Not Everything Can Be Blogfodder
Many people do not yet get the informal, public and social nature of blogging. But how much of yourself should you disclose?
1995 was the year that blogging, as we know it today, was born - more than a decade ago. That was the year we saw web pages with opinion and redirection, instead of earlier web link pages. Three things happened in 1995. Professional journalists first awoke to the opportunity (Dan was still in nappies), the first deals involving blogs were made, technologists and writers (aka geeks), like myself, got into the game for the sheer fun of it. By December 1995, the first flush had passed, and I was lamenting the acquisition by HotWired of the first blog written by professionals that I recall, Carl Steadman and Joey Anuff's Suck.com, and I was predicting the rise of the independent author and the death of the online magazine conglomerate. You can find that blog entry in the archives, here:
... what is exposure?
... up-beat and to the point ...
... technology-babble ...
... technology-venture-pain ...
... net-business ...
... bullshit-free ...
... ear-to-the-ground ...
... street-smart ...
... gutter-thrashed ...
... over-opinioned ...
... underground ...
... under-pressure ...
... vocab-attack ...
...
... silicon-valley ...
... california ...
I ran my blog "Exposure" for a year through two start-up ventures before hitting a career crisis – in which I became the whistle-blower on start-up founders that had defrauded a couple of VC companies you all know well.
My family were in jeopardy - and dispatched to England for safe keeping - and I simply could not write about the details, and I could no longer bring myself to write “Exposure.” But, for your edification the Exposure columns remain in the Internet archive:
Also in 1995, my 13 year old son (Zen) was one of the earliest kid bloggers with his blog KidZMagazine. KidzMagazine appeared in May 1995 according to the record in archive.org.
Zen has run blogs and web projects of one form or another since then. Notably he ran a Reboot (Kids TV Show) fan site and he has run a LiveJournal since the beginning of LJ and he makes good use of the privacy features. In particular, blocking his father from reading his blog :-) He continues to share his intimate thoughts - and no-doubt family business - with close friends whose parents are all known to me.
There is then the challenge of your children, your family, having a public profile while you are undertaking business.
During a time, several years ago, while I was closing delicate business deals - I was also divorcing Zen's mother. A teenager, Zen posted to his blog an anxiety, inspired by his mother, that he might become homeless. Needless to say this is not something that you want to have on the net while you are closing critial business deals. Teenagers - in this blogging age - are entirely insensitive to why this might be an issue. You have been warned.
In the evolution of the medium, the situation has not changed any. I am surprised that we continue to treat blogging as a new and fresh phenomenon – but I consider that a good thing. I remember when Dan Gillmor first came to the Valley and started writing articles on technology and I am often surprised by the claims Dave Winer makes. Dan learns fast, and I am really excited by his grassroot journalism efforts - predicted in my December 1995 blog above and entries in early 1996.
We continue to see the conflict of interest between employment and individual expression. Further confirmation that employment is a bad thing. I don't know that I have anything more useful to say about that conflict, but it is clear to me as a matter of self-preservation, not everything can be blogfodder.
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