Instead of waiting around for someone to tell you that you matter, take your career into your own hands. It’s no longer about waiting for some big corporation to choose you. We’ve arrived at an age where you choose yourself.

To get the most out of social media we need to understand those communities. So we respect their cultures and treat those we encounter online with the same courtesy and understanding as anyone we deal with in the offline world. We do not impose ourselves on such sites. We are guests and behave as such.

We would rather be ruined than changed. We would rather die in our dread than climb the cross of the moment and let our illusions die.

Here’s what a reporter does in a typical day: report, file for the Web edition, file for The International Herald Tribune, tweet, update for the Web edition, report more, track other people’s tweets, do a Web-video spot and then write the story for the print paper. You want to be a Times reporter today? That’s your day. You have to work harder and smarter and develop new skills faster.