Why is everyone jumping on the blogging bandwagon?

In other words, what are the advantages of blogging?
Here are some ideas:

'Filter-style’ blogging saves time for its readers.

Instead of surfing the web for the whole picture of a particular news

subject, they can read up on blogs that provide a summation and editorial on the topic.

Blogging gives people a voice.

Suddenly the ordinary man has a place to say what they think, and participate in the process of forming a conclusion or opinion. The experience of turning from ‘audience’ into ‘public’ is powerful.

(‘An audience is passive; a public is participatory’: Greg Ruggiero, Immediast Underground).

Blogging helps you discover yourself.

When I started my ‘journal-style’ blog, I was surprised at the subjects I gravitated towards.

One of my friends is always blogging about music and food.

“Makes me happy,” she says. And that’s what blogging does for many people.

Blogging builds personal confidence.

If I write every day, I'd become a more confident writer.

When my blogs receive positive comments, it’s an assurance of my news value, writing style, and perspective.

Here’s a good one: ‘Ideally, he [the public] will become less reflexive and more reflective’ (Blood, 2000).

Once I heard a young woman say, “When I dump my anger, and frustrations on my blog, I don’t think about it anymore. I’ve dealt with it.”

A thought: while ‘free-style blogs’ is ‘free expression’ in genre, it's not a place for spouting expletives at your boss. Blogging may be personal but anything that is put out there for the world to see is not meant to be private.