because every time I open up PP in internet explorer, I get some kind of warning about a time consuming Flash script, and then IE has to be restarted.

I think it was Plato that said “Man invented language to satisfy his deep need to complain” and perhaps the logical progression implies that many blogs are an extension of that need to rant, complain and attempt to communicate to others what they are feeling inside.

I feel unable to answer this question from an objective perspective of why do ‘People’ blog…that is hard and almost impossible, because there are thousands of sub-compartments of blogging, and thousands of reasons why different individuals feel like blogging by scribing their thoughts into a computer…
Salam Pax blogged for different reasons than Mr Smith on the train, what’s the point quantifying or comparing them?…If we are to take each blog separately as it’s own entity, we could then examine the reasons and aims for individual blogs, rather than asking an all-encompassing question, which due to being drenched in generality, will most likely never be answered properly anyway, because there are far too many ways to answer it.

I guess the cynic in me wants to say that I feel it’s largely an entertainment-based time-killing intellectual, textual exercise that sharpens an individual’s ability to write more clearly or fluidly, make statements, justify points, feel less lonely, feel more confident in oneself and also feel like part of an active community that is constantly evolving and ‘doing stuff’.

I reckon the need for people to have their own personal thoughts validated by others is probably a big factor, as is the soap-opera style gang-siege tribal debates that take place and give each person a ‘side’ to be on with one group or the other. It’s like a sport for lazy people, in which you can hide behind a mask in the comfort of your living room and argue and disagree rather than work towards a collective solution. After all, the aim quickly becomes to win an argument, not find an answer, so this idealistic idea of a collective conversation in which people are helping each other find a common working ground is largely an illusion.

Isn’t it obvious that people who write and create blogs would naturally feel a psychological need to defend their intentions, perhaps exaggerate and amplify the power and consequences of their blogs, when in reality…blogs are largely un-regulated (in a negative fact-check sense) and most people reading them understand that the author is usually not versed in 5 years of NUJ-Journalism and therefore perhaps not to write on a matter objectively or have the resources to do proper investigative reporting/work? Can we trust the individual, when he/she is obviously trying to increase the appeal of the article or post? With nobody to check the blogger, the blogger could go crazy with power.

Anyway, I guess it is in a premature form right now and I believe it’s going to really take off in the future in terms of access, breaking stories, audience market share ETC, but I can’t help but feel that in this climate of everybody being too egotistical to admit that they don’t know the answers to all things or understand certain history, that we will end up with a movement of people that shout from the rooftops that they armed with facts, when this couldn’t be further from the truth. They will start campaigns and letter-writing from their bedrooms, but neglect the practical human social-interaction steps that are much more important than simply intellectualizing or ‘debating’ on a Sunday afternoon.

And anyway isn’t blogging different to real-life? That’s what I would like to know. I dislike the way that everybody is an expert on all topics these days, everyone has their list of pre-prepared quotes and endless WebPages to defend their points and an arrogant, smug, self-righteous attitude about knowledge of information.

So are we asking why do people read and write in Political Blogs? It’s a whole different affair, I would be willing to bet £1000 that people who do wish to engage in active, practical political action are not going to spend all day reading blogs, because blogs are filled with the political obsessives, who basically do nothing but play-fight ideological theoreticals in blog forums all day long, without really doing anything about it in real-life. These are the worst kinds of hypocrites, because they write so beautifully about what needs to be done, and then never do it.

Or, perhaps I have misunderstood this entire question and we are having a collective discussion about MSM Vs the Bloggers, in which case the situation gets even more problematic….

It’s not the be-all and end-all of journalism, but hurrah for blogging. Whatever the reason for it.

I think the real reason why newspaper columnists hate bloggers is because power is gradually shifting to the hands of the well-organised masses.

In a nutshell that’s it.

I think to focus on blogging is bit narrow; blogging is one aspect of social media. Wiki’s, user generated video, social networking, podcasting, blogging, these are the new tools for the 21st century agents of change.

I think that if you were to choose two words that people today use almost daily that they had never used or had even heard of five years ago, the words would probably be “iPod” and “blog”. Just a few years ago, blogs were relatively rare. Now there are millions. They’re devoted to every topic imaginable, from football to flower arranging, from Big Brother to Big Bands. There are some 37m blogs in the world, with a new blog created every second, yes, every second.

Like the iPod, having your own blog is fast becoming a status symbol. It is therefore no surprise that politicians are getting wise to the potential of the blog as a means of engaging with the electorate in a fast and efficient manner. Modern politics and government are changing in a fundamental way. Politicians need to become more transparent, more open in their dealings with the electorate. The internet, and interactive tools like blogs, are ways of achieving the greater transparency and openness that the public not only wants but demands. People all over the world are embracing new technology and unless politicians do the same they risk losing a vital link with the people they are trying to reach.

I think one of the main reasons that blogs have taken off is that they take the media out of the hands of the corporate world and put it into the hands of anyone with a computer and an internet connection. Yes – this is a good thing.