable model for other vertical niches.
• The BostonWorks (Globe) JobBlog sets a solid content standard.
• Get That Job delivers lots of resources in a newsy format.
• Science Jobs Blog is an offering from a UK Recruitment Firm
• Quintessential (a Resume and Cover Letter firm) offers Career and Job Hunting Blog
• The Monster Blog (from Monster) is a nice folksy compendium.
• CMR Recruitment (UK) offers the Job Blog
• OK/Cancel (a comic strip) offers jobs for its audience with an RSS Feed
• From CampusRN, NurseBlog
• You're a geek, why do you need a blog to look for work?
• X2O Jobs comes from Australia.
• Look out Nick, here's Ask the Recruiter
• ITToolbox
• The Recruiter

John Sumser

---

Workstream™ helps companies attract, manage and retain employees ... it's really that simple.

Led by CEO Michael Mullarkey, Workstream Inc. (NASDAQ: WSTM) provides reliable and affordable web-based HR products and services to growing companies. Workstream offerings are easy to implement, easy to administer, and ready to grow with your business.

March Promotion:
Sign up between now and March 31st and receive 3-months free or 50% off implementation fees on Workstream's Applicant Tracking or Performance Management products. Contact us for full promotion details.

Toll-free: 877-327-8483  ~  Online: www.workstreaminc.com

---

Home | ERN | Bugler | The Blogs | Blogroll | Advertise | Archives | Careers

---

Contacting Us: