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Since Al Gore “invented the internet” (*cough*), it is only right and proper that his new television network, INdTV, is hiring people on the basis of their blogging. Case in point: Anastasia Goodstein, who blogs at YPulse and who has just joined INdTV as the manager of audience participation. In a San Francisco Chronicle profile of Goodstein, we learn that:

Goodstein’s been contacted by Kate Lee, an assistant at International Creative Management who surfs the Web to find bloggers who can write and broker book deals for them, to write about how technology has changed teens. And she’s getting calls asking about her opinion about teen products.

So yes, companies whose employees blog will demonstrate their expertise and competence in matters, but blogging is equally as useful for individual experts who wish to share their knowledge and opinions on those matters that concern them. Anastasia Goodstein is not the first blogger to be hired and pursued on the basis of blogging her savvy, and she certainly will not be the last. As the last two letters that PR blogger Steve Rubel answers here show all too clearly, there is a sharp divide between those who see the value in blogging and those who don’t. No prizes for guessing which camp will fare better in business as a result of their views.