SOCIAL MEDIA and PRIVACY…there's just a fine line between the two
What's a blog and why do people blog? That’s a question I have been asking myself ever since my boss asked me for my blog address so he could check it out and “I refused”! Aaaarrrghhh, I practically balked(inwardly though). Yeah, I did! And before you crucify moi you might want to read the full story and arrive at a conclusion on why people really blog.
A
blog is a contraction of the term ‘weblog’. “We Blog”! geddit? Well, be sure to
check that out on Google. A weblog is a series of written record of events or
messages in chronological order. It is a journal where people record events,
observations and experiences etc. So I would say a blog is basically a diary or
journal available on the web. Well, you’ll agree with me that a blog is a
collection of text, data, images, and other media objects put together in a
chronological order and retrievable through a web browser. OK so what’s the diff
between a blog and a website? From the
little I know, a blog is much more conversational and interactive than a
website.
From
political blogs to celebrity blogs, arts blog, music blogs to sports blogs and
beauty blogs the idea has gradually taken hold and come to stay that any and
everyone can blog.
So
really, why do people blog? From my findings, a lot of people blog as an extension of
their hobby, passion, as a way of expressing their thoughts and opinions, giving
information or simply just for the fun of it. For whatever reason people blog,
one thing is common and it is that they want to be a part of a
community-“blogosphere/blogworld”. A world where they could have a sense of
belonging, express themselves and, gain respect without the fear of being
judged. However, people are quick to embrace
advancements in Infotech without being fully informed and aware of the
downsides thereof and if they are aware, they pay it no mind until…the red
alert starts to blink in which case it is usually too late and irreversible
damages already incurred because, like it or not online networks have stripped
privacy of its meaning and created a huge playground for fraudsters, stalkers
and identity thieves/murderers exempli gratia Cynthia and her Facebook ‘Frienemies’.
Yes, you might not like to hear it, just like I don’t but the web is
“fraud-tolerant” and there is just a fine line between social media networking
and privacy and that line is getting more and more blurred by the day. It’s actually
in the name World Wide Web!
Like
I earlier mentioned, a lot of people have embraced social media networking
without much consideration for its full impact.
Picture this; the idea of blogging comes to you at a time when you need an outlet for some emotions you’re feeling at the moment. You wholeheartedly embraced it and indeed “let it out” lashing out at nobody in particular but enjoying it because although keeping a diary has never been your thingy, you discover that letting your emotions out through writing sure makes you feel better. There are no inhibitions, nobody to judge you, except of course, you conveniently at this time forget that the idea behind a blog is to publish and let others read about your passion, hobby or whatever you write about. By the time you take a step back to view your ‘so-called’ blog in retrospect, BAM you realize your write-ups are just too personal and revealing to publish. I mean common, everyone is entitled to some privacy no matter who they are you tell yourself. In fact, you wonder why that’s not been included among the basic universal fundamental human rights. Ok, so here you are thrilled to have discovered a new way to ease off tension and let it out, but there is a catch; there are no guarantees that you would not be judged. After all, life isn’t fair and the internet or social media certainly isn’t a fair playground. So you push off the idea of publishing or sharing your blog with anyone until you finally push it down (konko-below) where you feel it belongs. Eventually, you stop writing for that blog because you feel the need to do a complete re-evaluation of your motives and strategize on your romance with social media.
Picture this; the idea of blogging comes to you at a time when you need an outlet for some emotions you’re feeling at the moment. You wholeheartedly embraced it and indeed “let it out” lashing out at nobody in particular but enjoying it because although keeping a diary has never been your thingy, you discover that letting your emotions out through writing sure makes you feel better. There are no inhibitions, nobody to judge you, except of course, you conveniently at this time forget that the idea behind a blog is to publish and let others read about your passion, hobby or whatever you write about. By the time you take a step back to view your ‘so-called’ blog in retrospect, BAM you realize your write-ups are just too personal and revealing to publish. I mean common, everyone is entitled to some privacy no matter who they are you tell yourself. In fact, you wonder why that’s not been included among the basic universal fundamental human rights. Ok, so here you are thrilled to have discovered a new way to ease off tension and let it out, but there is a catch; there are no guarantees that you would not be judged. After all, life isn’t fair and the internet or social media certainly isn’t a fair playground. So you push off the idea of publishing or sharing your blog with anyone until you finally push it down (konko-below) where you feel it belongs. Eventually, you stop writing for that blog because you feel the need to do a complete re-evaluation of your motives and strategize on your romance with social media.
Scenario
II
You
start a blog because…well, ‘it’s the in-thing’ and everyone else is doing it.
This is not about embracing new technology for its own sake, it’s just
about…#trending! Along the way, something happens. Now like “Basket-Mouth” will
say, two things are involved; its either you lost steam or you had no business
starting a blog in the first place. True anybody can blog, but believe me gee,
not everybody should blog.
You
gotta ask yourself some pertinent questions.
- Can you regularly update it -- at least five times a week?
- Do you have something to say other than just linking to others?
- Do you read other blogs or feeds?
- Can you provide information of value to others not just to yourself?
The big decider
is whether or not you can write in the blog almost daily. And this is better
done when you have carefully picked a niche. Even if you cannot write in your
blog daily, it would help if you can fall in love with expressing yourself
through writing.
So I humbly
submit that yours truly was guilty as charged of the ‘blog crimes’ here
mentioned but hereby plead for clemency on the grounds of mitigated
circumstances. I also wish to bring to the notice of you honorable readership
jury that, moi has since done a careful re-evaluation of my romance with social
media and especially blogging, and have put my house in order. I am ready to
invest in this relationship I have going with my sweet blog, and since it is
not unusual to double-date in the blog world, may I rephrase that to be my
sweet honey blogs. I promise not to neglect any of my blogs unnecessarily and
perform my duties as expected/required of me, so help me God.
*heavy sigh* now I do realize that life still ain’t
fair and there still are no guarantees that you ‘fair’ jury won’t judge nor
convict me, but I hope that the readership I here build will temper
‘justice’ with mercy for my seemingly "unconventional and pattern less" writing
style, drop comments where and when necessary (which I hope will be all of the time), and please
be slow to judge me or any of my guest bloggers-do not take the fun out of it.
My views or those of my guest bloggers posted on this blog might just be ploys
to catch fun and never intended to inflame.
http://codex.wordpress.org/Introduction_to_Blogging
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