"To b, or not to b: that is the question"

"To be, or not to be: that is the question" - William Shakespeare

To blog, or not to blog...that is the question which many would-be bloggers would ask before they start a blog.

Blogosphere has become so widespread and ever-increasingly popular that everyone who has something to say, will want to start a blog to express them. This would not have been possible without the Internet.

However, unprocessed, raw information overload is also taking readers more time to sieve through the countless blogs, to extract only useful and helpful information selectively.

Safe-surfing is also a major concern for parents whose young children use the Internet regularly to do research for their school projects.

Another fast growing trend is the social networking website such as Facebook, MySpace, Multiply, Friendster and several others.

According to AFP, top US state attorneys in San Francisco announced on May 8, 2008 that Facebook has agreed to get tougher on keeping its young website users safe from bullies, porn, paedophiles and other online hazards.

Facebook has agreed to a child protection pact similar to the one sealed with leading social-networking website MySpace in January, according to Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal.

"This agreement marks another milestone step for social networking safety -- protecting kids from online predators and pornography," Blumenthal said in a written release.

"We are raising the safety bar, first for MySpace and now Facebook, and soon for other sites as we fight for an industry gold standard. Facebook and MySpace are showing how to aim higher and keep kids safer."

A goal of the coalition headed by Blumenthal and his North Carolina counterpart Roy Cooper is the development and implementation of technology that verifies ages and identities of people using social networking websites.

The host of safety enhancements agreed to by Facebook includes severing links to pornographic websites and booting users linked to incest, paedophilia or "cyberbullying," according to Blumenthal.

Would Blogger, Wordpress, Livejournal and other blogsite providers adopt these surf-safe measures too?