Having said that, the selfishness is what’s shared universally. It’s part of that which connects bloggers to their audience. The ‘I’ that’s expressing is understood/empathized/identified by the ‘I’ that’s reading.

And it grows from there with good content, useful content, insightful content, amusing content…content that expands our world just a bit, horizontally or vertically.

It’s why bloggers and our community are a bit impatient when we sense dishonesty or inauthentic content or authors, stealth bloggers, etc. This (warning: going maudlin now) very unique and precious tool that allows us to connect with a lot of people by sharing common experiences…should not be abused by those who can’t or won’t be honest. And we can’t let them ruin this ‘moment’ for us.

Yeah. Blogging’s selfish. And isn’t it great.

In a virtual world where we really don’t have a physical body to mark our spot, our blogs function as our marker. It is much different than a static website (more like a business card) in that we update and interact with those around us.

So, unless you are in Second Life, you really don’t have a “YOU” out “THERE”…and maybe even with Second Life…which is fantasy land…your blog is your shot at authenticity in a way that I am not even sure is possible in real life. I mean, it cuts away the bullshit of the day to day and gets right down to what’s on the table…and the chances of building a community based on WHO YOU REALLY ARE seems to me to be higher.

Oh, I forgot to mention that comment sections in blogs are also a great place to be WHO YOU REALLY ARE! Great discussion!