I got approached by a student friend-of-a-friend to do a survey about blogging. So, I figured it would be quite apt to blog the response.
1- Why do you blog?Mainly to stay in touch with friends, keep a record of fun stuff I've done and ideas I've had. I also have a few blogs which involve more professional writing on topics to do with my career, and others for topics which might help people.
2- How often do you blog?A few times a week (If I'm good).
3- What do you write about?Personal updates, things I think about, travel, expat issues in France, social networking, event management and self-help (in several different blogs).
4- What is your main motivation to keep updating?Personally, to keep my friends updated. Professionally, to ensure I am actively learning more about my field and proving myself to be an expert.
5- what is your pen-name?Smange is my username pretty much everywhere, so it's a sort of a brand for me. But I use my real name, Angela Alcorn, rather than an alias if that's what you mean.
6- Do you have anything else interesting to add?I think a lot of people mix up all their blogging into one blog, whether they're talking about personal things or professional. This doesn't really lend itself to providing a service for the subscriber as they want you to stay on topic. I figure if my friends want to see ALL the things I write, they can look at one of the lifestream services (like Friendfeed) where the posts are all brought back together again.
7- Is being anonymous important to you? Do you keep your online blog and your real life separate? Why?Sort of. I'm careful to keep enough information private that I won't end up with real-life stalkers or something coming back to haunt me in any way. I also take a lot of care ensuring that my friends' safety and reputation (especially kids) aren't compromised by what I say online.
I write with the thought that anyone can read this (and might one day), so I make sure I would be happy for any of the following people to see it: Future employers, current employers, police, my grandma, stalkers, friends, my friend's employers, government departments, anyone in my photos or who I talk about etc.
I'm fairly open around those guidelines, but it does mean that I generally keep quiet about some things. Anyone who only knows me from blog posts has a filtered, sanitised view of me. Not that I'm wildly different, but I'm sure they'd be a little surprised at least.
Posted at
7:35 PM #
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