Blogging For Dummies®

Chapter 3. Entering the Blogosphere

In This Chapter

• Knowing what happens when you publish

• Blogging with standards

• Keeping your job while blogging

• Staying out of hot water with Mom

• Protecting your own identity online

If you put something on your blog, anyone can read it. Blogs, like all Web sites, are accessible anywhere in the world, anytime, and are readable by anyone who can access a computer and understand the language the blog is written in. (Some blog software does allow privacy settings or password protection — and if you're using these options you have more assurance of privacy.)

And, like all Web sites, blog posts can be printed, duplicated, faxed, posted on lamp posts, or distributed to a class. A reader of your blog can even copy and paste the text of your blog posts into a text editor or e‐mail message, sending them buzzing around the world in the blink of an eye.

You can't know who is reading your blog, or why, or what they might do with what you post. I often talk to bloggers who say, “Well, my only readers are my friends and family, so I don't worry too much about what I write.” Your friends and family may very well be reading (in fact, I hope they do or they'll miss you!) but they may not be the only readers. Don't make the mistake of assuming you know who is reading your blog! It isn't that your readers aren't “only your friends and family,” but that you can't know that for sure.

Some blogs are hosted by sites that require you to register in order to use them, such as MySpace, ...