RIP: Kiki's Blog

Some of you may remember that my friend Kiki is the one who first got me interested in blogging. About 6 months ago, Kiki blogged about work, a humorous essay that didn't mention her company or her coworkers by name. Recently, she mentioned that post to a few coworkers--and they mentioned it to a few more coworkers. Next thing she knew, Kiki was in her boss's office, finding out that the company's CEO had read that post and was not amused in the slightest. He asked her to delete that post and never write about work again.

So Kiki took down her blog. I was sad when she told me, although I understood her company's position. It's a reminder to all bloggers that when we write, our words are part of the public domain, and anyone with a computer can view them. It's a hard balance for personal bloggers; we want to be able to write about our lives and the issues and events that matter to us, but doing so can cause problems when our words are taken out of context or read by people we didn't intend to see them.

I have a hunch, though, that Kiki's not done blogging. I don't think she'll write about work again, and she'll probably withhold some of the details about her identity, but I think she's too fond of the blogosphere to leave it for long.