Blogging is becoming increasingly popular and social
networks are also becoming more and more popular as well. Social networks
include popular websites such as MySpace.com where users can create personal
websites and interact with other users. These websites may include a wide range
of components including text, images, audio, video and blogs. Here system users
can voice their opinions, provided updates on their life, offer insight into
current events or accomplish a number of other goals. However, bloggers who
utilize a social network to maintain their blog should consider a few different
factors. This article will discuss some of these factors including whether to
make the blogs available to the public or keep the private, considering the
audience of the blog and dealing with harassment through the blog.
Making Blogs Private or Public
Most social networks enable users to make their website
either private or public. Private websites are only available to the user and
other users he specifically approves to view his website while public websites
are available to all users of the system. These same capabilities also apply to
the blogs which are maintained on a social network. For this reason bloggers
must determine whether or not they wish to make their blog posts available to
the entire social network or to only a fraction of this network.
This decision will be largely based on a matter of personal
preference. Social networks can be quite extensive and some bloggers may be apprehensive
about their blog being available to such a large audience while other bloggers
may have no apprehensions about the size of the potential audience. Bloggers
should carefully consider this option before staring a blog but always have the
option to change these settings after the blog has been established if they
change their mind about the choice they originally made.
Considering the Blog Audience
Bloggers who utilize a social network to maintain a blog
should also carefully consider the potential audience for the blog. Most social
networks include a broad cross section of the general public. Therefore
bloggers should be aware of this audience when posting a blog and should
consider how the blog entries will be interpreted by blog audience members.
While it will never be possible to avoid offending all potential audience
members some bloggers may wish to consider at least attempting to ensure the
blog entries they post are appropriate for all members of the social network.
If this is not possible the blogger may consider making the blog private.
Dealing with Harassment through the Blog
Another aspect bloggers who use a social network to publish
their blog should be aware of includes the potential for harassment from other
members through the blog. This can be in the form of offensive comments posted
in response to blog entries. Depending on the degree of the harassment the
blogger may choose to ignore these comments or take stronger actions. Bloggers
should review the policies of the social network and solicit their assistance
in dealing with harassment from other users. In most cases dealing with the
problem may be as simple as blocking the user from making comments on the blog
but in some cases it may be necessary to contact the social network administrators
in an attempt to get the user banned from the system. In this situation the
administrators will review the situation and make a judgment regarding whether
or not the user has violated the terms of service.
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