So I've been thinking about blogging, and twitter and facebook, etc a lot lately (while not posting- as you may have noticed). I've seen and heard a couple news stories about about this topic as well. Recently, every time I think about blogging- something stops me.
I don't want to post anything about people I know because I am worried I might say something that would offend them and I feel like it is not appropriate to vent or complain about people in such a public forum (not that many people actually read this), I am also somewhat paranoid about safety. For example, one of the news stories I mentioned earlier was about a man who twitters and has about 2,000 followers. He and his wife took a vacation which he twittered about the whole time he was gone- announcing to 2,000+ people that his house would be empty and basically asking someone to burglarize it while they were gone.
I also worry about being a professional. I think there are certain lines you shouldn't cross and certain things you should publicize. So I also hesitate to say much either here or on facebook. I don't want to say much about the classes I take and the ones I teach because there is a possibility that students or professors might read this (this is also partially a safety thing). A couple of my former students are friends on facebook, as are a couple of the professors I've worked with, so I want to maintain a professional appearance.
Twitter and blogs also seem somewhat self-indulgent, or maybe self-involved is a better term. This is coming from someone who has a blog mind you, but I think twitter takes this further than a blog. I guess I just don't think anyone will care what I am doing from moment to moment- heck sometimes I even bore myself- why would you want me to bore you too? This isn't to say that I don't think blogs or twitters can be interesting and relevant- I read several blogs regularly- I just think blogs like mine- those intended to let my family and friends who live on the other side of the country know what I'm up to and what I'm thinking- would get really boring rather quickly if I twittered too. in sum, I don't have enough to say in a blog- why twitter?
So, if anyone is still reading this blog please weight in on this, I'd love to hear what other people think- where should we draw the line on the amount and type of information we unleash on the internet? And for my fellow grad students, and the rest of you with an opinion on this- do you think it is appropriate to be friends (both in real life and on facebook) with your students?
