Writing Blogs Wrong or Right

Joe Wallace, over at The Freelance Zone, recently wrote about Writing Blogs: Why We’re Missing the Boat. It's an interesting article that highlights several active websites with Web 2.0 features such as forums, chat rooms and instant messaging services. These are all great communication modules that do indeed foster community and almost instant connectivity. Joe said:

What is the number one rule about building a successful blog? The most important thing a blog needs is a growing community. Blogging is not just one person’s voice, it’s a collection of voices.

And here I digress to disagree. This is Joe's definition of a blog, illustrated by the websites he chose to write about. When Internet logging began, it was in the form of text messages (there was no Web). A visitor dialed into a site and read messages. Then bulletin board service (BBS) evolved, and visitors could "talk back" by leaving a text message that others could read -- not unlike current forums. When email became a possibility, special interest groups formed that enabled someone to send a message to all members at once. Conversations carry on in that method to this day.

But the offshoot blogs began on the Web as a platform for one voice (or a small collective in the case of the first group blogs). When commenting ability arose, we all rejoiced. We could know if our words moved anyone else. Well, maybe they do, but only a small fraction of a blog's readers motivate themselves to expend the energy and brain power to comment. Often the comments come from people who are trying to lure readers to their blogs.

I've considered adding more interactive features like a chat or forum, and rejected pleas for instant messaging (I can't keep up with my email!) But other than a little chat box in a side column for occasional interchanges, adding those features would require an immense amount of time, both building and especially monitoring. They would be additions to a website, not a blog. Where is it written that a blog must be a full-fledged Web 2.0 site?

I'm content to limit A Writer's Edge participation in social networking to the BlogCatalog and MyBlogLog plugins. I've tried out and discarded many other similar "community" features. Holding or hosting regular chats or managing a forum would be too much like real work! It would be managing a different kind of site. Tarring us all with the same brush of apple juice when we are oranges, just doesn't cut it with me.