A colleague of mine ended a recent communication with the phrase “So, let us talk, but let it be with no predetermined outcome.” A lovely phrase, a tenet for good conversation, but seemingly nothing to do with blogging. After all, as another friend said to me, “By posting your articles, you set the subject of conversation. If I want I can respond, but not really change the subject (or can I?). If I set up my own blog, as you suggested, we could have a conversation on my topics of choice, but it's a bit two-times-removed, if you see what I mean.” Indeed, she's right: I do set the subject of conversation. I have complete control over my blog. My friend can't change the subject unless I let her. I can say anything I want, but she can't because I can delete her responses if I don't like them. On that basis it seems blogging is a conversation where the outcome is very much predetermined!
Or is it? In my blog I am indeed master of my domain. But I am not master of the whole Internet. There are millions of bloggers out there just like me. This is why I think that blogging really is a form of conversation. Let me explain.
Blogs, unlike most normal web pages, explicitly address the problem of time. My blog entry will always tell you when it was posted. I don't have to say “Today (March 9th, 2002) I washed the dog”. It's obvious when I washed the dog from the posting date. Also, if I am discussing a topic I have read about in someone else's blog then I will refer you to it by linking to its URI. I don't have to quote it, I can refer you directly to the original. These two elements alone make blogging a conversation: a linked exchange of views over time. David Sifry's touches on this topic in his post tracking the growth of blogs (look at those numbers!) when he says “Blogs are reviving the lost art of civilized civic dialogue—of argument, of well reasoned thought and response.”
Now things get really interesting. It's not just people who are reading blogs. There are automated tools out there crawling blogs, in the same way that search engines crawl websites. These tools are analysing people's blog entries. How many people are talking about which topics? Whose blog is being read the most? What were people talking about this time last week, last month, or last year? My nephew/niece will be able to find out what people were talking about on the day he or she was born. To see what I mean, visit blogdex, daypop or memeorandum. Try technocrati to find out the most popular weblogs, the most talked about news stories, or the most talked about books. As always, I invite your comments!
