My thought's on the Pro's and Con's on Web 2.0

Although I wasn't able to attend the first campus session, I still feel that I was a part of it. The main reason for this is being able to read other people's blog's that were able to attend. This is quite a big deal for me, as I work out of the country most of the year and know I will be relying heavily on reading other people's blogs and chatting to people with different Web 2.0 method's to still feel like I have knowledge being taken from of the campus session's. 
This is obviously one of the big pro's that Web 2.0 offers, being able to connect with people from different part's of the world at any time. Whether it's employer's, college's or even just friend's, you are never "unreachable". 


Sites such as YouTube, and Flickr are such great ways to advertise yourself. It offer's other ways for employer's to see you, and view more than you might get to show them in an audition alone. In previous audition's i've attending they have only asked us to do one particular style of dance, only showing off what you need to and what they require on the day. Quite often I have been later contacted and asked if I can tap dance, or whether I have gymnastic skills, or whether I can sing. Being able to have the ability to send an employer straight to a site that can show them exactly what they want to see in the matter of minute's is unbelievable. I know when I first started, I would of probably said, "sure, I can post a showreel to you"!!! How long would that take?!


However there are certain con's aswel. People contacting you that aren't professionals. People that just want to look and read about you. I have a close friend that had one person that would constantly comment on her photo's, not helpful comments either, all the time. After a while it became apparent that they weren't using the site for the purpose it was set up for. Which can reflect bad on the person trying to promote themselves through no fault of there own.
This same thing can happen also on social networking sites, like Facebook,  with people being able to comment on your photo's, your post's and write on your wall. If an employer was visiting your site and saw or read something they didn't particually like they could discard you because of it. This could then lead to you getting a certain reputation. Everyone know's that a major way to be successful in any career can often be through people talking about you and your reputation. All casting director's talk and know each other either directly or through friends, so if one doesn't like you, your reputation can quickly get ruined. Imagine if this all happened because someone saw something on a social network about you that they didn't like???
Of course this is just a look at the worst thing's that could happen and it's quite frightening, but it is the extreme.


I love being able to communicate with people via the net and especially using my blog. It's a great way for people to read exactly what your thinking and offer you advice, or criticism or just help you learn. I learn better from experience and not from just been told thing's, so to physically write something, and read what other people have wrote on the same subject works well for me. 


I say yes to Web 2.0!!! As long as you're smart about it... Adesola suggested to me that it could be a good idea to keep a personal site and a professional site. At first I wasn't quite sure why this was such a good idea, but now I have looked into it more, I think this is a brillant idea. Then your professional site is more controlled by just you. You create what everyone see's... 


I still feel like I have more to learn on Web 2.0, but I feel that I am working on it everyday and therefore understanding it more each day.