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The Wall Street Journal ran an article today to discuss the role of blogging, in honor of the upcoming ten-year anniversary of the first blog. The piece could use a bit more diversity. Of the twelve commentators, only three are actually bloggers. Most of the rest are political and media personalities, some of whom see blogs as competitors and emphasize the negatives of the medium. As a result, the commentary is dominated by talk of political activism and celebrity gossip. I am not sure why contributions were solicited from Newt Gingrich and Tom Wolfe, and the blogger selections could be much better.
In an accompanying article, two managers from Blogger.com, this site's platform, discuss changes in the medium since Blogger's debut in 1999. It provides a useful counterbalance to the overly politics-oriented discussion in the main article. Blogs are essentially communication tools. A relatively small number of bloggers use their sites to engage in high-level political activism, but most write for small audiences, either in specialized niches (like this one) or on highly personal sites. Every blog is different, because each reflects the interests and temperament of its writer (or writers, in the case of group blogs). As such, the blogosphere defies generalization - either in terms of content or quality.
(links via coturnix, who also recommends 55 essential articles about blogging)
