Dad wants to blog. Help me make sure he knows what he is getting into.
July 2, 2006 1:34 PM   Subscribe

My dad wants to start a blog. What should I get him to read/understand about the "Blogosphere" before he does?

I'm the tech-savvy whiz kid son, he's the age old business man. He wants to start a blog based on current affairs in the news. I've done my best to explain how the whole internet-blog-scape thing works, but I'm not sure I've done such a great job. He doesn't read (m)any blogs as is, but he wants to publish his opinions and get traffic. ("No, dad, you can't pay Google to put your website as the top hit for search term 'news'.")

Having done the blog thing myself before, and being all to familiar with the pitfalls of exposing too much information about yourself, becoming a target of spammers and trolls, the difficulty of writing consistently, etc., I'm reluctant to let him.

What are some articles/guides out there that I should get him to read before I go setting up a blog for him?

Thanks!
posted by patr1ck to Computers & Internet (7 answers total) 2 users marked this as a favorite
 
Let him do it, but screen his first couple of posts & make sure they're not too revealing. Show him around to other political blogs, and tell him that if he wants traffic, he has to post intelligently and consistently on those, with links to his site, to get any traffic.
posted by devilsbrigade at 1:45 PM on July 2, 2006


I would encourage him to participate in the blog world a bit. What sort of political angle is he interested in blogging about? Can you find him some links to sites he would find interesting?
posted by pazazygeek at 2:02 PM on July 2, 2006


Rebecca Blood's Weblog Handbook is still worth reading, in terms of the kinds of issues that you are worried about; her chapter on ethics is online.
posted by mcwetboy at 2:39 PM on July 2, 2006


Response by poster: He wants to do political/social/economic commentary, but I'm pretty sure he just wants to rant about things.
posted by patr1ck at 3:07 PM on July 2, 2006


Explain to him that nobody's going to read his rants for quite some time. If he's willing to put in the effort to comment on other blogs and do the other things that build an audience, fine, but if he wants instant fame/glory, he shouldn't bother.
posted by languagehat at 4:10 PM on July 2, 2006


Give him links to some of your favorite blogs.
posted by Doohickie at 6:42 PM on July 2, 2006


Something simple with a "big picture" overview might be a good idea, such as Wikipedia.

Maybe he would enjoy a collaborative blog, with some of his buddies (either local or cross-country). That way there is no pressure on any single blogger to "produce," and they can enjoy commenting on each other's entries.
posted by davidmsc at 8:41 PM on July 2, 2006


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