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Why is blogging different from a conversation?
This is a topic that's come up frequently in class. And usually when this discussion starts, it has to be forcibly shut down in order for the class to continue.
When do bloggers cross the line? When does expressing opinion become committing libel?
A thought experiment: Say you had a classroom with a giant white board in it. The white board served no real purpose - it was not an announcement board or anything of that sort - but everyone who came into the class could see it. Everyone can write on the board but no one can erase what someone else has written. No one can see you when you write on the board. People like to leave messages for each other as they come and go from the class or maybe just thoughts.
A:"How's class going?"
B:"Not bad, how about you?"
You walk into the class one day and some one has written something mean about you.
"Clare is a slut who cheats on her work."
It's not true. You cannot erase it. Everyone who comes and goes from the class can read this. Your teacher will read this. There is no point at which the comment will expire and fade away, even if the person who's written it is gone. When new people come into the class they will read it too. They will read that comment before they've even met you.
Will the new people coming into the class judge you according to this statement?
Will your teacher wonder if you really do cheat on your work?
This is why blogs are different from conversations.
Blogs used to be dumpsters into which people would purge their inner turmoil. They hated their bosses. They hated their lives. They would write it down and a small reading community would commiserate with them.
But blogs are more than that now. People rely on them for news. Blogs are now written by experts or pseudo-experts. They are sometimes-reputable places from which the growing internet community can access information. And you can find one on any given topic thanks to the all-powerful Google.
This is why lawsuits against bloggers are on the rise.
It's now pretty common practice for employers to Google prospective employees. And if your would-be-employer finds a blogpost calling you a thief or a maniac, even if they don't trust the information, it will at least give them pause.
Trial employment is increasingly rare. People want to know right away if you're fit for the job or not - no wasted time on training or getting to know you. One venomous blog post could ruin everything.
In a reputation economy , reputation is everything.
2 comments:
I think it's a really interesting point you bring up.
When questioning the credibility of blogging, I usually like to bring up the importance of reputation for newspapers too. Which publication do you trust? Who has more credibility? Newspapers work very hard at establishing and maintaining these things.
But in the print world, that reputation is what you need to get readers, advertising and a large circulation.
With blogs, the circulation is infite, and very little start-up capita is required.
When we were discussing fair use, the circulation was brought up. I think libel should be looked at in a similar context;
Is one person whispering "Clare is a slut who cheats on her work" to one other person? Are they telling several people bind Clare's back? Are they yelling it out in a roomful of Clare's acquaintances. Are they writing it up on a whiteboard where people who don't know Clare very well will see it? Or are they posting it in a place where anyone could find it?
I think that bloggers need to really take this into consideration. A blog is not just like a conversation.
I think that the lawsuits for libel set a good example. In journalism school, laws and defenses for libel are hammered into our heads, but this class is about citizen journalism, and about something that anyone can break into without that background.
But with that voice comes a lot of responsibility. You mentioned people's employability being at stake. Gossip is popularily considered a trashy thing to do, but yes, people do question whether some absurd statements might be true. More than that, people love god gossip.
It goes beyond taking care not to talk behind people's back. When you write, you have to realise that everything you post is going to a place where it is at the fingertips of billions of people.
And even if things are removed, there are still archiving resources like the Way Back Machine that do make everything you put on-line permanent.
Even if it is a culture of publish then select, you still need to be careful to read through what you do publish initially. As soon as you hit the publish button, anyone can stumble across it.
Oh, and for the record, Clare is actually a slut that cheats on her work. Plus she picks her nose. And eats it.
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