As I surf the weblogs I know and explore new ones, I find there are different types of blogs and they interest me differently. Here's the beginning of a list of blog types:
- Industry Expert blogs. I don't like the tone of these blogs usually. They are too practical. Too designed to impress. Too constrained. Too professional. They tend to use industry jargon. Too serious. Not entertaining enough. The problem is that the blogger is controlling the content for effect. His career is on the line here. She doesn't want to drive away potential customers perhaps. He doesn't want to offend other important players in his field. But, if this is my field, then an ambitious and high-quality blog may be worth my while. It's *free* information and commentary, afterall.
- Personal Journals. If the person is a good writer and has an interesting life, is likeable and opinionated and a good observer, this can be quite a great blog. Naturally, most personal journals don't manage to meet all these criteria - but it's always a treat to find one that does it for me. Here it seems that the blogger is writing for him or herself and wants to get stuff out. They seem pretty oblivious to possible negative consequences of expressing provocative opinions or revealing negative material about themselve. I'm afraid that an illusion of anonymity and safety is in operation and that sometimes that illusion is shattered and the level and extent of disclosure may drop off.
- Soap Box blogs. These only work for me if I share the values and assumptions of the Soap Box blogger. If I do, I might vicariously enjoy it or get ideas about something I'm interested in. But for the rest, I don't want to be preached to.
- Rant Blogs. These have to be really funny, not just angry and ring true for me a lot. Make me aware of my own complaints that were being rolled over by mainstream society. It could be for example a feminist who rants about something and then I realize, yeah, that's right. How dare they? This can be good if you've been putting up with bad treatment and not really realizing that you deserve better so that you can put a stop to it, avoid it or at least say "Hey, I don't like that!"
- Passionate Amateurs. If a passionate amateur is blogging on something I'm interested in and he's a good blogger, this is my favorite type of blog. He or she doesn't have an axe to grind and really is sharing out of sheer enthusiasm. The enthusiasm is contageous. The information is often better than you get from the mainstream press because it's more personalized with authentic voice. It's not homogenized. It's not professionalized and objectified. It doesn't have an institutional bias.
- News Blogs. I especially like these when they are well put together and have lots of good stories about topics that interest me.
- Link Blogs. If the subject is especially intriguing like SmartMobs, I like these. But they tend to the sterile side and don't have much personal voice.