'Letting off steam' on blogs could get you a criminal record

This is not a work-related area, but it's possible scenario, if the work blogger is far from careful.

As reported by the BBC yesterday:

A blogger who "let off steam" about the way he was treated by police has been convicted of posting a grossly offensive and menacing message.

Gavin Brent, 24, from Holywell, Flintshire, was fined £150 with £364 costs by magistrates at Mold.

The court heard Brent had been charged with theft offences - which have yet to be dealt with - and posted a message about a police officer's new-born baby.

Magistrates said any reasonable person would find the comments menacing.

See Blogger fined for 'menacing' rant for more details.

The world's 50 most powerful blogs

Blogs seemed to have fallen off the list of popular news items in recent months, so it was a bit of a surprise to see The Observer run a top 50 of what it believes to be the world's 50 most powerful blogs.

Despite most media outlets raving about social networking sites from just about every conceivable angle, the article suggests - "blogging has never been bigger. It can help elect presidents and take down attorney generals while simultaneously celebrating the minutiae of our everyday obsessions."

To see what the fuss is about see The world's 50 most powerful blogs by Jessica Aldred, Amanda Astell, Rafael Behr, Lauren Cochrane, John Hind, Anna Pickard, Laura Potter, Alice Wignall and Eva Wiseman.

By Google thy (may) become undone

This story broke last week, but I've hardly had chance to do any blogging recently.

The news that employers are increasingly judging job applicants on 'Internet reputations' came to me as I lay in bed half-a-sleep listening to the news on BBC FiveLive (BBC FiveLive covered the same story in September - see here).

Later in the week Personnel Today reported on the very same issue - see Employers use 'internet reputations' to make decisions about job applicants by Mike Berry.

It appears that employers have reacted in a negative and positive fashion to (mainly) young people who use social community sites such MySpace and Facebook.

The positive responses surround content that is said to be 'appropriate' and 'presented in the right way'.

Negative responses concern rejecting applicants base on 'dubious personal information found online'.

The article contains more details than reviewed in this post.

My advice to those who would prefer an employer NOT to find out about their 'on-line life' would be to avoid letting any employer know your on-line nickname.

What is more, it would be unwise to use a web-based Internet email address used in such situations as a way of communicating with employers - email addresses can also be Googled!