Watch what you blog…

As a fairly active blogger, I am always always quite impressed by the fact that ones opinion (or blog) can be readily accessible and also deemed as quite important… especially for those of us without any formal writing experience or training Free speech at work… got to love it!

But then, every now and then, an article gets posted that makes all bloggers sit up and take notice… and no, this is not an article about Google putting a man on the moon, or Microsoft funding the first manned flight to Jupiter… but rather something a lot more alarming that affects the very thing that many of us would-be “writers” (read bloggers) do on a daily basis… and that is being liable and accountable for what we write, and possibly even being thrown in jail for it! Yup, writing on a blog could land you in prison…

This article on the ABC News website, really made me sit up and start thinking a little more about what I write and especially who I write about.

The bottom line is that in the last 4 years, over 159 civil court actions have been taken against bloggers… with verdicts against bloggers ending up in cumulative penalties totalling $18.5 million!!! Yikes! Talk about clamping down on free speech… believe me, if I knew I was going to have to fork out a few million because of something I said, I would definitely start shutting up. And surely this reaction is the exact opposite reaction of what free speech, and hell, what the blogosphere is all about?!?!

Or maybe I am just overreacting… ? Well, read the article and let me know what you think.

Well, Hello Mister Jack….

No not the whiskey… although I do enjoy a dram or two on occasion… the reference is more towards “Jack of All Trades” and “master of… some” and the wide range of skill-sets that I pedal online…

My “real” name is Nick de Klerk and I have spent the last 11 years working in the Online and Interactive environment, from running a Web Development company to helping build websites, multimedia disks and consulting to clients across a broad spectrum of industries, from hospitality concerns to motor manufacturers.

Over the last three years though, I have focused predominantly on online marketing with the objective of maximising exposure for clients online and then tying this in with above and below the line media… which I believe is essential when getting a creative message or call to action base delivered to the relevant target markets… And of course have some fun in doing it too!

The Online Environment, and in general, my career path came about by accident as I had to do an internship for my Marketing Diploma practical at a company and happened to start at a fledgling Web Development company as a salesman… This was my first exposure to it (way back in 1996) and from day one I was hooked… I suppose you could say the rest is history and have forged my career by moving in the interactive circles ever since. So there you have it… who I am and what I can do as well as my brief history, in a nutshell…

If you want to find out more about me, please visit my official website: www.gmtacticians.co.za