Query: Blogging and Confidentiality

October 13, 2006 – 11:30 am |

Reading this post of one of my favorite blogs has left me wondering. Those of us who read blogs read a variety of blogs for a variety of reasons, but if we’re being honest there is some amount of voyeurism in it - who doesn’t want the chance to look into someone else’s life and maybe make a connection. But how much privacy can we count on?

It seems many bloggers protect their anonymity in favor of greater honesty in personal, journal style posts. In fact, according to this study the vast, vast majority of bloggers write personal journal style blogs about their experiences and life. The Internet makes us feel falsely secure about our privacy, even though we’ve had repeated reasons (like this for example) to be reminded that there’s no real privacy. Software companies are increasingly producing items in an effort to give us an even greater sense of freedom. In blogging life and family, there’s a choice - a balance of protecting anonymity in order to be more honest, and yet the greater the honesty the greater the risk of being identified. How is everyone finding their own personal balance? What are people’s fears?

I have been truly amazed by the whole idea (and yes I know I am a few years behind). So I’m just throwing this out there to see if I can get others’ thoughts.