It is really important to understand who your audience is when writing a blog post. That audience is essentially anyone with an internet connection. You never know who may come across your blog and that includes work colleagues, your boss, family and recruiters. I was really struck by Edward Shaddow's July blog post discussing identity and the use of real names on the internet. My earlier years on the internet involved the use of a pseudonym and I am now thankful for that. My angst-filled Livejournal posts are not linked to my name (I am glad Facebook did not exists when I was a teen). The internet does not make a distinction between personal and professional, so it is important to understand what you are putting out into the world and the implications it may have on your professional life when someone searches the internet for information about you.
To keep the balance in favour of professional, I try and relate my posts to my work as much as possible. Any excuse to write about digital preservation. And the great thing about GLAM Blog Club is that there is no problem with that. While some of my posts have verged into the personal realm, discussing my career or my identity in the information management profession, they were written with all of the above in mind.
This post is my contribution to the GLAM Blog Club November theme: 'Balance'.
Cover image credit: Fortepan http://www.fortepan.hu/?view=all&lang=en&img=27117&tags=exercise
