Comments [2]

posted: Apr 10, 2007

Greg O'Byrne

Definition: A job or career that could not have existed before the creation of layers of existing technologies in the World today. It relies on a variety of different technologies including but not limited too: web publishing (blogs), digital video (youtube), computer hardware (fast and strong), open source / free software (video editing, sound editing), social networks (myspace, mybloglog), online advertising (google, zango), etc.

Not white collar, not blue collar...VR collar?

We have entered an age where brand new, unexpected, unprecedented jobs are being created. They are currently available only to an exclusive group of people, either early movers into the space or people who are experts in their field.

Whether these models can be scaled across a wider group of people will be an interesting trend to follow over the next several years. My bet is that it can and will scale across a wide range of people and skills. There is going to be more and more people coming online, more and more money being spent online both in purchases and in advertising.

The money is there. The traffic is there. You can be there too.

Global Microbrand

I have read some scuttlebutt in the ether about a term called "Global Microbrand" if I understand the usage of that term it appears to me to be but one of several types of new jobs that have been created within the last 18 to 36 months. I submit that jobs v3.0 has a wider definition one that might be summed up in the term ;"Global Microniche".

Below I try to break out some specific job types that didn't exist prior to 2004 (or at the very least prior to 2001 -or- 2002).

Jobs v3.0 types

Global Microbrand

A person or small number of persons that develop themselves into a salable brand, a Global Microbrand.  To be successful in this effort they must be leaders in their field, able to provide valuable service to their customers and most importantly, sell themselves.

Why didn't this exist before?
The reach of a single person or small number of persons that wished to sell their specific services used to be limited to a city or region. Now with the internet, the world has flattened. The reach has become global for everyone.

If you have a skill and you have the where-with-all to go out and sell yourself, the world is your oyster.

Hugh MacLeod :
Gaping Void.

 

Crowd Patronage

This is a very interesting twist on an ancient practice of patronage. Historically a wealthy aristocrat might have deigned to support a qualified artist, paying for him to create his works of art. We now have the ability for a crowd to take the place of a wealthy Florentine duke via paypal.

Why didn't this exist before?
This was impossible before.  There wasn't the ability for one person to collect micro-payments from a wide range of strangers. With the advent of paypal, and like minded services, this becomes feasible. All you need to do is create something of value, drive some traffic and put a "sponsorship" button on your web page. If you are good, you can get paid.

Michael Yon :
Michael Yon - Online

 

Ad supported

This job type is probably the most accessible to the majority of people that want to make a career out of the online world. It involves providing enough content/entertainment/value on a website that you attract enough traffic so that using online ad engines provides you enough income for a salary.

Why didn't this exist before?
There was no way for an individual to get advertising dollars paid to them directly. The creation of ad networks, such as google adwords/adsense, working as a middle man between advertisers and content producers, almost anyone can generate some money from a website.

Darren Rowse :
problogger.net

 

Sponsored Entertainer

Typically an individual that has some unique and entertaining skill. They are able to get noticed via some online technology and come to the attention of one large company that believes their online persona/shtick matches their brand and pays them directly for their services.

Why didn't this exist before?
The means of production were controlled by a small number of companies that controlled where and how your entertainment was distributed: TV networks, Newspapers, Radio Stations. If you wanted to be in the industry you typically had to move to LA or some other big city and try to get noticed from among the thousands of others trying to "make it"

Matt Harding :
Where in the Hell is Matt!

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Conclusion

I'm sure there are some job types that I have not described above, I'd be very interested to hear about any you might be aware of. Feel free to put any feedback you might have on this topic in the comments.

One final point: These jobs are new, some were foreseen (micro-payments for one) but the form they have taken is unexpected. I believe that this is only the beginning and we are going to discover newer jobs for a newer age as the years go on. Can you predict any?

ps. This was going to be a comment over at thinkJose.com on this post [linky], but it kept growing and soon it grew into the above dissertation. I'm thinking about this stuff a lot right now so it didn't take much to get me started though.