Privacy And Accountability In The Blog Universe

Fernanda Viégas, a PhD candidate working in the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, has run an interesting survey to determine the expectations of privacy and accountability that authors have when they blog. Though this research approach still reflects a naive and superficial matching of a communication technology (small content management system / blogs) with its users and applications (personal blogs/professional blogs/PR blogs/news sites/etc.) in one generic neophyte category (which does not exist), it offers nonetheless some interesting data and items for reflection. "Formerly viewed as a marginal activity restricted to the technically savvy, blogging is slowly becoming more of a mainstream phenomenon on the Internet. Thanks to much media hype and some high profile blog sites, these online journals have captured the public's imagination. As novice authors plunge into the thrilling world of blog publishing, they soon realize that publicly writing about one's life and interests is not as simple as it might seem at first. As they become prolific writers, more bloggers find themselves having to deal with issues of privacy and liability. Accounts of bloggers either hurting friends' feelings or losing jobs because of materials published on their sites are becoming more frequent. Respondents in this survey answered questions about their blogging practices and their expectations of privacy and accountability for the entries they publish online."