The great thing about a blog is that it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and just about everything on it becomes permanently archived somewhere in the blogoshere. The scary thing about a blog is that it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year and just about everything on it becomes permanently archived somewhere in the blogoshere. In other words, blogger be wise!

I do not want to discourage anyone from adding their thoughts and ideas to the group consciousness of the blogging world. Contributing to a blog can be a fun and powerful way to share ideas and learn new information. I recently read a very helpful book titled Corporate Blogging by Debbie Weil. It has useful information about the history, style, content and ethics of writing blogs which I feel are pertinent for business and personal blogging. Here are a few important points I would like to share with you:

 Avoid any racist or sexist commentary
 Respect other people’s confidentiality
 Give credit to sources of information/don’t plagiarize
 If stating something as a fact, check the accuracy of the information
 If writing for business, don’t use the blog to complain about your company
 Use appropriate language, no profanity
 Be respectful when disagreeing with opinions of others
 Don’t be afraid to print a correction on inaccurate or changing information
 Use spell check

Next week in part two of Blogger Be Wise! I will share the “dos" of blogging with a list of items to include in when writing.