This year Bine has another interesting project going on – Schreibzeit (writing time). Her topics are very blogging focused and I kinda like it. Because you get to think about what you’re actually doing here on deeper level. In March ( I know I am late) it was “My Blog – My private Diary”.
Every one of us has her own reason for why we got started. And one could say everyone of us is probably also a bit exhibitionistic.
So how private is this blog of mine?! How private do I want it to be?! How private is too private? And when can this privacy get dangerous?
One of the reasons why it took me 5 years to get started on a blog was the privacy issue. I knew from the beginning, that everyone will know who I am when looking in the imprint. This kinda scared the s*** out of me. However the urge to try this blog thing got the best of me and I started telling myself I’ll figure out the scary stuff when it comes my way. Fortunately for me I didn’t have to cope with scary yet. Please be nice and don’t start now…
When I started out I wanted to document all the things I created. The blog was also my way to make myself accountable to create. I get easily distracted and don’t find time to get started. So that’s how it was for the first months. Then I read more and more that – if you want your blog to be successful – you need to show yourself and let your readers know the person behind the blog. This was kinda a dilemma. Because in my first year of blogging I was also (desperately) trying to find a job, had a lot of self doubt, questioned my career choice and was just feeling very miserable. I didn’t want this out. Because let’s face it – we Google people we get to know and especially when being on a job hunt.
But I had to admit to myself that I loved reading about how other people manage their everyday life, how they handle stress or cope with tough situations.
So I eased up a bit on telling more about the person behind. However there are some things (for now) that will not appear on this blog
- There are hardly any pics of me on here. I don’t find it necessary, I don’t feel like I need to be recognized and I know once they are out there I can’t get them back.
- Pics of my family will not find their way to this space. Because you can’t take them back. And I would need to ask permission – and not all of my family knows of this blog.
- I will not announce my vacation time on this blog. Maybe I am unreasonably scared but I believe people will check and then go break into my apartment. And while I am typing this I wonder if I give ideas.
- I would not discuss private problems here.
What I really can not understand why some bloggers promenade their kids on the blog or Facebook (specially in the US). I get it that you are proud of your kids and want to share the adventure. But honestly what would the 15 year old say when their friends Google and find picture of a one year old in pampers?! I believe kids have personal rights too. In the end it’s not my place to judge but I sometimes wonder if parents think that far…
I was also struggling a lot in 2013 if I should post about the death of a family member. I am not sure if I would do it again but back then I needed to get it of my chest.
In the end it is a tough topic. I agree with Bine: I say things on my blog I would share with people I get to know and have a connection with. I can imagine it will get tougher to distinguish once you blog for a long time.
What are your thoughts? Is that something you actually think about or do you just do what you feel in the moment?! Do I overthink it?! I’ll be jumping over and read a bit on Bines link-up.
Happy thinking,
6 comments
Vielen Dank für die lieben Worte bei mir. Mit den privaten Dingen (Fotos von mir und meiner Familie) halte ich es auch so wie Du, auch meine Urlaubszeiten würde ich nie preisgeben, ich habe da dieselben Befürchtungen (und finde das nicht übertrieben besorgt ;) ).
Liebe Grüße und ein schönes Wochenende,
Christiane
Das kunterbunte Känguru recently posted…Mal das Knie beugen….. [Schreibzeit]
Oh das freut mich, dass ich da nicht ganz alleine da stehe…
Hübsches Wochenende
Ich kann deine Gedanken gut verstehen… habe mich mit dem ein oder anderen Gedanken auch schon rumgeschlagen und halte es ähnlich: ich erzähle persönliche Sachen, aber nichts, was ich nicht jedem sowieso erzählen würde. Private Sachen gehören nicht aufs Blog und sollten da auch nicht diskutiert werden… ich finde es manchmal schade, dass man nur einen “Bruchteil” von der Person, die hinter dem Blog steht, aber ich denke, man ganz sich authentisch darstellen ohne dass man 100% alles mitteilen muss ;)
San recently posted…A new ride
Ja manchmal möchte ich auch mehr wissen da ich ja schon das Gefühl hab die Person so gut zu kennen. Aber dafür sind dann eher persönliche Treffen da (wenn es machbar ist) und dann erkennt man ggf. das die Person hinter dem Blog noch viel toller ist.
Aber authentisch kann man sich schon geben so als Bruchstück. Da stimm ich dir zu.
You are definitely not overthinking it, I have thought about those things too. I don’t post any pictures of my daughters on my blog, but I do talk about them, because they are such a big part of my life and it’s impossible for me to behave like they are not. I have learned tha hard way that when there is something I want to share but I don’t it ends up killing my creativity. So I try to find a middle ground between sharing and oversharing… I think we all struggle with that a bit!
Elisa recently posted…Spring shopping for my “mini-me”
That is an interesting thought: about killing creativity if holding back on what you want to share.
And yes it is always the balance and it is different for everyone of us. And I believe it will change over time to.