Blogs and Bloggers: Should You Put Your Personal Journal on the Internet?

A “blog” can be defined as, “a Web site where at least one writer posts his or her personal journal.” This journal is most often reflections, comments, and recollections of parts of their daily lives. “Blog” is short for “Web” and “log.” A blogger can also share hyperlinks, pictures, and music with the rest of the world.

Even though a blog is a relatively new term for the Internet, personal journals have been around since the beginning of time as we know it. Also called, “diaries”, journals have long provided us with intimate accounts of other people’s lives. Take for example, Anne Frank, (1929-1945). Her world famous diary displays two years of her life. The thirteen-year-old Jewish girl wrote from 1942 until 1944. During this perilous time in her life, she and her family were hiding in Amsterdam from German Nazis during the Holocaust. Because of her family’s predicament, Frank wrote down her hopes, fears, and her disappointments. She also wrote down observations about her family.

Your blog probably won’t turn out to be a popular book and movie like Anne Frank’s diary did- “The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank, 1952”. But, nonetheless, your blog can be a place for you to record your personal thoughts and observations at. You might even be able to make some money from your thoughts too.

There are two ways you can start your own blog. You can post your blog on your existing website. Or, if you don’t currently have a website, you can put up a site on the Internet and post your entries there. You can also share space on one of several blog sites that already exist on the Web. Some of these sites actually pay you to post your blogs on their sites. Blogit.com, for example, charges their bloggers a modest monthly subscription fee. Each member then blogs to their heart’s content. You then get paid a certain amount of money, according to how many people read your personal posts.

So, what should you write about? Actually, you can write about whatever you want. There are generally no set subjects in the world of blogging. You can write about your family, yourself, day-to-day happenings in your life, hobbies, interests, and news events. You can also get more personal and write about your innermost feelings.

There are literally thousands of bloggers on the Internet today. Anyone- whether male or female- can become a blogger on the Web. Though, statistically, women are more apt to become bloggers. Mothers often share the joys and trials of raising a family. Career women may tend to relate stressful happenings that relate to their jobs. Men, on the other hand, tend to write in order to share information.

Blogs don’t usually take a lot of time to write. You can spend as little as thirty minutes a day writing and posting your blog. If you want your blog to be read and to be successful, especially if you’re writing for pay, you’ll need to keep your entries up-to-date. People want to be able to revisit every day or so and catch up on what’s new.

And finally, if you’re concerned about your privacy, make sure not to include personal information such as your entire name, address, place of employment, et cetera, in your blogs. Some blogging sites list your email address, while others don’t. If that’s a concern to you, then keep that in mind if you decide to sign-up with an existing blog site.

Also, keep in mind that once your blog is posted, it’s available for anyone in the world who has Internet access to read it. For this reason, you’ll want to keep your deepest thoughts to yourself.