Travel Blog

[Nancy O]

I am preparing for a girl's trip of 3 . Two of us are talking about blogging our trip. The third will participate but is fairly neutral about the whole thing. I'm trying t figure out the best way to go about doing it. We are fairly active on Facebook. This would likely be a one time deal or just something we do annually. We usually get together to party and eat once a year. We have no interest in making any money. It is just for fun. Any thoughts on the best way to do this beyond the frequent FB post?

 

[BadPinkTink]

set up a free blog on https://www.blogger.com/ All you need is a gmail account and you can create a free and easy to use blog.

 

[Imzadi]

set up a free blog on https://www.blogger.com/ All you need is a gmail account and you can create a free and easy to use blog.

Agree. Either Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. They are the two of the longest running & successful free bloggers' sites. Free Wordpress.com should not be confused with Wordpress.org which is their paid side of the site, for professional bloggers.

It just depends on the different features and free templates you want to choose from. What's nice about Wordpress is that they have a text box format, similar to the one the DIS uses when you create a post. No needing to learn any fancy webpage coding. Blogger.com's text bar slightly different. I think Wordpress also has more free templates to choose from.

You can set up each with privacy settings, allowing only the 3 of you to add content, and also limit the amount of people who will actually see it.

Both have no intrusive or annoying ads you have to have just to have a free blog. Wordpress just adds a single line at the bottom of each webpage. And you can change the size of the font for it to make it small. I think it's a fair trade for a free blog.

Sign up for both, then play around with the sites & templates and make up some test practice posts. You don't have to publish anything. And you can keep the blogs totally private as the three of you play around, figuring which you like better. You can rename the blog, and also delete any posts or the whole blog at any time.

 

[_19disnA]

Why not just post some pics/stories on Facebook if this is a one-time thing or even annually and probably already have 'friends' who follow you? I personally don't think people should publish vacation pictures on any public website WHILE on vacation, not a good idea to tell the whole world you house is empty while you are out of town.

 

[Nancy O]

Agree. Either Blogger.com or Wordpress.com. They are the two of the longest running & successful free bloggers' sites. Free Wordpress.com should not be confused with Wordpress.org which is their paid side of the site, for professional bloggers.

It just depends on the different features and free templates you want to choose from. What's nice about Wordpress is that they have a text box format, similar to the one the DIS uses when you create a post. No needing to learn any fancy webpage coding. Blogger.com is a little different. I think they also have more free templates to choose from.

You can set up each with privacy settings, allowing only the 3 of you to add content, and also limit the amount of people who will actually see it.

Both have no intrusive or annoying ads you have to have just to have a free blog. Wordpress just adds a single line at the bottom of each webpage. And you can change the size of the font for it to make it small. I think it's a fair trade for a free blog.

Sign up for both, then play around with the sites & templates and make up some test practice posts. You don't have to publish anything. And you can keep the blogs totally private as the three of you play around, figuring which you like better. You can rename the blog, and also delete any posts or the whole blog at any time.

Thanks-those are some excellent tips.

 

[Imzadi]

Why not just post some pics/stories on Facebook if this is a one-time thing or even annually and probably already have 'friends' who follow you?

A little FYI: Any photos and content you post on Facebook, you give permission to Facebook to OWN your photos. It's on a page in the fine print for joining. Doesn't matter if you posted the pic to a private account or group page. They can then do what they want with the photos, like share or sell them to the now Cambridge Analytica, or their sponsors, or just sell them to monetize their site. Say the OP and the girls snap & post a great pic of them having the time of their lives on a jet ski. Facebook could conceivably sell the photo to a jet ski company or just share the pic on a jet ski FB page.

Don't think it can happen? Yeah, we didn't ever think selling all our private stats & info to Cambridge Analytica would happen either. Someone just posted on the DIS a FB thread about seeing info about strangers she didn't even ASK for, hunt down or want to see. FB is doing it as a way to "connect" all FB users together. They just don't get it about privacy issues, about how people want some control about keeping their info safe & private. It used to be, if someone wanted to stalk someone, they had to put in some time & effort to hunt out the info. FB has instead made it a free for all, whether you wanted the info or not.

 

[_19disnA]

^^ My main point was the OP probably already has a 'friends' network on FB and wouldn't need to rebuild that on some other website with her new blog. I don't perceive any one platform as more/less secure then any other.

I personally don't see why people post things on ANY public website if they truly want it to be private regardless of which one it is. Some people want their lives to be an online diary, but to each their own.

 

[Imzadi]

I personally don't see why people post things on ANY public website if they truly want it to be private regardless of which one it is. Some people want their lives to be an online diary, but to each their own.

Maybe you missed where I said:

You can set up each with privacy settings, allowing only the 3 of you to add content, and also limit the amount of people who will actually see it.

I know for Wordpress.com that one can just list the exact people they wish to read the blog. The person then has to log into Wordpress to even get into the blog. Another, more informal way, is that only people with the link to the blog URL can FIND and read it. One does NOT have to publicly list it, can hide it from Search Engine Optimization for Google/Bing/etc., searches, or even have it totally unlisted on the Wordpress site. Assuming her readers don't go posting the URL all over the place, the blog would stay relatively private to only those knowing about it.

They can ask readers to not post, pin or tweet pics, in which people may or may nor obey. Yet, that is NOT at all the same as Facebook OWNING the pics and declaring they can and will do whatever they want with the pics.

If you do Pinterest, everyone own the copyright to one's own pics, which is the general LAW for copyrights in the U.S., unless one signs away their rights to their own pics, which is what FB makes members "willingly" do in the fine print, when one joins up as a member. Whereas, ANY photo/pin can and will be taken down on Pinterest (and I believe I've seen it happen on Twitter too,) when the copyright owner asks/demands the photo be removed, as they follow U.S. copyright laws.

 

[Imzadi]

BTW OP: Another tip is, on Wordpress, you can actually TIME when you want posts published. Professional bloggers do this all the time. They may publish a new post every Friday at 8am. Yet, they do not have to be up or even on their computer to publish the post. They can have a series of posts ready to go and time release them when they want. So one gets posted at 8am this week, and another they already have lined up for the next week.

This may work for you gals, as you can write to your blog posts throughout the day, keeping the details fresh & spontaneous - but unpublished. But, wait till you are back at the hotel later that evening, when you are settled in for the night, then publish the post for family & friends. This way, the girls aren't constantly online throughout the day, checking on new comments as they are posted, instead of staying in the moment on vacation. It won't be like posting to Twitter. (They will still see any new comments for previous posts. But, hopefully the hubbub will have died down some as friends wait for the new posts of the day.)

Alternately, you can wait to publish all the posts once you come back. Maybe publish a post a day, in sequence of your vacation, only a couple weeks delayed, for when you three are back home.

And if you don't want your blog up year around, but only want it up for a few months right after vacation, and again up the following year, so people can read last year's along with the current year, you can revert back to unpublished (not sure what happens to all the comments,) or, I think, even "hide" posts until you want them seen again. OR you can change the setting of the blog to totally private. Only the 3 creators are allowed in.

 

[_19disnA]

FB also allows for privacy settings. I am not interested in quibbling with you about which product is better/safer/etc...., but was offering my input for the OP. She is welcome to take any input being provided and do what makes the most sense for her.

 

[Nancy O]

^^ My main point was the OP probably already has a 'friends' network on FB and wouldn't need to rebuild that on some other website with her new blog. I don't perceive any one platform as more/less secure then any other.

I personally don't see why people post things on ANY public website if they truly want it to be private regardless of which one it is. Some people want their lives to be an online diary, but to each their own.

Exactly. Some people hate the thought of a photo of themselves being posted. I think it is very important to respect that. The third person is probably not going to want to have her photo on there at all which is fine. Me, I'm an open book and have no shame.