Ben Parr of Mashable writes a very exciting post today for those who currently have and hope to find a job in social media, myself included. Ben discusses the current popular status of social media jobs, and his outlook for the near future. Ben writes:

“Even if the title changes, the role of the social media marketer or manager is not going anywhere. Building community, reaching out to potential customers, building stronger relationships, creating buzz - they are fundamental goals to every company. So long as people use social media to share their thoughts and their complaints, the need for people to fill social media jobs will continue to grow.”

This is good news. For one, it validates that social media as a whole is very valuable to marketers, and will figure to be increasingly prevelant as more of us social media junkies get hired and do our trade. Social media should continue to grow despite the weak economy and fact that many companies are slashing marketing spending. Why? Most social media opportunities are free, or very inexpensive. Even hiring just one coordinator to run your blogs and social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook is much more cost effective at establishing relationships with consumers than blowing tens of thousands of dollars on a local cable spot, for example.

Additionally, consumers are much more price sensitive today and look to the internet for price saving information. Social media has the opportunity to inform consumers of sales and discounts via microblogging updates,(see Dell’s Outlet on Twitter) and keep loyal customers involved through blogs and social networking sites. Add the fact that people are staying at home more due to high gas prices, consumers will be spending more time online-which means more face time with your brand.

Note: Parr’s post provides a link to a Jeremiah Owyang post that is an unbelieveable resource of social media professionals and the companies that employ them. Jeremiah also has some pretty good links for job seekers and employers looking to connect; see them here.

Just got online and noticed Twitter is down…again. I’m a relatively new user to the service and wasn’t sure if these outages were normal or not. A quick Google search reveals that although the company just raised $15million dollars on top of the $5 million it previously raised, blackouts are still a common occurrence. A post on Twitter’s blog admits that they really aren’t sure what the problem is, although some of the tweeps commenting sure think they have it figured out. What’s cool to see though is how many people that did comment are very supportive of Twitter and that these blackouts aren’t that terrible.

Oh man, when I started this post Twitter was down. It came back for a bit, but now as I finish this post, the ol’ girl is down again. Let’s hope they figure it out, otherwise there will be some very upset investors!

Well, heres proof that online ad spending has been increasing big time as expected. This Ad Age article reports that Internet Ad Revenue reached $21.2 billion in 2007. Thats a 26% increase from 2006. Crazy numbers! That now puts Internet above radio and even cable spending.

Here are a few interesting facts behind the figure:

1. Search led the way with 41% of spending
2. The top 50 properties accounted for 89% of spending
3. Red hot video only accounted for 2%. [Look for this figure to jump in 2008]
4. 45% of spending in consumer categories was in Retail

Very encouraging stuff if you are in the digital space, or trying to get there. Not so much if you’re in radio!

Every now and then I’ll do a Google search of my name and see what comes up. Well I checked it out today and like usual, I’m pretty much nowhere to be found. Is this good or bad? That question is debatable. Sure, it’s good that my search results aren’t littered with scandalous pictures or other awful reports. But my results aren’t really saying much of anything. I suppose that most people who would be searching for me would mostly be employers or recruiters, and a good cover letter will include all the great things you can’t find on the internet. Luckily sites like this one, Twitter, and even Facebook allow you to control some of your online reputation, even if it’s not on Google.