The Changing World Of Blogs

Friday, October 3, 2008

By: Reid Goldsborough

October 03, 2008 01:59 PM

One of the most curious recent trends in Internet communication is blogs, these Web logs where people let their hair down and reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings to the world, or whoever happens to chance upon their words.

Technorati (www.technorati.com), an Internet search engine for blogs, may be the best site out there for tracking the state of the blogosphere, the world of blogs in the aggregate. It recently released its latest “State of the Blogosphere” report, revealing some interesting, and surprising, findings. Among the most interesting tidbits:

- Bloggers are educated and affluent. Three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates, 42 percent have attended graduate school, and more than half have a household income $75,000 or more.

- Bloggers skew toward males, singles, and self-employed. While 50 percent of Internet users in the United States are male, 57 percent of bloggers are male. While 19 percent of Internet users are single, 26 percent of bloggers are single. While only 8 percent of Internet users are self-employed, 20 percent of bloggers are self-employed.

- Most bloggers write about multiple topics, with personal and professional issues being equally popular. The average number of topics covered in a blog is five, with the five most popular being personal/lifestyle, technology, “other,” news, and politics.

- The top reason for blogging is “speaking my mind on areas of interest.” This is followed by “sharing my expertise and experiences with others.” and “meeting and connecting with like-minded people.”

- Most bloggers don’t hide their identity. Two-thirds of bloggers openly reveal who they are on their blogs, while one-third are worried about their privacy. The two biggest reasons for hiding their identity are concern about family and friends being harassed and possible disapproval from friends, family, or employers about the views they express.

- Among professional and corporate bloggers, the most frequently cited benefit is becoming better known in their industry. A small minority reported negative results. Nine percent of bloggers said as a result they weren’t as focused at work, and 2 percent said they were fired or put on probation because of something they blogged about.

- The majority of bloggers don’t make money from their blogs. But 15 percent of bloggers report that their blog is a source of supplemental income, and 4 percent say that they consider their blog to be their full-time job. For those who reach lots of people, 100,000 or more unique visitors per month, average annual revenue exceeds $75,000.

For many veteran bloggers, the above $75,000 statistic leaves them scratching their heads. In his own popular “Practical Technology” blog (http://practical-tech.com), Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols maintains that because the Technorati numbers are self-reported, they’re likely inflated.

Blogging is not an easy way to get rich, he says. “You can easily make more money by working at the fast-food joint of your choice.” On the other hand, he says, “If you love writing about a subject that you love, go for it.”

It’s clear, though, that if you want to make money from blogging, you need to attract readers in terms of both quantity and quality. Sponsors will pay a lot more for reaching the same number of Fortune 500 executives than college students or mixed martial arts fans.

There is also no escaping blogging as a societal phenomenon. Newspapers, which see the blogosphere as competition, have taken to blogging in a big way. According to the Bivings Group (www.bivings.com), an Internet communications firm, 95 percent of the top 100 U.S. newspapers supplement their commentary with reporter blogs.

The marketing and political worlds have also jumped on the bandwagon, using blogs, sometimes surreptitiously, to spread the word about their product, service, or candidate.

Blogs, whether earnestly home-spun or slyly promotional, have never enjoyed a great reputation for reliable information. In one conversation about blogging in an online discussion group run by the Internet Press Guild (www.netpress.org), one participant remarked that he thought people were supposed to know something about a subject to blog about it.

A second participant said, “I don’t know about that. I think the great thing about blogging is that it puts publishing in everyone’s reach. You can blog about whatever you want. Expertise is not required.”

A third agreed, “You think bloggers should actually know something? That would take all the fun out of it.”

And a fourth participant piped in, “I’m living proof of that.”

Along with Technorati, another good source for learning more about the blogosphere is BlogScope (www.blogscope.net).

Nothing really interesting to write about today – at least from my side. I did however find some very interesting articles that I will share later.I am still quite pissed off about what been happening – and I can write to my hearts content and say whatever I want because the Ole white elephant on the hill will not know its me.

Its quite absurd that individuals at work would actually make a conscious effort to google my name print the blogs out and then present them to my Boss- My blogs as I have stated before had nothing whatsoever to do with my job- it had to do with my hobby – not adult rated not x rated and legal- it was just my ongoing life of ups and downs thats all.

I know that the net is public – I didn’t write anything that my parents would be ashamed of – that’s for sure.

This is all about jealously from the beotch’s Working with women in general is Painful- lots of gossiping and chitter chatter and envy – I wish that I could post my picture and a little bit about my “hobby” on here , but cant because – of the Boss and others – I will now refer to my boss as Bev Big Head – she grumpy all the time and gets pissed about everything, in realty she talks like Ed Big Head.

The underlings ,I will call Bloaty the Tick and Squirmy the Worm – they are two parasites – and both ( the people, not the characters) live off the misery of others – The names of the characters I got from Rocko’s Modern Life – What a great Cartoon that was!!

Information Today, Inc. The Changing Blogosphere by Reid Goldsborough

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One of the most curious recent trends in internet communication is blogs. These weblogs are where people let their hair down and reveal their innermost thoughts and feelings to the world, or whoever happens to chance upon their words.

Technorati (www.technorati.com), an internet search engine for blogs, may be the best site out there for tracking the state of the blogosphere, the world of blogs in the aggregate. It recently released its latest “State of the Blogosphere” report, revealing some interesting, and surprising, findings. Among the most interesting tidbits are the following:

• Bloggers are educated and affluent. Three out of four U.S. bloggers are college graduates, 42% have attended graduate school, and more than half have a household income of $75,000 or more.
• Bloggers skew toward males, singles, and the self-employed. While 50% of internet users in the U.S. are male, 57% of bloggers are male. While 19% of internet users are single, 26% of bloggers are single. While only 8% of internet users are self-employed, 20% of bloggers are self-employed.
• Most bloggers write about multiple topics, with personal and professional issues being equally popular. The average number of topics covered in a blog is five, with the five most popular being personal/lifestyle, technology, “other,” news, and politics.
• The top reason for blogging is “speaking my mind on areas of interest.” This is followed by “sharing my expertise and experiences with others” and “meeting and connecting with like-minded people.”
• Most bloggers don’t hide their identity. Two-thirds of bloggers openly reveal who they are on their blogs, while one-third are worried about their privacy. The two biggest reasons for hiding their identities are concern about family and friends being harassed and possible disapproval from friends, family, or employers about the views they express.
• Among professional and corporate bloggers, the most frequently cited benefit is becoming better-known in their industry. A small minority reported negative results. Nine percent of those bloggers said as a result, they weren’t as focused at work, and 2% said they were fired or put on probation because of something they blogged about.
• The majority of bloggers don’t make money from their blogs. But 15% of bloggers report that their blog is a source of supplemental income, and 4% say that they consider their blog to be their full-time job. For those who reach lots of people, 100,000 or more unique visitors per month, the average annual revenue is more than $75,000.

For many veteran bloggers, the above $75,000 statistic leaves them scratching their heads. In his own popular Practical Technology blog (http://practical-tech.com), Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols maintains that because the Technorati numbers are self-reported, they’re likely inflated.

Blogging is not an easy way to get rich, he says. “You can easily make more money by working at the fast-food joint of your choice.” On the other hand, he says, “If you love writing about a subject that you love, go for it.”

It’s clear, though, that if you want to make money from blogging, you need to attract readers in terms of both quantity and quality. Sponsors will pay a lot more for reaching the same number of Fortune 500 executives than college students or mixed martial arts fans.

There’s also no escaping blogging as a societal phenomenon. Newspapers, which see the blogosphere as competition, have taken to blogging in a big way. According to the Bivings Group (www.bivings.com), an internet communications firm, 95% of the top 100 U.S. newspapers supplement their commentary with reporter blogs.

The marketing and political worlds have also jumped on the bandwagon, using blogs, sometimes surreptitiously, to spread the word about their product, service, or candidate.

Blogs, whether earnestly homespun or slyly promotional, have never enjoyed a great reputation for reliable information. In one conversation about blogging in an online discussion group run by the Internet Press Guild (www.netpress.org), one participant remarked that he thought people were supposed to know something about a subject to blog about it.

A second participant said, “I don’t know about that. I think the great thing about blogging is that it puts publishing in everyone’s reach. You can blog about whatever you want. Expertise is not required.”

A third agreed: “You think bloggers should actually know something? That would take all the fun out of it.”

And a fourth participant piped in: “I’m living proof of that.”

Along with Technorati, another good source for learning more about the blogosphere is BlogScope (www.blogscope.net).

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Reid Goldsborough is a syndicated columnist and author of the book Straight Talk About the Information Superhighway. He can be reached at reidgold@netaxs.com or http://www.netaxs.com/~reidgold/column.

Google Ordered To Reveal Blogger’s IP In Israel

Mike Masnick

from the sorry,-no-anonymity-for-you dept

Someone who prefers to remain anonymous writes in to let us know that: “An Israeli court has ordered Google to reveal the identity of a blogger that uses Google’s own blogging platform, Blogger. The blogger accused a Shaarei Tikva comity member of illegal acts all through his blog posts. Google objected to the request claiming freedom of speech, however the court sided with the plaintiff and said that since the plaintiff is a public figure running for reelection, he is allowed to confront his accuser and clear his name.” Google did, apparently, try to reach the blogger in question who did not respond, and the company only needs to hand over an IP address — which isn’t necessarily the blogger’s “identity,” though it could lead to it. There’s nothing wrong with a court requiring a service provider to cough up identifying information on someone who has broken the law — but it gets into very tricky territory when it comes to things like libel. We recently covered a number of similar cases in the UK where the results were the same — but a case in the US had the judge determine that the anonymous speech was protected and the person shouldn’t be revealed. It seems likely that we’re only going to see more of these cases over time — and questions about jurisdiction are only going to make them more confusing. What if the blogger in this case actually resides in the US, for example?

Workers’ blogs can mean trouble Companies begin to set policies on posting info and opinions online.

Monday, May 30, 2005

By RACHEL OSTERMAN

Sacramento Bee

SACRAMENTO – Their workplaces are worlds apart, but the Delta flight attendant and the Kaiser Permanente employee shared one thing in common: gripes about their jobs.

They also shared an increasingly common pastime: airing their workplace complaints on their daily Web logs.

Long a staple of the Internet, the diary-style postings known as blogs are entering a new frontier as employees at companies across the country are popping up to complain about bosses, hours and all sorts of office minutiae. And companies are taking note, with some developing official blogging policies and, in several highly publicized cases, dismissing workers for blogging.

ON the record

“People are saying the same sorts of things that they would say at a water cooler, or when they’re going to drink with their work buddies,” said Kurt Opsahl, a staff attorney at the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that protects legal rights in the digital world. “It’s just that it has a wider audience, it creates an archive, and it can be found on Google.”

The flight attendant, Ellen Simonetti of Austin, Texas, wrote under the tag line “Queen of Sky.” She featured photographs and partly fictional accounts of adventure-packed layovers on her blog, which she believes prompted Delta Airlines to fire her in 2004.

A Delta spokeswoman would say only that Simonetti is no longer employed with the company.

Meanwhile, the one-time Kaiser employee, Elisa Cooper, was fired from a Kaiser administrative office in Oakland several months before she began broadcasting online complaints about her former employer. Calling herself the “Diva of Disgruntled,” she discovered confidential patient information on the Web, then linked to it through her blog. Kaiser found out and went to court to get an injunction against any further posting.

A study in January by the Virginia-based Society for Human Resource Management found that 3 percent of employers have disciplined or fired employees for blogging over the past 12 months.

With 7 percent of the country’s 120 million adult Internet users now maintaining blogs, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project, businesses and online enthusiasts are debating whether blogging policies are a good thing.

Part of the problem is the no-rules etiquette that took hold when the diary-style entries hit the Web community about five years ago. Internet users have easy access to software that lets them share everyday details about their relationships, their politics and their life at work.

Off the job, ON THE HOOk

Complicating the debate is the fact that blogging often occurs on a home computer, where the authors feel they’re safe from the prying eyes of management. And California offers protections against employers regulating employees’ legal off-duty conduct.

Businesses can, however, create rules covering the disclosure of confidential information and conflicts of interest. Some worry an employee’s opinions could tarnish the corporate image.

Such concerns have led some human-resource experts to put their blogging expectations into writing rather than wait for an embarrassing incident.

In the case of the Delta flight attendant, for instance, the Georgia Department of Labor found that Simonetti was eligible for unemployment insurance because she wasn’t aware of any rules that her blogging may have violated.

“A lot of times employees think that because it’s after 5 o’clock, it doesn’t matter. But these workplace rules have some effect 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s important employees know what’s expected,” said Karen O’Hara of Sacramento-based HR to Go, which writes employee handbooks for local companies.

In the past year, O’Hara said, she began adding language about blogging in policies that cover appropriate Internet use and company confidentiality.

Other companies believe existing policies cover blogging.

That’s the case at Kaiser, said spokesman Matthew Schiffgens. He said rules prohibiting employees from sharing any confidential patient information are clear.

In Kaiser’s case, the blogging fiasco began when the health-care provider accidentally posted some private information on the Web, both Schiffgens and blogger Cooper say.

Cooper found it, made a copy and linked to it on her blog. She also notified federal regulators, who notified Kaiser, who in turn sought (and obtained) an injunction against her linking. Cooper says that by the time Kaiser went to court, she no longer maintained the link.

No names, please

So, should employees do what she did? The Electronic Frontier Foundation encourages blogging in general, but recommends doing so anonymously.

But some blogging enthusiasts have learned the hard way that withholding a name may not be enough.

San Diego State University professor Bernie Dodge, who teaches a course on blogging, says a former student was working as a student teacher at a San Diego middle school when he posted unflattering remarks about co-workers on his blog.

The problem: A student found the entry and told a parent, who told other parents, who then called the principal.

The result? The blogger voluntarily left the middle school. He still blogs, but keeps personal details as obscure as possible.

I was thinking about my job and some of the witches that I work with so I goggled the term “ugly witches” and this is what I came up with – so apropos -funny thing is – this looks like someone I work withLOL only shorter

Mixed Media on Canvas
Frank Shaw

So now – after all of this – I had to go and get a new email address and create a pseudo-name. yet one more password to remember!!

Ever since this whole started – I added my name as a “Google alert” and get emailed when I’m googled. Let me tell ya!! I am being searched like the FBI searches for wanted criminals TOTALLY RIDICULOUS!! and its always during the day time 9-5 which tells me a whole lot!! searches are never if rarely don at night or on the weekend. Its appears to me that its almost always done on “Company TIME!!”I wouldn’t mind getting paid to Google employees and sit on MY FAT A$$ all day !!

I am in correspondance with the “white elephant” so this way I have evidence. They are THAT LOW.

The funny thing is that I never ever said anything bad- up until now – because I am pissed off!! After many years of loyal service SCREW THEM

Enigma

So now I am basically forced to write under an assumed same and can never ever share any personal stories or insights into my life. Thanks to my JOB!! I never right about my job or the bitches that I have the pleasure of working with – who have absolutely tons of time on their hands that they can google me.

Hmmmmmmm I thought you were not supposed to be on the Net while at work, Oh I forgot – your doing your little detective work – so that constitutes WORK – You don’t do anything anyway, except take up space. Thats okay – your A$$ is the one that’s getting wider from sitting down ALL DAY stuffing your face with donuts

So for now – I am going to continually search the internet for articles in reference to being fired for blogging and will post it on here and of course I will try and fill you in on the details of why I am probably going to ne fired for blogging without giving to musch personal infomation away – I do know this – when they do- I will be a blogging FIEND!!!LOL

I am wondering if anyone is actually reading this – Im sure that if I posted my REAL NAME Iwould get lots of hits, nevertheless- I am going to blog until someone hears me.

Was Just Fired for Blogging

by Jeremy Wright on January 5th, 2005

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I guess I’m a sucker for punishment. Or publicity. Or something.

I was just fired for blogging. Or, more specifically “divulging company secrets in a public space”. No details provided. My “severance” is what my pay would have been up until I left.

Sadly, it doesn’t include pager, so I’m out 2,000$ and it doesn’t extend my benefits so I can’t get the dental surgery I’d planned for next week.

I’m not sure if I should fight this. There isn’t a big enough precedent to know. Anyone know a good (cheap) lawyer I can talk to?

In the meantime… I feel like I’ve been in a car accident. I know it happened. I know what it means. But I have no idea what happened or what it means.