With more publishers and media companies – the latest being CBS with its package of online properties – dropping third party ad networks I think we’re seeing that those networks, which exploded like wildfire just four years ago or so, were indeed transition tools. They helped publishers monetize sooner rather than later online as they built out their own staff and were eventually able to take on those responsibilities themselves. The move to self-contained media ad networks that stretch through all their online properties makes a ton of sense at this point, where I might have said differently as little as three years ago.

Interesting study from Deloitte (Chicago Tribune, 12/10/09) that reports 58 percent of teenagers say the freedom to use social networking at work could be a major factor in deciding where to work. These kids see social network usage as an important extension and expression of who they are and so are going to be looking at a potential employer’s attitude toward that usage when they’re mulling jobs down the road.

83 percent of respondents said they did not engage in unethical behavior on those networks and 38 percent said they hadn’t considered a potential employer’s reaction to their social behavior.

All of this while some companies are restricting usage of social networks within their workplaces, seeing it as a time-suck.

Personally I think there needs to be more flexibility when it comes to allowing people – whatever their age – to use social networks at work. Obviously this is going to increasingly an issue as more of these young people enter the workplace. So the smart company will have policies in place that will allow people to do their thing but also help them transition from a…juvenile usage of it to something more professional. I’m not saying companies should start coaching them on how to solely promote client programs or whatever through their networks, but policies and training should be in place that certainly include proper usage across all fronts, with those lessons hopefully having wide-ranging benefits.

Looking at this with my grumpy-old-man hat on, it used to be that college would be a time when kids would transition from being children to being adults, learning responsibility and behaviors that are more appropriate for the workplace. But that doesn’t seem to be happening now and so young people are entering the workforce expecting they can still get stupid every night and act irresponsibly at work and everyone will continue to praise them because they’re just being themselves and we have to celebrate that.

So I think employers need to look at studies like this and figure out how to work new policies and procedures into place to pick up some of that slack.

Why is the guy in this Banana Republic ad for sweaters playing a trombone outside in the middle of winter? Were there storyboards created showing what comes next, including the ride to the emergency room when his lips become frozen to that mouthpiece? Why does the woman look like there’s nothing odd going on? Is this a normal thing, some outside snuggling with an impromptu solo trombone recital? Or is there someone across the street in the same position with his sweetie but playing a trumpet and this is a musical game the couples play on a regular basis? Does he look totally uninterested in her and does she seem OK with the vibe of emotional neglect he’s throwing off by focusing on his instrument instead of embracing her? Or am I reading this wrong and there’s a free trombone thrown in with every sweater purchase? If I don’t want a trombone can I get a saxophone?  I NEED MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS SCENE!!!

Bill Adee gets promoted to VP of digital development at The Chicago Tribune.

James Finklestein and his partners have purchased Adweek, Mediaweek, Brandweek Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter and Backstage from Nielsen. Some of my favorite writers (Brian Morrissey, Todd Wasserman and others) are at the Xweek titles so I’m hoping they’ll be around post-purchase.

That purchase did not include Editor & Publisher, which has announced it will be shutting down after 108 years of publication. Big loss here, folks.

Jonah Bloom is leaving his post as editor-in-chief at AdAge to work for the Breaking Media blog network. Wow.

Oh, and Variety is going behind a pay wall. You can still access five free stories a month and they’re not blocking search engines, but they basically want people to pay every time they read something.

I’m not saying that we can’t be friendly and a little informal on social media outlets, but the lack of the slightest comprehension of journalistic boundaries and standards among some bloggers – and the publicists they interact with – is sometimes just astounding. Hey, it’s great if you wind up being friendly with people and that’s all part of the “relationship building” that we encourage in this industry. But there has to be a line that’s drawn in terms of the appropriateness of the conversations that are had, especially the ones that are in public on Twitter and Facebook.

As usual it’s going to be the marketers who need to watch for this. If you’re super-friendly on Twitter with a writer you rely on for publicity you need to pull back and be the one to say “You know, this needs to be more professional.” Come on. This isn’t a fraternity party. Marketers are trying to run a business, writers are trying to run a business. Maybe I’m just being a fuddy-duddy but when I’m out with clients I usually avoid alcohol, overly-personal stories and other behaviors that cross the line. Let’s just try to bring a modicum of appropriate behavior back to the table, please.

You can’t swing an expired cookie around the social media marketing wing of the blog world without hitting a half-dozen posts about the “secrets” employed by top practitioners or the “top 10″ ways to create a successful program. Both are great examples of superficial thinking.

First off, there aren’t any secrets. Marketing is marketing. Ever it was and ever it shall be. The tactics have changed a bit and the platforms are certainly different than they were 20 years ago, but it’s still a matter of message crafting, media relations, monitoring and measurement.

Secondly, top 10 lists tend to be examples of nothing more than ways you can feel good about doing something, even if you’re not exactly sure what it is. You need to be flexible in your thinking since not every program is going to use the same tactics since the audiences/platforms/goals are going to be different most times. So locking into a “No, you have to do these five things ALL THE TIME” mindset is really just going to set you up for failure. You might get a client but you won’t keep them.

Yesterday I said “hashtag” when I meant to say “pound sign.” I think I need to do some reevaluating.

Former BusinessWeek editor John A. Burne is launching his own site, but what it is hasn’t quite been explained yet.

Staci Kramer points out rightly that now that Bloomberg owns BusinessWeek it also now owns the the fate of that publication, whether good or bad.

Google cuts to five the number of clicks someone can make on a site that’s accessed through Google News that requires a subscription.

Google also lets publishers know there’s an easy way to opt out of being included in Google News if they’re annoyed with all that pesky traffic it’s bringing that doesn’t involve a Robots.txt.

Hulu also continues to be a victim of its own success, with its partners now no longer with it being an alternate platform or promotional outlet. They wants to get paid.

I always forget sarcasm on Twitter never works.

Whenever I’m traveling to a new place – especially in cases like tomorrow where I’ll be renting a car to drive between the Orlando airport and Voce’s Florida office – it’s always good to let people know when I *should* be arriving and to brainstorm what my fate might be if I don’t show up in a given window of time. So given the destination here are some possibilities if it takes me longer than two hours to get from there to there:

• Filming a sequel to Deliverance (suggested by Nick Gernert)
• Mowed down in a crosswalk by a public transit bus
• Saw snake on sidewalk, ran back to Illinois
• Decided to ditch work and WordCamp Orlando and spend a couple days at the Holy Land Experience
• Gators
• Me and my friends find that instead of just sitting in a space shuttle cockpit for a few minutes someone accidentally set the ignition sequence and now we’re being launched into space while mission control tries to figure out what went wrong and how to get us back down to Earth.