Perceived audience

It has been two and a half months since I have written a post for this blog. Call it whatever you want, but I’ll just put it down to bad interruption management. After February, I have had plenty of time to start writing again, but I obviously haven’t - basically it’s because I have been putting my life on hold for one event after another. But that’s another story…

I have for a long time wanted to write, long before I started this blog. One of the main contributors to this desire in me were the opinion columns in ‘The Star’. There, people wrote their views, and I enjoyed reading them. It gave me a different perspective of life, and often, I had views, perspectives and opinions which I wanted the world - or at least the world around me - to hear.

So I started this blog. One thing, however, was that when I started it I realized it would be on the World Wide Web, and be in what some people call public domain. So I decided to post only politically correct stuff, and write my posts such that it is applicable to everyone who reads it, and not just to a certain audience.

However, as time goes by, the number of my friends and other acquaintances grew. And not only that, as one of the major ways of staying connected is through blogs, I realized that I had to cater to the needs of others, rather than just that of my secondary school classmates and friends. So when I write, I have to keep three groups of people on mind; the general average reader, who might somehow stumble upon my blog, my ex-schoolmates and classmates, who have a lsightly higher chance of stumbling upon this, and friends and acquaintances I have from church, especially Jeremiah Schoolers.

However, when most people write online, we do it in a no holds barred manner. We think that the nature of the Internet, that we don’t have to face audience, allows us to get away with criticizing and insulting others behind the cover of anonymity. Or at least, we can say it was done through a screen, that it is less harmful, that we were just venting, fuming, yadayadayada…

The fact is that, sometimes, we get our perceived audience wrong.

When we link up our blog to someone else’s, chances are they’ll return the favour. One of the benefits of the World Wide Web is that if you know where to go to find the correct connections, you’ll be able to find all you need to know about everyone you want to know from the safety and security of your own home. No need to watch them, scout them, tail them.

Half the time they post all their doings and whereabouts, along with photos on their blogs. And if you’re lucky, they’ll post a video or two.

However, coming back to my point: when blogs are linked, it allows a third party, which has an interest in the two parties with linked blogs to go and see what they both are up to. This often upsets the whole “chemical equation” for the perceived audience.

In my opinion, writing a blog should be done in either one of three ways: Either we write as though we have no tomorrow on our feelings, doings and eatings (as some people undoubtedly do), maintain a blog as one’s personal opinion piece or we do it in an abstract way, where we use events, thoughts, observations or logic to put forward an argument.

The reason for this is simple: If we decide to use it as a venting pot, fuming post or shouting wall, there is a slight possibility that the person we are venting, fuming or shouting at might pick up the post through a friend’s of a friend’s of a friend’s blog, and then, well…you get the picture.

As my blog is still rather young and I try not to make it a habit to vent at people here, I think (correct me if I’m wrong) I have yet to touch a nerve. Ok, maybe not in this particular one, and maybe not intentionally, but I try to make my posts as neutral as possible. However, I have come across blogs where the authors neglected the possibility of me ending up there. One of them was the other main contributor for me to start blogging, the other, well, like I said, sometimes, going blog hoping is not good for your health.

Of course, we don’t only have to watch over our shoulders when we blog. We have to do the same thing for our Friendster profiles, Myspace profiles and any other website where we put our face and information online. Nowadays, potential employers look at their potential employee’s profiles to see whether they are all they claim to be. University lecturers check potential student’s profiles to make sure they aren’t doing anything stupid.

Some argue that this is an invasion of privacy. I have to, very vehemently, disagree. When one makes a profile and puts it on the World Wide Web, it’s in the public domain, especially when the website one chooses to use gives one the option to not make it public. This means that anyone who has the correct access (determined by the website provider) will be able to see the said person’s profile/blog. And when I say whoever, it really means whoever.

So when we choose the content for our blogs, profiles, photo albums or anything else available online, we have to really consider whether we want just about anyone to be able to see it. Sure, there are stupider things out there than to put pictures of ourselves in compromising positions (like giving away passwords, PINs and secret question answers) but do you really want to explain to your potential boss the picture of you doing something stupid? I don’t think so…