Blogosphere firing "news" ...

Mark Jen, former Microsoft employee who was hired by Google and then started a blog about the experience, appears to have been fired by Google. Mark learned the hard way that there's just some things you shouldn't be talking about in public, and it's just too bad that his private failure has become so public ... but that's the risk you take when you open your life up to scrutiny through blogging.

Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett Packard has left the company, but many are suggesting that her departure was actually an ousting by the board. A lot of people have been quick to jump on Fiorina, criticising her decisions and visions. Again, Fiorina is a case of someone's mistakes becoming very public, but the blogosphere quickly passes this information around like a light-speed gossip mill.

If there's any problem with the blogosphere, this is it (and is also why I tend to wait before I post anything). They are far to eager to comment on anything and everything, and while I respect their right to voice their opinions, sometimes being first isn't as important as being accurate. In Mark's case, the blogosphere got lucky, because they were calling it a firing well before it could be confirmed as such. Regardless, I think that the blogosphere is so reactionary, perhaps the traditional media is correct to be a little fearful of them (us). Mark opened the door to discuss his job at Google (or lack thereof) by blogging about it. What if he had talked about his wife ... does him no longer talking about his wife give people the right to pry and find out if maybe they're getting divorced?

But my biggest concern is that blogging is turning ordinary people with ordinary jobs and ordinary lives into minor celebrities on the internet, and all of a sudden, the blogosphere takes interest beyond what's being wrote, what's being knowingly made public. By virtue of having a blog at all, people now have a right to pry into my life and post the results in their own blog. Is this what I have to worry about now, that posting my opinions might turn into my private life (beyond what I choose to reveal) spilled out all over the internet?

As it stands, Mark now has to worry that this information about his personal failure is part of his permanent internet record (which I am only exacerbating), and that it's possible that this might come back to haunt him. I just hope someone gives him the opportunity to learn from his mistake and grow from it. Scoble suggested (in the comments) to me that he might go into blog consulting, but somehow, that seems to be a little silly. Talking to others about how he lost his job because of what he blogged doesn't seem like the right career move to me.