A lot of people start blogs and just write whatever. While I’m a big fan of freedom of speech, there’s some things you just don’t do. The good news? If you adhere to these simple rules, you can avoid getting in trouble with your colleagues both online and offline.
1. Never bad mouth your boss. Ever. This should go without saying, but if you have a day job that’s paying your bills right now, you probably shouldn’t blog about how much your boss gets on your damn nerves. Common sense, right? Maybe, maybe not. You’ve probably heard about Heather Armstrong, the popular blogger behind Dooce who was fired from her job for bad-mouthing her co-workers.
No names were used in her blog — not hers, her co-workers’, nor her company’s. But she was terminated after company executives were tipped off and read her posts, which included unflattering descriptions of many of them.
There are so many other things you could write about, so why bring your boss into it? Write about your passion, your expertise, but whatever you do, don’t get “dooced.”
2. Remember the honor code. When I was in grad school, our professors always made us print and sign an “honor code” to attach to our papers to confirm that we had not plagiarized our papers. If we were caught passing someone else’s work off as our own, we could get expelled from the university. Online, you can’t get expelled for stealing someone else’s writing, but you sure piss people off when you do. I have experienced this firsthand, and I was none too happy about it. I was very vocal online and called the other blogger out until he gave me attribution for the article. Even as a new blogger, it’s hard for you to get away with plagiarizing another blog’s content. Several of my blogging friends are now using Copyscape to protect their work and verify any violation of copyright. There’s a simple fix though, if you want to use someone else’s words: credit them. And always link back to the article you referenced. Easy, right?
There aren’t many rules in blogging, but if you watch your back on these two, you’ll be in a much better position to build your personal brand online. What are some other mistakes that newbie bloggers should watch out for?
[...] about on your blog. You want to showcase your undeniable talent and expertise in your industry, yet you don’t want to say something that will piss off your boss or co-workers. A lot of people tell me they’re afraid to blog because they’re worried that their [...]