On blogging

There are blogs and there are blogs. How many blogs are there? Of course we can't really know because there is no way of counting accurately. When asking Google to respond, it linked me to this article in the blogherald from last year which gave an out-dated number of 112.8million not including the 72.82million at least in China. I can only surmise that the vast majority of these blogs have readership levels approximate to my own. (I'm speaking to myself here!) On the other hand, there is popularity: in the range of 500,000+ readers, e.g Zen Habits. That's more than the 327,937 daily sold circulation of the Guardian. I've done a quick search to find the established list of 'Most Read Blogs in the World 2009' but there is no list I can find so far. (Anyone know?). It's a fascinating idea of course, that something so personal and immediate can, by dint of simple 'word-of-links' and consistent quality entries build to what is equivalent to a national paper.

For the rest of us however, we can be happy to use our blogettes for purposes more humble and utilitarian. The students I work with in LCC have started their own and some of them have already built up a series of great entries which has set me thinking about my own. How can I make the most use of this space? What does it do for me? What do I say? For me, it's about finding a voice by building a series of tagged and articulated 'thoughts' (entries). It's a way of remembering out loud... of not just liking or bookmarking something, but committing it to one's own space. I'm guessing here, but maybe blogs are the contemporary version of songs, jokes, doodles, photo albums and letter-writing. We don't have that direct contact with family/friends/colleagues and community as before, but we are of course the same creatures. We can get to know ourselves and each other in different ways now, and maybe blogs are one of them?