Do you remember your middle school diary?

Dear Diary, today is day number 143 of my secret crush on Bobby. Today he looked at me twice and then asked to borrow my pencil. I think we are in love. We are going to get married and have 4 kids.

Well hopefully, you have grown out of your life-documenting diary days and have matured into keeping a journal, or better yet, a blog! Blogs are the diary of the 21st Century, and they can be awesome professional tools, as well as great ways to vent and let others know what is going on in your life.

There are several great blogging platforms out there including Blogspot, WordPress, and Xanga, and it only takes a couple of minutes to have one up and running. If you are internet savvy, you may think about building your own, but for the majority of us, these sites are the way to go.

One of the most important elements of your blog is its name. You want to let people know what they will be reading about before they even start. Think about an aspect of your personality that will be reflected in this blog or a topic that you would like to continually cover, and go from there.

Although you may not think about blogs in this context, they are great resume’ builders, and are easy ways to gain professional knowledge while you are still in college. Pick a subject that applies to your future career field and blog about topics related to that field, whether they be in the news or elsewhere. Then, when you apply for a job, employers can log onto your blog and discover that you really do know what you are talking about.

If you aren’t interested in starting a professional blog, other blogs are cool too. It’s nice to have a space to vent about life and share your opinions with the world. Just be careful about what you post. You don’t need to start making enemies through your blog. Think about who might see your writing, and go from there. Leave the crush documentation in your middle school diary. If you feel the dire urge to talk about it, call your best friend, don’t post it on the internet.