Joho the Blog: Readers and friends

That is, Weblogs are a relationship tool, and for me, a far less daunting tool than the “traditional” one (which is: living and being yourself and finding opporties to know and to be known). Weblogs bypass the worry (if you ever find yourself doing so, like I do) that we will come across as self-absorbed in trying too hard to let people know who we are (kind of like playing our music really loud in our car with the windows rolled down). In Weblogs, it’s the expectation that here is our “platform of me”, and it is where people look for others with whom they can identify. It’s powerful stuff.

Weinberger:Weblogs filter readers the way people filter friends. That is, to the extent to which a weblog is a personal expression — leaving out some of the more “professional” blogs — the weblog attracts readers for the same sorts of reasons that people make friends.
Mass media write for mass audiences. Bloggers write for people who know them.