Bios: should you claim that blog?

Blogs are a more intimate, subjective media experience than traditional journalism. Readers are curious who's speaking – and often why. Even if you decide to conceal your real identity like Superman, give some context in the "About This Site" section. Possible elements to include:

• Name or nome de plume
• Location or at least region
• Expertise (if applicable)
• Motivation

Some folks link the visible text to their Blogger profiles – as Mike and I have done here – which can contain vast amounts of info, including favorite books, movies, astrological sign, age, etc. Ours are both pretty minimal, because we maintain personal websites. But fleshed-out ones can help readers connect.

I would recommend a picture of some sorts, as these icons (aka "avatars") appear on comments threads. Visually, they make the conversation easier to follow, even when someone's just represented by a snapshot of a poodle or a snowflake.

Many bloggers prefer a nome de plume, like Mimi Smartypants, another superstar who made the leap from pixels to print. Being anonymous can permit more frank chat, certainly … but are you prepared to be outed? Employers now tap into MySpace profiles, for example, and already applicants have lost job offers to that duct-tape fetish or underage drunken snapshot.

(Mimi, in fact, was quasi-exposed when she agreed to a New York Times interview under her real name. But she continues to write under her "handle" – a decision perhaps influenced by security for her young daughter Nora. As you can see from this photo, which ran on Road Remedies, I am conservative about kid pix, though not a parent. I'd lucked into a stunning shot of the gorilla girl sans mask and in panda ears. But I censored it for her safety and privacy. We'll talk more about these issues in week eight.)

Heather B. Armstrong is the poster-child of big-mouth bloggers. She explains: "I started this website in February 2001. A year later I was fired from my job for this website because I had written stories that included people in my workplace. My advice to you is BE YE NOT SO STUPID. Never write about work on the Internet unless your boss knows and sanctions the fact that YOU ARE WRITING ABOUT WORK ON THE INTERNET If you are the boss, however, you should be aware that when you order Prada online and then talk about it out loud that you are making it very hard for those around you to take you seriously."

Her site's name even inspired a new word, "dooced," meaning to be sacked for indiscreet web chatter.

Many professional authors rely on blogs as a branding tool – bait for editors and readers: an argument for transparency. Beth Whitman, the Wanderlust and Lipstick diva, is a good example of this. Her lovely face beams out at readers from the masthead. In her travel genre – like many others – personality sells, from Arthur Frommer to Bill Bryson. And that's why many readers are blogsurfing in the first place: they crave a more intimate, opinionated perspective. So think about how to create an authentic blogging persona, whether or not you slap your "meatspace street name" on it...

I'll sign off with a screed by cyber-pioneer Cameron Barrett, master and commander of Camworld, one of the longest-running blogs to date. In 1999, he declared the genre needed: "Less senseless hype. Less gratuitous linking. Less focus on the sensationalistic journalism that's crowding our brains and turning them into mush. More focus on the truly exceptional content out there on the web that only a few of us manage to dig up. More personal essays. More professional essays. And yes, even the occasional rant.

"You see, CamWorld is about me. It's about who I am, what I know, and what I think. And it's about my place in the New Media society. CamWorld is a peek into the subconsciousness that makes me tick. It's not about finding the most links, the fastest, automated archiving, or searchable personal websites. It's about educating those who have come to know me … about the increasingly complex world we live in, both online and off."