personal blogging as a web professional
April 17, 2007
As I’ve said before, I read a lot of blogs. At this time, I use Google Reader to aggregate my feeds, and thoroughly enjoy it. I typically mark the blogs I actually like to visit from an aesthetic perspective with a different tag, so that I can go and look at the site itself when time allows. In any case, the blogs I read are typically about faith/spirituality, art, business, or the web (anything from design to development to cool stuff and beyond). And I like that. But some of these blogs mix some or more of these categories.
As it is developing, my blog does and will probably increasingly mix the world of faith/spirituality/theology with the world of the web/design/development. It is a core belief of mine that the two worlds have much to say to each other, and much to learn from each other. This brings up some interesting thoughts and questions. Is it appropriate for me, as a web professional, to blog about, for example, theology? What if someone, from either world, doesn’t like the mixture? Does the mixture hurt me professionally? Can it help me professionally?
“Conventional wisdom,” as much of it as there can be with the relatively small age of blogging, says that professional bloggers should stay away from things that could be controversial, or too personal. Especially if they are freelancers, or searching for a job. Meaning, of course, religion and politics, among other things. I talk about both. I’m not freelancing at the moment, or searching for a job, but the idea still gives me pause. In searching the web, one finds people on both sides of this question. Many web professionals who blog are quite open about their personal lives (just to list a few), and for a more specific reference, the Godbit Project exists to merge theology and technology. Others have almost nothing to say about their personal lives, whether from lack of time or other reasons.
While I’m not sure what I think about this question, I intend to continue blogging about the things I want to blog about. I want to observe what effect, if any, it has on my professional life, specifically freelance as time allows.