Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Expect Your Blog To Be Read

I started my blog as an outlet for sanity at a particular down and stressful time in my life. The walls were crashing in and I needed an outlet to vent. I was writing to myself, or so I thought. I created my blog under a pseudonym for anonymity knowing fully well that the Internet is never truly anonymous as my ip address would be associated with my posts at least in the server logs but I felt to the average Joe that my posts would be fairly anonymous.

My wife at the time was hardcoding a journal on her website. I decided to show her my blog and introduce her to Blogger which was an instant hit for her. And then the anonymity was gone. She took a more public approach not hiding her identity and then made references to my blog.

Publish enough information and someone is likely to put two and two together. Then all it takes is one link to make everyone aware of you. This happened to a girl named Jessica Cutler who wrote "anonymously" but blatantly about her sexual encounters in Washington DC (as reported by the Washington Post) then quickly lost her boyfriend, job and apartment.

Like Jessica and myself, we never expected our blogs to be read. Her's reached enormous numbers. Mine averages about 40 readers a day which is 40 more than I ever expected. That is 40 people per day that I need to be thoughtful toward when considering what posts to publish on my blog, how that post may affect myself or others, and whether or not I truly want the information known.

Blogger has a must read related article called How Not to Get Fired
Because of Your Blog.

People will read what you post. Make sure you post what you want read.


Posted by: djuggler | 9:44 PM |