Blog Etiquette

Just to make it perfectly clear from the outset, I am not here to preach how others should conduct themselves but I do find it very interesting the idea of having an ethical code of conduct for blogging and the use of social media.

In this article I explain how I go about blogging and my personal use of digital and social media. There is no official blog etiquette or ‘blogiquette’ as I will name it however there are some unwritten rules that the blog community use.

The important thing to remember is that each blog is the personal space of the individual or collective that blog there and as with house rules, each blog will live by a certain set of morals and behaviours so laying down a definitive etiquette will never be possible.

When I initially thought about and researched what I would include in this post I guess you could have said it was off of the back of frustration of not being treated as I would treat visitors to my website. A rant felt very fitting at the time. Instead I have looked more widely than my personal annoyance and decided that I would describe how I abide by my own set of blog ethics and what I deem as good practice. Instead I hope to raise an open debate on whether you agree with what I have to lay out, what additions you would add or whether there is anything you totally disagree with; I know I can be pig headed in my views at times and it absolutely has to be the law and everyone else is ‘rubbarsh!’ – As Vicky Pollard would say.

Did I really want to say that?

I always remember that what I write is going out to a World audience, okay so I am not that famous but you know what I mean. All and sundry can arrive at my blog and listen to what I have to say so it is very important that I don’t write anything that I am going to be truly embarrassed about, upset my friends and family, get criticised by work colleagues or worse get carted away by the local authorities. Coming across as a bedlamite ranting in front of a captive audience at Hyde Park Speakers’ Corner is not acceptable in a real or digital existence. This applies to not only writing blog posts but the comments I leave on others.

Only speak the truth

This is all very basic stuff, but you have to speak the truth and make sure that whatever you are talking about is well researched and you have the facts right. I know that I am not a trained journalist and that I write because I enjoy writing but nonetheless I ensure that I what I base my writing on is the truth as far as my knowledge or research has led me to believe. Lies and speculative content from lack of research will just devalue my integrity and all of the hard work that has been put in on previous posts. Nobody is interested in guff and lies. I will always retract a statement or change content in keeping with new information as it is presented to me. It is also with great pleasure to receive information from someone if what I have written is found to be inaccurate.

Linking, the joy of hyperlinks

I want visitors to my blog to enjoy an experience online and share in what I enjoy and hopefully get as much pleasure out of it as I do. If what I am writing about has been written about by someone elsewhere or they are able to get further information from a website that I have visited and are commenting on then I will make sure that I have linked to that website or referenced that person. There is no shame in linking off to other websites, I have no fear that I am directing readers away from my website; in fact I believe it works in my favour. In this giving of information or allowing the reader to explore first hand what I am writing about I am providing a better experience.

I like to think that I am a typical blog reader and I know that it is appreciated when links are given to other references in articles that I am reading and that I continue to read the article to the end as well as diverting off to the provided links. The added perk of linking out is that it is welcomed by Google and other search engines and if it is seen that you are linking to relative information in context to the content that is written in your own website then this bolsters rankings.

Although receiving links to my website from others is fantastic and improves my credibility and authority on a subject, I do not expect anything from linking to others. I link freely to anything relevant or referenced in what I write and if I am unfortunate enough to never receive a link from anyone else then obviously what I am writing is crap. But I enjoy it anyway so it isn’t a problem. This leads on nicely to…

Attribute your sources

If I have used something of someone else’s or quoted them I make sure that they are attributed in my blog post. Lack of acknowledgment to someone’s work that has been replicated, quoted or used in part is plagiarism. I also make sure that if I have been inspired by someone else then they will get a mention too, this is not particularly necessary but it falls under the joy of hyperlinks. They deserve a mention and the experience is improved for my readership.

The etiquette of commenting

This is the crux of blogiquette. Comments are where social media, in my opinion come into there own. If I have written an article that I am proud of and spent time constructing and someone comments on it then, to me, this is the chai tea before bedtime (…that means it’s a good thing by the way if it is unclear!). Someone has continued the conversation, added to the discussion or simply said thanks for the article or mention. In my book it would be pretty rude if I didn’t reply back. Isn’t this what social media is all about, conversing with one another? I bang on about this a lot and if you haven’t worked it out by now (here we go cat out of the bag) but this is where that rant stemmed from. It is time to control it again.

Let’s now spin this on its head, when I write comments on other people’s blog posts I will try to add to the conversation or give encouragement or thank the blogger for the mention. However I see no need in posting up something along the lines of ‘nice article’ or ‘yeah like he said’ as this is completely worthless and falls under shameless self promotion. I say shameless self promotion because posting a comment normally allows for a link back to your own site. I also ensure that my uses of language in comments are in keeping with the type of website that it is and the style and language used on that website.

Cross the “T’s” and dot the “I’s”

Unless abroad, unable to use a spellchecker as I found myself earlier this month then you can be assured of the fact that each of my posts will be spell checked. I do make mistakes and grammatical errors but I ensure that everything is looking ship–shaped before I publish and I pride myself in making sure posts are read, reread and self edited. My personal tolerance for poor spelling and grammar is grim, and I know some will be even stricter and hang their heads in shame at my efforts. Because of this I am hard on myself to make sure that I cross the “T’s” and dot the “I’s” so that you will get more pleasure from what I have to write.

[Read more] [Read more] [Read more]

This last section could be filed under better accessibility understanding for the website but I am going to include it as another type of etiquette that I adhere to because it is propriety towards those that may traverse through my website using a screen reader. On the homepage of DigiKev are the latest blog posts, a snippet of the article. After each I provide a link to the main article which normally reads something along the lines of ‘Read more on <particular name of the article>’ rather than just a mere ‘Read more’ link. Imagine using a screen reader and tabbing through link after link of ‘Read more’, ‘Read more’, ‘Read more’ – Read more of what?! It would be a joke and very rude too, so I don’t do it. I make sure that links within my website all hold relevancy to information they are linking to.

And that is it, my personal mantra or golden rules if you like of how I conduct myself as a blogger. As I mentioned at the start of this article, I would be very pleased to hear what you think and anything that is in your personal etiquette vocabulary.

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Inspirations, guidance and helpful research for this post - Thank you

mama’s guide to etiquette | Etiquette for the Blogging Nation | Melissa Waters - Blog Etiquette | Lisa Williams - Blog Etiquette

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Tags: Blog Etiquette, blog etiquette rules, blog writing etiquette, Blogging, blogging etiquette, blogiquette, etiquette blogging