Safe Blogging
Introduction
Are you a blogger? Or are you thinking about blogging? If your answer to either question is yes, there are some issues you should think about, namely, Internet safety and personal security.
Blogging 101
For the uninitiated, a blog (short for weblog) is an online journal. There are two basic categories of blogs. Some are essentially businesses that offer regularly updated news and opinion on specific subjects, from politics, sports, and movie reviews to PC troubleshooting and travel information. Most of the blogs in this category are forums that encourage readers to post comments. or even create sub-blogs. The other category of blogs are more like personal diaries, offering an individual’s personal musings on a variety of topics, from accounts of their activities to their personal feelings. Some of these blogs allow reader comments.
75 Million Blogs and Counting
Before you start your own blog, we suggest you visit a few to get a feel of how they work. Blogs aren’t hard to find. In fact, you may find them hard to avoid. According to Blogpulse.com , there are now more than 75 million blogs on the Internet, and about 100,000 new ones are being launched each day.* You’ve probably already read a blog or two, but to explore a few more, try one of the blog search engines such as Technorati.com or blogsearch.google.com . Both make it easy to find blogs on topics of interest to you.
Where and How to Blog
There are a number of ways to publish your own blog. You can add one to your existing Web site, create a new blog site from scratch, blog on a social networking site, or add a blog to an existing blog site. Here’s a summary of each approach:
- If you already have a Web site, the software you used to create it probably includes templates and instructions for creating, publishing, and publicizing a blog page on your existing site, or as a separate site.
- To create a blog from scratch, the easiest method is to use the services of a blog host, such as Blogger.com , WordPress , or TypePad . They provide the software you need to design and publish your blog, and they host it as well.
- Social networking sites, such as My Space , provide blogging tools that allow you to publish a blog on your personal page, and they usually offer controls so you can limit who is allowed to read or post on your page.
- Some existing blog sites allow others to publish blogs or diaries on their sites. These are often sites dedicated to specific subjects like politics or technology. You can find these blogs by searching blog topics of interest to you.
The Threat of Splogs
As often happens on evolving communications technologies like the Internet, each new opportunity for communicating is accompanied by an opportunity for abuse. Blogging is no exception. Its nemesis is the splog, which you may have guessed is a combination of “spam” and “blog.” Here’s how it works:
- Sploggers use automated tools to hijack your blog or content from your blog for financial gain. They create fake blogs using names or URLs very similar to yours to generate page views that they can convert into ad revenue.
- They may steal your content to increase the number of hits on their fake blog. For instance, you write a blog about your vacation in Italy, they clip your content and get hits from people searching on “Italy.” Their fake blogs may carry legitimate ads, or scam ads dedicated to identity or financial theft.
Protection Against Splogs
Splogs are widespread and difficult to eradicate, but it is possible to minimize splogging by being vigilant. If you have your own blog, Symantec’s experts offer some excellent ways to determine whether you’re being splogged:
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Reprinted with permission from Symantec. ©1995 - 2008 Symantec Corporation
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