Here are my clips, my resume, and my Facebook URL?

Ed's pretty proud of his Facebook fan page. (Are you a fan? If you aren't, you should be....click here) But in a recent Whisper Job, applicants were asked to submit their resume and to include links to their current social network accounts. At first Ed was a bit shocked to see it. I mean, he's proud of his 300 plus Facebook fans, but he's not planning on adding the link to his resume any time soon. After the immediate shock wore off, he came to realize it's actually kind of genius to add it—putting your profile URLs somewhere on the application (maybe not your resume) kind of screams, "I've got nothing to hide." People are constantly warned to not post too much on their social network profiles because it doesn't matter how private you think it is, it's always searchable and people will find you if they try hard enough.

Ed mentioned it to a fellow editor who suggested maybe creating two profiles—one professional and one personal (with maybe a nickname to throw people off). What do you think—know anyone who's done that? And is it common that employers are asking for social networking links?

Ed's intrigued, but he's off to Facebook-stalk,
Ed

Whoa, since when are these people our cover stars?

Ed loves nothing more on the weekends than to sit in front of the TV with some pancakes and get caught up on his tabloids from the week. This morning time is his opportunity to turn it off. The time when he can forgo the eight-page Iraq feature and peruse pictures of Heidi and Spencer in Easter Bunny costumes instead. Is there shame in that? Ed doesn't think so. Every magazine has its purpose. But lately, friends, these two separate worlds—meaning the tabloids and then everyone else—seem to be converging more and more, and personally, Ed is p.o.'d. Remember the Vanity Fair cover with Paris Hilton? Or the recent Harper's with Nicole Ritchie? And then yes, there's the Rolling Stone cover with The Hills ladies. Used to be Ed could aspire to the people on the covers of magazines. He wanted to hear their life story. He actually cared about their life story. But thanks to reality shows and the blog culture, Ed's already heard these guys' life stories, seen their naked photos and their sex tapes.

Why all the fuss?

They sell. The economy sucks (well, duh) but the only thing that's not on the downswing is everyone's obsession with everything tabloid and reality TV. (What better proof than a MTV and Myspace star named Tila Tequila on the cover of Blender?!) If magazines want to stay in business, do they have to include some cringe-worthy cover subjects just to stay afloat? How do we keep publication integrity without commiting newsstand suicide? What do you think?

Currently praying that Brody Jenner doesn't end up on the cover of GQ,
Ed

Hiya!

Let me just explain what's going on with this brand new spankin' blog. See, I've been feeling kinda pensive lately about the current state of magazines and what it means to work for them, so I thought I'd share my random thoughts here. But it's not just all about me, I want to hear feedback from you guys on all of my postings. Weigh in. Tell me what you think. Vent all you want. And most importantly, please, please read me!

Gracias chicos,
Ed