Shoot, I don’t know.

But I do know this: it took me way to long to figure out how to opt out of the Open Graph Whatever It’s Called (even though I’m still not sure I should have) and the amount of time it took me to figure out why my profile information had suddenly disappeared tonight (I decided not to connect it with the pages) was ridiculous.

So my theory is this: If you are selling yourself as an easy, convenient way to keep in touch with friends, then your website needs to be EASY to navigate and CONVENIENT to use.

Is it too much to ask to have a super fast way to wish someone a happy birthday via wall post when I forget  A) to go to the store and get an actual card to send via (gasp) snail mail, or B) forget the birthday entirely, until Facebook reminds me?

At least I can take comfort in the fact that our collective annoyance may spark new, innovative alternatives.

It’s not really the privacy thing that bothers me, though. If partner websites want to know that I dig running so they can market their high-tech, brand new and shiny running shoes to me, then I don’t have a real problem with that. Nothing on my profile is really that private. If you’ve known me for a few hours or follow my (totally public) Twitter feed, you already know everything that’s on my Facebook profile.

What’s annoying is the amount of time and energy it takes to find and flip one simple privacy setting. Or the principle of it all – it’s not the lack of privacy, it’s the seemingly unapologetic attitude and disregard for user concern that gets me.

But maybe my annoyance with Facebook just makes me an old curmudgeon?

Included in the post is a video from Sister Salad. It made me laugh out loud:

The video is an important reminder that blog comments are a part of your personal brand, so make sure they represent you in the way you want! And, proofreading is your friend.

But here’s the deal: There are some resume guidelines that generally apply to most job seekers (“Proofread your resume for errors”). There is a lot of blog-based resume advice that doesn’t.

When I read bloggers’ recommendations to add fancy graphics to a resume or to disregard the one-page length recommendation, I cringe. Those are individual and industry-specific suggestions. What might fly for a graphic designer will not work for a non-profit professional, and so on.

I read blogs written by those in social media, marketing and other creative or technology-related industries which claim resumes aren’t even necessary anymore because they’ve been replaced by online media. Yet, my office works with over 400 employers a year that say, yes, a resume is still absolutely necessary (for entry-level positions geared toward business majors, that is). Will resumes  go away in the future? Probably. But we’re not quite there yet, at least, not in all industries, at all hiring levels. Many students I work with would be grossly under prepared without a resume and would probably not do well with a 3-page resume filled with fancy, colorful graphics, either.

The bottom line is, everything has context. Be sure to consider what perspective a blogger brings to their advice and the industry in which they have the most experience. That’s not to say someone who works in one industry can’t benefit from ideas presented by someone in a completely different industry. Weigh advice from others against what you know to be true about your industry and your own experiences – which, of course, you know best – and tailor those ideas for your specific situation.

Central to the program is the process of creating a vision and putting the vision into action. It was inspiring to see students’ ideas of what could be, but even more so, the way they instantly started sharing resources to get each other started. It shouldn’t come as a surprise – Gen Y loves to work with a team to get things done – but it was impressive, nonetheless. By the end of the leadership “bootcamp” students left with a refined vision that was stronger than when they started and campus resources, community organizations and business contacts that could help make their ideas a reality – all thanks to their peers.

At the same time, I was able to take a peek at some changes to one of my favorite sites, Brazen Careerist. For a long time, I’ve been a fan of the way the site brings together young professionals and creates a community around blogging. Today their new social networking site is launching, with improved features that allow users a more convenient way to share ideas and follow the ideas of others. At a glance, users can see what other community members are reading and thinking plus share their own thoughts on a profile page:

I like how it is similar to LinkedIn but instead of being mainly focused on users’ work experience, something college students and young professionals usually have little of, it capitalizes on ideas, the future and working together. Gen Y uses collaboration all the time: organizing a volleyball tournament, building a Habitat for Humanity house, planning a pub crawl, making their LeaderShape vision a reality. The same collaboration should be applied toward career development. Campus career advisors continually preach about the importance of networking. The new Brazen Careerist site makes relationship-building and collaboration among  young professionals easy and allows college students to leverage two of the best resources they have: the desire to work with others to achieve goals and fresh, interesting ideas. Head on over to Brazen Careerist and check it out.