The company recently launched MSN Spaces, one of many blogging sites on the Internet today.
What’s a blog? Just a journal posted online to a web site instead of inside the pages of a Moleskine notebook. Today, blogs have become places to express oneself, or even to challenge the newsmakers of the world.
Joining the blogosphere has become a simple process. First, a user needs to sign up for an account on a site providing blogging services. Microsoft provides one such place, and there are plenty of others available.
After creating an account, users will be prompted to name the blog, and select a design template to define the look and feel of the blog.
After that comes the hard part: keeping it updated. “For a blog to be of any use it has to be constantly written to, because people need to come back to it every day or every couple of days to see what’s new,” says Nancy Burton-Vulovic, director of technology for DigitalEve, in an article published on Microsoft’s web site.
While many people will blog about general hobbies or interests, many more people use the journals to record more personal details about themselves. While it is tempting for many to disclose a lot about themselves, prudent posting of information should be the rule.
When it is said that anyone can read a posted blog, that means anyone, even those who a user would prefer not read it. Placing home addresses or phone numbers in a blog should be avoided. Many bloggers choose not to post an e-mail address either, allowing visitors to leave comments or communicate via the blog instead.
Those simple steps make it easy to avoid potential problems while enjoying the fun of blogging.
David Utter is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business. Email him here.
