Audience

When writing online, you have a larger audience than you have ever had before. You are not writing papers for just me to read; you are writing them for your peers and whoever else happens upon your blog space.

Before writing, think carefully about your audience and how they will react to your thoughts on the topic at hand. If you are writing about obesity and how it is a terrible thing, keep in mind some people who read your blog may be obese themselves. If you are responding to a prompt question, keep in mind your readers don't know the prompt. Opening with "I don't agree with this because..." won't work, because your readers don't know what 'this' is. If you are writing about your novel, keep in mind that we haven't read your book. You are the expert on it and need to give enough information that we can all understand your personal responses to it and can therefore respond ourselves.

After writing, your audience will let you know what they were thinking about your post with comments on your blog. When making comments yourself, keep them brief and to the point. If your comment gets too long, it should be a post on your own blog space. Consider who is going to read your comment and also the writer of the original post. We wouldn't want to offend anyone.

Most importantly, just remember how big your audience is now. Plan ahead what you are writing. Choose words carefully. Give enough information so that readers from the outside will understand your writing. Organize your thoughts. Proofread for errors in grammar and mechanics. Consider your audience's viewpoints on a topic. All of these things we will continue to work on, but for now, we wouldn't want to sound uneducated or irresponsible in front of the whole world, would we?