The danger of treating a weblog like an online diary is the danger of posting your diary on the Internet:
"Amanda Lenhart, a researcher at Pew who tracks young people’s Internet habits, says she’s increasingly hearing stories about the perils of posting the equivalent of a diary online.
"She heard from one man whose niece was a college student looking for a job. Out of curiosity, he typed his niece’s name into a search engine and quickly found her blog, with a title that began ‘The Drunken Musings of ….’
"’He wrote to her and said, "You may want to think about taking this down,"’ said Lenhart, chuckling."
As with any new toy, most people eventually learn how to play with it appropriately. But one does have to wonder why anyone would think it appropriate to create a blog titled "The Drunken Musings of …" and insert their real name.
As an online “diary” blogger, I thought I’d comment. While “drunken musings” are definitely not what I write, I find it useful to keep a journal of my family’s goings-on for friends to read. I never post anything terribly personal, or anything I’d be embarassed if a co-worker or my grandma ever read. It’s usually just, “Rebecca started walking today,” or “we visited the National Zoo this weekend” – that sort of thing. I really don’t see anything wrong with that sort of blog, but I call mine an “online journal” to differentiate it from the typical current events blogs.
Joy, online journals can be good or bad depending on what is written. I was just highlighting the Bad. Thanks for the insight as an online diarist! 🙂
It’s diaries like this that I find fascinating:
http://www.phlumf.com/cdt/cdtexp/cdtexp.htm