I’ll be watching you .

@Matt – Yes, you should always keep the reader & their needs in mind. Wasting their time is worst thing you could do.

I did want to clarify that I am definitely all for blogging… particularly to build your character for people who don’t know you. And taking risks on your blog should definitely be encouraged.

Recently, I posted something on my blog that could be considered slightly sexist but I posted it anyway because I ran it by a few women and they thought it was funny:

http://www.volcanicmarketing.com/blog/2008/03/06/what-is-marketing/

Taking risks is fantastic if you can stand by it. As Matt said, it’s no different than the things you say over a drink.

I completely agree with the idea of blogging in the professional world is to give yourself face, become a real person to customers and clients. But your blog is still relating to that which brought people there in the first place, your product, business or whatever. You blog should show who you are but not let that overstep why people are there in the first place.

I don’t know where this concept came from that having a blog means airing purely personal material, or publishing opinions that wouldn’t be useful enough to get air time in any other kind of discussion between equals.

If you publish something to the whole world that falls into the realm of pure opinion about something that is outside of your expert domain, then you’re already out on a limb. So go to some trouble to write it well, and back it up with your best reasoning, because you’ll be judged on how well you think.

Everybody should always be polite, and respectful. And a business person with a blog had better be businesslike, for sure.

I don’t think that Tracksuit is saying you’re bulletproof if you blog. He’s saying that authenticity is ulitmately the most efficient way to present yourself.

And presenting yourself is absolutely what you’re doing in a blog, or the comments, and the record will never go away. So stay within your area of interest. Stay polite.

I like that you shared with us an area of expertise, Melvin, i.e. your personal experience in a story.

If your comment here ever gets surfaced by a prospective business associate ten years from now, you can probably stand by it. And you’ve been authentic. Perfect.

Nice discussion, thanks.

Sometimes it’s acceptable for your clients to do business with you when your views & their views don’t match.

Other times, it will create problems. Why? Because doing business with someone of your views says something about them… and that may not be acceptable to them.

Some might say, that’s fine… it helps weed out problems early. And this is partially true.

However, there are many times when the problem issue is completely irrelevant to the relationship… yet the difference in values & world views causes a divide.

PERSONAL STORY:

Recently, someone I knew sent posted a video that vilified Oprah Winfrey on their blog. She said she found it interesting so she wanted to share. I am not a big Oprah fan. I have never seen an Oprah show. I don’t know what is printed inside the Oprah magazine, etc. But what I do know is that she takes action to help the world in selfless ways. And this 5-min video left me really irritated.

I made my disapproval of the video and her being a part of propagating this video know. This lead to a heated debate in which she was not up to the task of defending her position either than by saying “this is my opinion so get over it” which lead me to loose all respect for her.

The simple point: If you are wanting to share your world views, especially on controversial issues such as politics, religion, etc… be sure you clearly understand what you stand for and why.