Oprah and Acai Berries and Facebook...Oh My!

What do Oprah, Acai berry producers, and Facebook all have in common?

They all want me to lose weight, and now!

For the last two months or so, Facebook has been on my case to scarf down this infamous berry while reading how the queen of daytime television keeps her yo-yo diets fresh and new.

I refreshed my browser 9 times in a row and I counted 7 ads that concerned weight loss in some form or fashion.

I'm all for an aggressive marketing campaign, but this is ridiculous...aaaaand mildly offensive.

I'm not FAT facebook, I'm big-boned, but thanks for pointing it out. Geez!

Untangling the Web: Twitter vs. Yammer

Show Notes for Untangling the Web, Podcast # 1

Twitter vs. Yammer

In this episode of Untangling the Web, we (Jessica, Russell, and I) discuss the current trends in microblogging. 

For those of you confused by the term microblogging, we offer a brilliant definition before we launch into our discussion of one of the hottest microblogging sites, Twitter. The two-year old website is constantly attracting new users with it's question "What are you doing". Keeping people updated on your current status is the hottest trend in internetopia. 

Yammer, developed a mere six weeks ago, is giving Twitter a run for its money (or lack thereof...learn more about that in the podcast). This status updating site is targeted towards business networks and requires a business to pay a small fee each month per employee (that is signed up for the service) in order to attain administrative rights. 

We talk about pros and cons of both services and all that jazz. Enjoy our first podcast! 

How Bob Lost His Job

This is Bob.

Bob has lost his job, before he even got it. Let's review how Bob lost his job.

First of all, Bob is a college graduate with great work experience. His previous employers have nothing but good things to say about his work ethic. Bob has the charisma and know-how to get a good job done. He is an employer's dream.

Once Bob leaves work, however, this all changes. Bob likes to party. Bob likes to party and blog about his partying, and Bob like to take pictures of his partying so he can put them on his MySpace and Facebook pages.

Bob's potential boss has discovered Google. This is where Bob's life as he knows it take a turn for the worst.

The boss has discovered Bob's penchant for beer bongs and loose ladies. Bob's boss also discovered that Bob likes to blog about a variety of topics (including his jobs), and he doesn't say very nice things.

This is how Bob has lost a job before he even got it.

I have shared this wonderfully tragic story with you because Bob isn't the first person to suffer the consequences of living a private life very publicly, and he certainly won't be the last. According to monster.com, 77 percent of employers are googling their employees. The popularity of social networking sites makes our lives outside of work that much more accessible. Some people are outraged that Myspace and Facebook have become factors in their value as an employee, but others argue that if you are willing to share your life on the internet, you should be willing to come to terms with employers using this to their advantage.

With internet prowess, comes great responsibility. You may not like your boss googling you, but it is an undeniable truth that it will happen to you in the future if it hasn't already. So what do we do? Do we sacrifice our ability to network online? Do we stop writing our blogs and trade them in for the trusty ol' diary? Do we throw caution to the wind, post our questionable

( but oh so fun and exciting) photos from last weekend's toga party, and hope our boss doesn't know how to access Facebook? The decision is a personal one, but if you are looking to stay fed, clothed, and housed it's probably best to make sure your privacy controls on these sites are airtight.

This is the age of the internet and it's time we realize that privacy is not what it used to be. Remember that it's not just you and your friends looking at those pictures or reading those blog posts... it's potentially the entire world.

Disclaimer: The picture used above is not actually Bob. Well, he could be Bob, but I don't know for sure if he is or not. Picture Credit: Getty Images