Question: Do you want your offline friends and family to visit your blog?
This should be both an interesting and a very important question to ask yourself. When it comes to your blog or your site, do you want your friends and family, that you know in person, to know about your blog?
With so many people focusing on getting their content indexed by search engines, it is becoming even more important for many people to find ways to have search engines stay away from their blogs. Why would anyone want search engines to not crawl their blogs? Well, there is one simple reason why: a blogger may not want their offline contacts to know about their blog.
Offline people knowing vs. Offline people not knowing about your blog
Offline people knowing about your blog:
If your offline contacts know about your blog, your friends or family can probably easily find out about the business you do online, about the things you write about, about the way you express yourself to the online world, etc. Your offline contacts may also know that you write good or bad things about them, even if you use nicknames to describe them.
Offline people not knowing about your blog:
If your offline contacts do not know about your blog, your friends or family will not know about your online activities. If they search for your name, search engines may not show up any result since you may have worked hard to ensure that your site stays away from any search engine radars. You can blog about the people you know in person and they will not be able to easily find out that you are writing about them, even if you use their real names. Simply Precious is an example where a blogger is trying to blog while maintaining privacy from the offline world.
So, do you want your family and offline friends to find out and know more about your blog? Or do you want to keep your blog hidden from your offline friends? Do you want offline people that you know to visit your blog?
Please let me know, thank you. 
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( June 2nd, 2007 at 10:53 pm )
I like to keep my privacy, but at the same time, I think online privacy is just a pipe dream and an illusion. One way or another, my name will get out there.
I do limit the personal crap that’s on my blog, however.
( June 2nd, 2007 at 11:56 pm )
Bes… I think it comes down to how real and transparent are you willing to be. It’s pretty hard to erase anything you write on the internet. So while you may be able to keep your offline network separate from your online network for a while, eventually they will find out. I think integrity would mean that I do not fear being found out.
Aside from political implications the big question is really about integrity.
( June 3rd, 2007 at 4:22 am )
Ronalfy, thank you for commenting. Online, privacy is indeed a dream. Almost every website you visit tracks you, and even your Internet Service Provider [ISP] records your IP address.
Limiting personal information on a blog seems like a very good tactic, since it is really hard to hide completely in the online world. If one wants to be completely sure, or as sure as possible, they can post less and not write anything that they would not want to express in person.
DaveOlson, thank you for visiting and commenting. I wrote about the importance of transparency earlier this year, and I think it goes along with what you are saying. With search engines getting more powerful every minute of the day, being completely anonymous and staying off search engines is becoming a very hard thing to do. Many personal bloggers probably want to blog about people they know in person, without having those people find out about the blog.
Even if someone achieves favorable results when it comes to the task of hiding from others, as time progresses, bits and pieces of information will start to show up in search engine results and other online services, allowing almost anyone to find out a few things about anyone who may have a blog online.
( June 3rd, 2007 at 10:39 am )
None of my friends know which are my blogs. I would have liked to share my writings with them, but they simply don’t understand that clicking on my ads would ban me from everywhere. They insisted so much to help me making money online, so I never have to get a job again, that I rather preferred to use a pen name until I saw if there is any money to make. I like to be a “non-mom at home”, it surely is relaxing and fun (despite the negative financial balance)
Using a pen name has disadvantages:
- if you have an online business (as I do), you cannot link it to your blog - this is not so much of a loss in my case, as half of my blog is odd enough not to want to link it.
- you get in touch with online people who will address you by your pen name (I did not know that I’ll end up by knowing so many great people online), so you’ll have a strange feeling of living somebody else’s life (after a while, you get used so much with your new name, that you may even sign e-mails to your clients with it)
- in online communities like LinkedIn, you cannot get in touch with former colleagues, because they won’t know who is that person contacting them (and you cannot fill in the places you worked in, because nobody from those organizations would know you).
The list could go on. However, if I were to start again, I’d do the same, because at the end of the day, a name is just a name, and I can always give my friends the link to my blog if I so decide.
( June 3rd, 2007 at 2:19 pm )
Simonne, thanks for the response and for sharing the “disadvantages.” The offline people may treat your blog as if it a an offline property of yours, and not the way you want them to treat your blog. Even if we use a nickname to represent ourselves, it can be easy to let our offline contacts know who we are in the online world, like you mentioned. However, once mentioned, the information can be spread virally, with almost everyone finding out about one’s online identity. I wonder how long one can hide themselves, in the online world, from their offline contacts. Could it be forever?
Do you think offline friends will listen and probably respect your decision, or anyone’s decision, on how a blog should be treated?
( June 3rd, 2007 at 2:59 pm )
Bes, you are right regarding the viral spread of information. But taking into consideration that I have less that 10 friends and not all of them know each other, I suppose there is no danger of the info getting viral. Plus, my friends don’t care about online things, they just use e-mail and sometimes an instant messenger. Internet is for them just an easy way to order Chinese food or to see the TV schedule. This is why I suppose offline friends would not respect a desired behaviour code. As one of them stated: “I really cannot believe that Google can find out that I clicked your ads on purpose”. And she intended to do that everyday :).
( June 3rd, 2007 at 3:33 pm )
Hmm..I don’t really mind, lol.. although it always feels a bit awkward.. or maybe its just me? haha..but one good thing is for sure, you can always protect your posts lol :D!
PS: I see that you changed the look, pretty cool..i love the countdown thing haha..
( June 3rd, 2007 at 3:41 pm )
Simonne, thanks for explaining. Yes, Google probably prefers people having no friends than people having friends who make Google pay more to publishers through “friendly clicks.” I wonder how one can infuse the thought of honoring a certain “behaviour code” into offline contacts so that they can respect more. I am guessing if one does not know much about something, it will be hard for them to actually act in a certain, special way around that something since that special way is also one of the things that they are not familiar with.
I would like to order Thai food online, by the way. So far, that is not possible in California, as far as I know. Thanks again, Simonne.
Vera, thanks for the comment. I think it can be weird for many people. I would feel surprised or a bit weird too if a friend of mine, in the middle of a party or a party told me about their blog and told me to visit it, if I knew nothing about blogs or never imagined that friend having a blog. Password protected posts can help, until the offline friends start wondering “I wonder if that password protected post is about me, I should ask for the password.” :p
Yes, thank you! I’m glad you like the new look of the site and the comment editing plugin.
( June 3rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm )
I just realized that it was until recently, after getting this domain, was when I wanted search engines to not index my site. Haha, I don’t think about that, that much to remember that was when I started doing that.
Back then, before I getting this domain, I’d always e-mail my friends/acquaintances about my site, since I was “proud” of having a site, since nobody I knew, knew how to make a site, with HTML and all that. But then before, I didn’t really blog much, but after getting this domain was when I started blogging like how I am now. It wasn’t too much of a journal/diary for me then, then it is now. So that is why I don’t want search engines, and my offline friends, to know about my domain.
Eh, and there are some other personal reasons too, but it’s not really connected to the online-world, so I won’t mention it. Hmm… I feel like I’m forgetting something, something that I wanted to say, but I can’t think of it now… Maybe I’m not forgetting anything… Hmm…
( June 3rd, 2007 at 5:10 pm )
SP, thanks for the comment. Yes, you are one of the unique examples, and a good one, of someone who is trying to have search engines stay away from your blog.
I am guessing as search engines got more powerful, many people including yourself realized how someone in the offline world can simply type in a name and find many things related to that person. And a personal diary should be personal, of course. I hope as time passes, we have more chances and tools at hiding our personal information from the offline world, since we already have an ever growing number of tools that allow us to exposure our information more to the offline world through the online world.
Hmmm, if you remember what you wanted to say, simply go ahead and edit your comment within an hour. Otherwise, just let me know and I’ll edit it.
Thanks SP! I am hoping people who want to remain private can learn from your example.
( June 3rd, 2007 at 6:09 pm )
If I have a personal blog, then yes I would block the search engine by robots file or better yet, put a password on the site. But in most cases, I wouldn’t even write anything personal on my blog.
( June 3rd, 2007 at 8:53 pm )
Andy, thanks for commenting and for visiting the site. I really appreciate it.
Password protecting an entire site does help, though many times bloggers may want the entire online world to have access to their site easily, except anyone that they may know in the offline world. You have a very nice site, and by looking at the topic you are blogging about, it seems writing something personal that is not related to Korea or the entertainment business may indeed go off-track, yes.
I wonder if the same concept can be applied to many personal blogs also, where people do not write about themselves but about their personal views on personal things or people around them.
Thanks again, Andy.
( June 4th, 2007 at 6:53 pm )
I think this topic is of relevance to anyone who uses their blog to keep track of their events or as a diary.
Myself, I don’t want anyone in my offline life to find my blog. I use my online blog as my diary for many reasons. It motivates me to blog if people will read and comment on it, and because people will read it, it makes me pull myself back to analyse and think about the events (rather than blog emotionally)… and as a lot of my blogs are venting about people in real life, I do not want them to read it.
The bigger issue is probably this: I am not as close to my real life friends as I would like to be. A few of my real life friends I don’t mind them reading my online blog, because they are the kind of true friends you trust with everything and don’t have anything vicious to say about them. The people I blog about though… we are friends, good friends even… but I disagree with a lot of their thoughts and actions, almost as if we are on different levels of… maturing? I don’t want to create awkward situations in real life, cause I know in time we’ll all mature and grow up and get over it, so I vent it out in my blog.
In the meantime, I do want the rest of the online world to see my blog. It’s like a second life, where people can judge you by your thoughts and text, not your clothing, makeup, what you own… the only problem is, it’s not very easy to be exactly yourself, with your name and pictures and everything about you, to let the whole online world know you, but also block out people you know in real life.
Andy mentioned password protected entries… which makes sense. But it’s mighty inconvenient, as people from the online world would find my website not very accessible. Instead of leaving their thoughts, they will leave and might not come back (Oh, I see you said this in your reply comment, lol).
( June 5th, 2007 at 2:45 am )
Jess, thanks for the detailed response. I really appreciate it!
Many people consider diaries to be personal, so it does make sense if one wants to hide the diary from offline people, or at least from the people who are mentioned in such diaries. So, for you, you are motivated to blog more or to contribute to your diary more if you think online people will find it interesting enough to comment on.
I think I understand what you mean about creating “awkward situations in real life“, since people think differently and one may simply want to tell someone else about a person, without letting that person feel about. You are right; it can be very hard to be yourself, and be transparent, to the online people, and at the same time, hide or keep things private from the offline people.
I also like the idea of password protected entries and I also think that having passwords on sites greatly reduce the audience one may have. Yes, that is what I was implying too. Password probably ensure on great levels that the people you do not want to access your site, will probably not be able to read your entries, but how can one know which online person is actually an offline person in disguise? It is so easy to create fake usernames and passwords, and to even fake ip addresses.
Thanks for the wonderful comment Jess. Your comments are starting to open up my mind more and more about different topics.