5,002,014 blogs maybe, but 4,950,000 of those are still 13-year old girls bitching about how their on/off boyfriend is, like, so immature.

I have posted a link to this article on the Bloggers and Personal page of the Free Republic at http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/1299326/posts . Aside from the except of the first three paragraphs, my initial comment was: "Outstanding comment on communities like FR (and DU too). Vanderleun has put his finger right on the pulse."

But it only takes one blog to make a difference. Just ask LGF. Or Powerline. Or Instapundit. Or...

It's a great story. And I really feel vindicated, because I stumbled on an almost identical number simply by doing the math back in March when debunking a really lame CNN/AP story with the headline, "Study: Very few bloggers on Net".

I asked the Moderator to pull the Bloggers and Personal post after I saw you had posted the item on the News/Activism forum.

sortapundit, the 4.95 million teenie blogs you cite are PART of the that urge to open up that this essay discusses. And I would argue that they ALL make a difference - to the blogger.

I just saw a post some kid had left on a school blog in which she said (rather wistfully, I felt) "you must be a cool teacher to use a blog so creatively. when I had English 9 last year, there were no blogs." Then she referred the reader to visit her blog.

Made me think of the tagline current when I was at college: "Yesterday I couldn't spell enjineer, and today I are one..."

Yup. You're still the best :-)

The youthful bloggers will, in time, become the wave of advanced blogging tomorrow. Much like growing up with a PC.....something my generation did not do.....growing up with a blog will almost insure the writer will advance as maturity/education dictates to more advanced blogging groups.....though most certainly there is nothing to indicate if those bloggers will be redneck auto mechanics/educators/engineers/or perhaps frustrated would-be journalists.

Duke of DeLand
http://pekinprattles.blogspot.com

Whether it's 50k influential blogs or 5 million, it is still very early days. True, the majority of blogs will likely remain the online equivalent of "Dear Diary" and that's fine. Over time, the blogosphere will sort out this flourishing spring into the hardy perennials, the hothouse orchids, the one offs, and the weeds. We might make some guesses as to which are which, but I suspect it will be a couple more years (at least one election cycle) before we have a real sense of the blogosphere nation.