Pros & cons of sharing your blog with family & friends

I have two blogs:

1. This one, which most everyone who knows me knows about
2. One that no one knows about, because I haven’t shared it with anyone

Both feel different when I run them, because no one knows about the second one. It’s weird, kind of in a good way.

Pros

Sharing something you’re proud of with the people closest to you is natural. Here are some benefits to that.

Support system

Depending on your goals for running a blog, sharing your blog with your friends and family might lead to a built-in support system of people sharing your new blog posts with their friends.

The keyword here is might, because your friends and family might not. That’s always a risk. A lot of people might not understand the point of your blog.

But there might also be people who do.

No anxiety about being found out

Having a secret blog comes with this air of, like, What if someone sees this?

You’re kind of living in this will-they-won’t-they trope, wondering if they’ll bring it up in conversation or if you’ll give it away.

Nosy people increasing your traffic

If you blog about your life at all, nosy people in your life — even from a distance — will lurk your blog. This will contribute to traffic, so it’s not a huge deal unless they begin interacting with your posts.

Cons of sharing your blog with people you know

Of course…there are cons to consider, especially if you’re not close to your family or they have ignored your boundaries in the past.

Abusive people in your life will weaponize your words

It happened to me. I didn’t realize the toxic people in my life were also abusive, so I ignored them for too long. Over time, they used what they learned about me against me.

If you’re starting a blog now, or wondering if now is a good time to share your blog, and you’re unsure about the motives of people in your life…hold off until you know for sure.

Too many disabled people have lost their autonomy and independence because they posted things online that loved ones used against them as evidence for guardianship.

People might not like what they read

Blogging about your life brings certain risks. A lot of people prefer their privacy and wouldn’t want you blogging about them — at all, even anonymously.

If you blog about topics like trauma and mental health, neurodiversity, or things your family doesn’t talk about, you’re bound to stir the pot in big, negative ways.

Blogging about trauma upsets families who don’t like their “dirty laundry” aired everywhere. Blogging about your mental health publicly, when your family views mental illness as “spiritual illness” will cause problems.

Running an anonymous blog is one thing. For the most part, no one will be aware of it as long as you don’t share it in places they frequent and stay as unknown as possible.

Blogging shouldn’t disrupt your personal life, however. Your blog shouldn’t ruin your life, relationships or overall wellbeing. Instead, a blog should enrich your life and/or improve your life — again, depending on your goals.

Blogging might affect your work

Let’s say you have the kind of job role where your behavior reflects that of your employer’s, and you blog about topics that don’t align with your employer’s values. Maybe you work at Chick-fil-A and blog about LGBT+ rights. 💁‍♀️

Or you work at a church and embrace acceptance of other faiths on your blog.

You see where I’m going with this?

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Ultimately, choosing to share your blog with your friends and family members is a choice only you can make. No one knows your life better than you.

If you want to blog anonymously, then do that. If you don’t want to hide your blog, then don’t.

Either way, do consider your own pros and cons of what could happen if people in your personal life knew about your online goings-on.

As for my second blog…I do intend to share it later; I’m just waiting for the right time. It’s an experiment; I’m keen to see how quickly I can grow a particular type of blog.