So … the future

I might have gone a little overboard on the blogs lately. I’ve got:

  • my.rtomedia.com
  • rtomedia.com/pro
  • MySpace
  • rtomedia.com/unity (or something)
  • TVGuide.com
  • norcalblogs.com
  • TextAmerica

Unfortunately, many of them are languishing from a lack of attention (that and TextAmerica has broken my heart). That’s something I probably should’ve known going in.

While there are some really cool ways to display a news feed that displays everything I write (from FeedBurner), it’s probably just easier in the long run to simplify — especially when I want to try new features like chicopedia.com.

That’s why I’m thinking about merging my personal and “pro” RTOmedia.com sites together. When I started the site in 2004, I was worried about keeping my personal “life” separate from my professional. To some extent, that’s still true, but I’ve realized that I should always act in a respectful and professional fashion.

It’s 2007. Many journalists with Web sites combine their personal and professional persuits. Employers look to a job candidate’s MySpace profile for information. Heck, newspapers have MySpace pages, for cryin’ out loud.

Regardless if it’s under my own domain or under MySpace, people will probably be able to find me and I should be prepared for that.

A merger has additional benefits. My professional work could still be profiled (and marked differently from non-pro stuff), but I can update it more quickly. Who would’ve known that my photos pages would have languished while I’ve expanded dramatically into the realm of video and audio?

I don’t know when the merger will take place. I’ve got a pretty wide open week after the craziness of preparing coverage of fairs, fires and summer pools. However, I may want to work on Chicopedia or create that überfeed I’ve been meaning to.

Nonetheless, the times are a-changin’.