Generally, when you think about blogging – it seems rather harmless. But when you look at it in finer detail, it can actually be slightly more dangerous than initially thought. Meeting complete strangers at events, sharing intimate details of your life and your whereabouts and publishing pictures (which could reveal details about your life) on the web for all to see are all part and parcel of the industry, which means we could sometimes be in danger of revealing a little too much.
In the blogging world, especially since it interlinks so much with social media, it is so easy to overlook safety and allow your readers to really ‘get to know you’. Being personable, letting them into your life seems the perfect way to make your blog more individual (and so it should be) however there are certain things to bare in mind when publishing online.
Top 5 tips
1. Make sure you turn off your geo-tagging (which is activated when you take a photograph and publish it on Facebook or Twitter). Occasionally the default is set to ‘on’, so with a bit of digging – a (perhaps unsavory) person can easily obtain the location the photograph was taken and track it back to you. Once switched off, this won’t be the case.
2. Be aware of where you are taking OOTD photographs. An inconspicuous park background seems ideal but double check it doesn’t have street names in view or any signs which could tag you to a certain road/area. It seems a little OTT, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
3. Don’t announce your holiday plans online. This one is hard to do because I for one LOVE sharing my holiday snaps on Instagram and Twitter, and rarely think about the implications of this. However, announcing that you are away from your home from a pro-longed period is never a good idea, especially on such a public platform – so try and be subtle about it. Perhaps you could schedule posts and tweets so as to not draw attention to the fact you’re away.
4. Always make sure someone knows you’re attending an event, including the time, venue and date – or alternatively, ask to bring a plus one along. Generally, most events are more than happy to host your guest as well as you (especially if you need someone to assist with photography!) so don’t be afraid to ask!
5. Protect your privacy online. It’s lovely to get to know a blogger personally (some of my favourites are those who I feel I know through reading their posts) but be sensible about the information you publish for all to see.
Stay safe, blog safe! Do you have any blogging tips?
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