Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Are you out to get me?

There was an interesting article in the Deserted News a few weeks ago titled, Mom blogs — Does posting photos online jeopardize your family? I read it over the weekend (yes, a bit behind) and it's got me to thinking...
I suppose that I am a "mommy blogger" because I am a mom and I blog. I've been blogging since September of 2005 and I don't see myself stopping anytime soon. Not only is it a great outlet for me, it's a little personal sienfeldian journal and it's a fun way to keep in touch with people. I have so many friends and family members on the blog bandwagon these days that it's almost like we talk to each other every day even though it's sometimes months between family get togethers or years between phone calls.
The jist of the article was a bit negative - talking about the danger of writing about your family and posting pictures of your kids on the web.

Orem-based photographer **(I don't want to advertise for her so you can read the article for names and websites) started blogging about a year ago and posts information about photography, design and decorating tips online. Her blog, **, actually gets more hits in a day than her photography Web site, she said. And it's cheaper to operate.
"Professionally, it's to my advantage to keep it up," ** said. "It's a creative outlet for me."
But she worries about the general safety of family blogs that are open to public searches. ** says her site does not have a lot of personal information, and the only way a person could find her is to call a business number and sign up for a photography class she offers. Hill does not have children, and there are no pictures of her home on her blog.
"If you are going to have a personal blog of kids and and house, I would definitely do an invite-only blog," **said. "I think that can be dangerous, and I'm surprised how many have public blogs like that."
I am not going to make my blog private. I do not fear the world or the Internet. I think that if someone is out to get me, they are going to get me, regardless of whether or not I put a picture of my kid eating his boogers online. For most of us, aren't we blogging to be seen? I want people to look at my pictures and read my thoughts. Duh - that's why I do this? it wouldn't be any fun if everyone who wanted to read my blog had to have a secret pass code to do it. The thought that someone will just happen across my thoughts and LOVE (or hate) what I have to say is a bit exciting. If I ever got to the point where I wanted to put really personal stuff on my blog I wouldn't do it - if the info is private enough to make my blog private - then why blog it?
A person quoted in the article several times is someone whose blog I frequent and she's on my blog roll (Oh Happy Day). She said this and I have to agree:
For **, security isn't a worry. Although her site is primarily focused on design tips and trends, she just recently posted a picture of her son, **, from the day he turned 3 months old. Comments linked to the posting were from women who wrote about how cute ** son was and also shared stories about their own children.
"It's more of an issue to get people to read blogs than to stop bad people from reading them," ** said. "A lot of people do those family blogs, and I could see how they could be more concerned, but I don't think there are that many people out to get people."
Maybe I'm too naive, but I have to agree. In 2.5 years, I've had around 22,000 hits on my blog, at least half of which are my hits. Perhaps too much faith in the general public rests in my heart, but I just think that most folks are out for good, not bad. Never, not yet anyway, have I even encountered anything negative in comments, except when I wrote about the stupid DaVinci Code Movie. That was a minor riot in my blogging world, but nothing else.
So, I just wanted to share. This has been on my mind since I read the article on Saturday and I wanted to share my thoughts - in public.
This whole mommy blogging phase (and some daddy's, too) we're seeing on the web right now is cool - dare I say revolutionary - for me at least. What an amazing way to get voices heard, share ideas, thoughts, loves, hates, and make the world a bit easier to live in.
What do you think?

1 comment:

Erin @ Two More Seconds said...

LOL @ your title!

I loved this post. The private vs. public blog is something I've been thinking a lot about recently. It is a little daring a revolutionary to put yourself out there like we do (not to mention our kids and our husbands, to an extent), but I'm not scared, either. What's being scared going to do for me? For me, the great friends and wonderful connections I've made through my blog far outweigh anything negative that's happened to me (I've never incited a blog riot!). I do sometimes wonder what Mason's going to think about all this when he's say, 13 or 14 or in high school and starting to date. :) He's either going to think it's really cool to have such a neat record, or going to be horribly embarrassed and mad at me for it. Probably both. :)
Also LOL at half of the hits being your own. That's so me on my blog, too! :)

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