by Kathleen | MarginsXs Ebooks

Blogging and Social Network Blogging are becoming increasingly popular. Social networks include popular websites such as MySpace.com where users can create personal websites and interact with other users. These social 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 three factors: whether to make the blogs available to the public or keep it private, considering the audience of the blog and dealing with harassment through the blog.

Making Blogs Private or Public

Most social networks have the option to allow users to make their website either private or public. Private websites are only available to the user and other users specifically approved to view the site while public sites 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the option to change these settings after the blog has been established if they change their mind about the choice they originally made.

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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. Bloggers, and bloggers on a social network, should be aware of their audience when posting to their blog and social sites, and should consider how the entries will be interpreted by audience members. While it will never be possible to avoid offending all potential audience members, some bloggers may wish to consider, to the best of their ability, all 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 it 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 one of several methods to deal with the harasser. Social bloggers can ignore these comments, and/or review the policies of the social network and solicit their assistance in dealing with harassment. Also, one can deal with the problem by simply blocking the user from making comments on the blog, and if that fails, may have to resort to contacting the social network administrators 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. Blog owners should make careful documentation of on-going harassment and solutions attempted to help administrators over a network evaluate and resolve the situation.

For More Blogging Tips (free), see “Blogging: the Complete Guide” by clicking HERE