Blogging on a Social Network
Blogs are becoming more popular and social networks are also becoming more popular. Social networks include popular websites like MySpace.com where users can create personal websites and interact with other users. These websites can include a wide range of components, including text, images, audio, video, and blogs. Here, users of the system can express their opinions, provide updates on their lives, offer an overview of current events or accomplish a number of other goals.
However, bloggers who use a social network to maintain their blog should consider a few different factors. This article will address some of these factors, including making blogs accessible to the public or keeping them private, taking into account the blog audience and addressing harassment through the blog. Make blogs private or public. Most social networks allow users to make their website private or public.
Private websites are only accessible to the user and other users that the user specifically approves to visit their website, while public websites are accessible to all users of the system. These same capabilities also apply to blogs that are maintained on a social network. For this reason, bloggers need to determine whether or not they want to make their blog posts available to the entire social network or just a fraction of that network.
This decision will largely be based on a question of personal preference. Social networks can be quite extensive and some bloggers may fear that their blog is available to such a wide audience while other bloggers may not be afraid of the size of the potential audience. Bloggers should carefully consider this option before looking at a blog, but still have the option to change these settings after the blog has been established if they change their mind about the choice they originally made.
Consider the blog audience. Bloggers who use a social network to hold a blog should also carefully consider the potential audience of the blog. Most social networks have a wide audience. Therefore, bloggers should be aware of this audience when publishing a blog and should consider how blog entries will be interpreted by members of the blog audience.
While it will never be possible to avoid offending all potential members of the public, some bloggers may consider at least trying to ensure that 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. Managing harassment through the blog. Another aspect that bloggers who use a social network to publish their blog should be aware of includes the risk of harassment from other members through the blog.
This can take the form of offensive comments posted in response to blog entries. Depending on the level of harassment, the blogger may choose to ignore these comments or take stronger action. Bloggers should review social network policies and seek their help in dealing with harassment of other users.
In most cases, the problem can be as simple as blocking the user from commenting on the blog, but in some cases, it may be necessary to contact the social network administrators to try to ban the user from the system. In this situation, administrators will review the situation and judge whether the user has violated the terms of service or not.