From the squealing teens of MySpace to the cool-as-cocktails set on Blogger, it seems that everyone has something to say online, and keeping an Internet-fueled journal is not just encouraged, but expected.
The chance to reach many friends at once has created a confessional online society where every exploit is described, often with embarrassing or risque photos. The freedom to tell all has led countless bloggers to detail sexual misadventures, idiot bosses, misdemeanors and worse. Many online scribes delight in the ease and familiarity of blogging, thinking that only a small circle of friends and acquaintances will ever read these ruminations.
But not so fast, Bloggie. As some people are discovering, their musings are no longer drawing just pals and confidants, and postings are not as anonymous as they had imagined. Potential employers, romantic partners, and even law enforcement have cottoned on to the fact that they can get tremendous insight into a person's character -- and keep up with every misdeed -- simply by clicking throughout these online diaries.
At what point do you become overexposed in the blogosphere, with people knowing way too much for your own good?
Putting It Out There
When it comes to bragging about sexual triumphs, hangovers, lousy jobs, or general discontent with the world, many bloggers are learning the hard way. Some have been reprimanded at work for inappropriate comments. More and more often, they are simply getting canned.
In the early days of blogging -- way back in 2002 -- Web designer Heather Armstrong got fired from Dooce.com for posting her thoughts about the company and some colleagues. The action brought a new term into the culture: "dooced," defined as losing one's job as a result of comments found on a Web site.
Within the past four years, employees have been dooced at companies like Delta Air Lines, Google, and Microsoft  .
Even social-networking site Friendster garnered a dooce label, when it fired Joyce Park for writing about the company. In her blog, Troutgirl, Park noted that there is a level of irony to the firing, since she had previously won recognition for writing a paper, "Towards Semi-Permeable Blogging," that wrestled with issues of identity, privacy, transparency, and accountability.
"I try really hard not to blog about anything that is not a matter of public record... but I guess that's not protection anymore," Park wrote.
According to the National Workrights Institute, in Princeton, New Jersey, if an executive is offended by a blog entry, most states offer no protection for the person being fired. On the other hand, bloggers can take some comfort in the relatively higher amount of attention being paid to illegal music downloading and inappropriate Web surfing, according to the Society for Human Resources Management, in Alexandria, Virginia. Still, as blogs become more prevalent and bosses wise up about loose lips sinking the corporate ship, more doocing could be on the way. (continued...)
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