100 Million Blogs and Growing

Everyone has a blog. Don't believe me? There are now more than 100 million blogs out there, according to the BBC and other sources. That doesn't even count the more than 200 million blogs that have been abandoned. Anyone who doesn't currently have a blog has either abandoned their blog, ghostwrites someone else's blog or occasionally serves as a guest blogger.

Ok, I'm exaggerating by saying that everyone has a blog, but not by much. The fact is that the number of blogs is skyrocketing every day, with millions of blogs per month being added to the so-called blogosphere. So why are there so many blogs, and who is reading them?

The blog has largely replaced the personal website as the way to carve out a little corner of the internet to display pictures and insight into the personal lives of people from all walks of life. The blog has become the homepage, the base of communications and has even replaced the advertising of some companies. Consumers can get a better idea about the management of a company by looking at its blog. Doctors, lawyers and other professionals now keep blogs to keep their name out there and their clients' interest. My dentist now has a blog, allowing me to keep up with his blurry vacation photos, irrelevant facts about his family and boring information about his practice if I want to, which I don't.

The problem with this many blogs is that while they fulfill their individual purposes, most of them tend to be unremarkable. The ones that are interesting and worth reading have far more interesting fare than where the blogger went shopping last weekend and what they will make for dinner. I have now caved and created my own blog, which is interesting only to me. And for my personal blog, that's all I really want out of it.

The key to an interesting blog is posts that contain some aspect of originality, not to mention humor. There are enough blogs out there that contain these elements to make the whole shebang worthwhile. Unfortunately, with more than 100 million blogs out there, they can be tough to find. When I ghostwrite blogs, I try to make them personal, to create a personality that shines through the blog along with some information interesting enough to bring people back to read more. Those are the kinds of blogs I like to read, and the ones that seem the hardest to find.

Looking through sites like Technorati can help you find your way through the blog jungle. It allows a search through millions of blogs, sorting them by topic and popularity. This provides a great way to find some interesting ones in various topics that you likely wouldn't have run across on your own. There are definitely interesting and funny blogs out there if you take the time to look for them. Just stay away from any blog run by a dentist.