Thanks in large part to the recent web 2.0 movement (and to John), I’ve been very interested in social networks lately; these kinds of networks seem like they are serving dual purpose for me right now.

I think I’m realizing that I’m about to graduate and I am finding ways to solidify any contacts and links I can use in my professional future. I hate the term “networking,” but this is esentially what I am doing, only in an abstract, technical arena. For this purpose I use Doostang and LinkedIn.

Also, I feel that because of this pending change, I will need a way to keep up with friends I have made who I may not get to see if they or I move away from Austin. The ever-popular Facebook and MySpace profiles keep that communication open.

It’s strange to think how these networks affect my daily life, both socially and professionally. These networks are evolving the way people interact, in meeting each other for relationships, catching up with old classmates or even with aiding in landing a new job. It’s really an interesting dynamic.

The point of all of this is that it’s made me come to a closer decision of what I actually want to do with my life. Come December, my degree will be in Advertising with a focus in Art Direction, but what I like doing the most is graphic design, branding and identity. Everyone knows my plan to open up my own place in a few years, but I think it won’t necessarily be an ad firm. I think I’ll do advertising, but my main focus will definitely be branding. What’s weird is that from middle school, “making logos” is what I wanted to do. A graphic design degree was still too close to a BFA and not businessy enough. Advertising seemed like what I wanted to do forever once I was doing it, but I think I’d rather do the branding part of it. I’ll still probably work at an ad agency out of college, but what I want to own would be the branding firm.

Deciding what I wanted to do after graduation is something I’ve been struggling with all summer. Obviously I don’t have a definitive plan of what that is exactly, but I think I’m closer than I was at the end of the semester, and that’s a little reassuring. :)