Public vs Private: Who Knows About Your Blog?

I have three blogs. This blog, my main blog, I’ve had the longest, and is the one where I do my best writing, but is the most private. I’ve made great friendships through this blog, but hardly anyone in real life knows about it.

I also have Almost Crafty, my crafty blog (obviously), which I’m more public about. It’s the site that my family reads, and that I tell co-workers about. It’s the site that I list on my Facebook page. It doesn’t get as many readers, as knitting blogs are on the decline since the advent of Ravelry (which is not necessarily good or bad, just the cycle of Internet life). But I’ve noticed that since I know that real life people are reading that site, I tend to censor myself more, and keep the content more upbeat. Also, I have less swear words on that site (not that I swear much on this one).

I have a third blog that I just use for paid posts. I don’t mention it much, because it doesn’t require hits to maintain the paid content. The opinions I give over there are wholly mine, but because of the paid content, I don’t expect it to garner a lot of attention. I know some of you out there have it on your feed readers, and I appreciate that, but it’s definitely not a go-to site for major content. So we’re going to leave it out of the rest of the following equations.

As for The Space Suitcase and Almost Crafty: I definitely talk about my crafting site on The Space Suitcase, but not the other way around. Which is why you’ll never seen links or mentions of The Space Suitcase on my crafting site – my co-workers and family read that site. They don’t know about this one.

When I started this blog, anonymous online journals were the big sites that were just starting to fade while blogs were starting to take over (which is why I never got to go to a JournalCon, dammit) (hey, I guess I do swear). Almost everyone was posting anonymously, most likely after Dooce and others like her lost their jobs talking about their lives (work lives, in particular) on the Internet.

But with blogging becoming so much more mainstream, with mommybloggers in particular being courted by advertisers, with huge events like BlogHer and SXSW showcasing blogs and bloggers, is it really necessary to keep a blog a secret anymore? I’m not talking about posting your full name and address, but I mean spreading the word not just to virtual friends, but real life people as well.

What’s gotten me thinking more about this is the fact that my friend B is thinking of starting a blog. I want to show her mine as a reference for her to see the kind of content I post about here, since she only reads my crafty blog right now. The thing is – B is also my co-worker. And while I know she’d be discreet and not share the address with other co-workers, opening that door is making me wonder how secretive I need to be.

Another reason I’m thinking about this is because I’m joining the local Social Media Club. Because I’m proud of my history on the Internet, and I’m proud of so much of the content on this site, I’d like to share the URL with my new friends. I’m only hesitant because Louisville is a “small” town, and the friends I meet today through a club like this may be my co-workers or even bosses in the future (not that I’m looking to change jobs, but with the way things are these days, you never know what’s going to happen in the future).

I suppose it all comes down to content. I don’t write anything online that is really damaging or hurtful. I tend to write about my feelings more here than anywhere, knowing that the small group of readers I have are supportive and understanding. Widening the audience by publicizing my site to more people I know in real life is only truly scary because of how they’d perceive me based on the last five years of writing (and ranting and whining and grumbling and giggling). And I worry that knowing that more people I know are reading might make me censor myself more.

I know that Rude Cactus just learned that most of his family reads his site, and he mentioned how that probably won’t change his postings (and so far, it hasn’t, which is awesome). I’d love to think I’d be the same way, but I’m not so sure. The people-pleaser side of my personality is strong. I don’t know if I could overcome that with my family, but I think I could continue business as usual with other real life people. I think. I think.

How about you? Is your blog more or less anonymous? Does your family know about it? Your “real life” friends? Your co-workers? Where do you draw the line? Why? Do you think it helps or hinders your writing?

As always, thanks so much for listening to my insecure babbling. I’ll let you know what I decide moving forward.