A Guide to Responsible Blogging

It is interesting to see that with the advent of technology and communications, our need to be heard also gets upgraded. We are not satisfied with just raving and ranting to our friends, we need the world to see our thought bubble as well. Yes, Facebook and Twitter are good avenues for inflicting our thoughts to the world, but some need a space that they can customise and has a potential to reach multitudes of people all over the globe.

This is where blogging on personal websites comes in. We all know blogging sites like Blogger or Wordpress provide easy way to set up a free account and start churning out articles. But others prefer to buy domains to have their own space or a permanent address for their thoughts. This is the first step to make it easy for other people to access our ideas and also share their thoughts.

Blogging your personal opinions have certain dos and don’ts. If you want your ideas to survive on the internet, read this simple guide we have prepared for responsible blogging.

Never divulge personal information

Let us all admit it: half the time, the reason we are blogging is to get viral. Getting our name and our personal experiences out there is fine, but people do tend to overshare. This is not just a phenomenon exclusively happening on Facebook, bloggers have a tendency to share more than they should on their websites. We all know the kinds of information that are considered too personal so be sure to limit yourself in posting those stuff.

Plagiarism is a big no-no

This just goes without saying, you should never copy other people’s content. Now, you might say, “what if we have the same idea?”  It is possible to create content on the same idea without plagiarising other people. All you have to do is base your content on your own thought process. And then you can mention other people’s work and share their links. That is how you avoid plagiarism. It is also helpful to use a blog plagiarism checker to confirm your content’s originality.

Do fact checks

It is so easy to get caught up in our own minds, sometimes we forget if our assumptions are factual. Make sure that as you write your content, you are doing fact checking as well. There is nothing worse than reading a well-written article with askew or misleading facts.

Moderate comments

It is completely okay to moderate your blog comments. There are people out there who will contribute nothing to the discussion or will post spammy comments. You can always avoid that by approving comments first before they appear on the page. But do not use this as an excuse to censor. If there are people who have different thoughts as you, discuss with them in a respectable and logical manner. This lets other people see that you are open-minded and willing to learn – important traits of a critical thinker.

Keep this guide in mind as you start your own blogging site. Or if you have been blogging, look at your older posts and see if you have been practicing responsible blogging.