by Sarah Todd

Created on: June 03, 2009

Have you ever thought about the reasons that blogging has become so popular? Enter the word "blog" into any search engine, and the results are overwhelming. The phenomenon known as blogging has become one of the fastest growing features of the internet. It's an advocate for free speech, a chance to imprint our thoughts and - ultimately - our individual selves on that vast unknown entity called cyberspace. By blogging we become part of the internet. It may be a miniscule part, but our blogs establish and affirm our presence in cyberspace.

Blogs are representative of their writers. They reflect our thoughts, our minds and our attitudes at a specific moment in time. They are also a permanent record of the events at that particular time. The only limit to a blog is your own mind - how far are you willing to let your mind go and how much of yourself you are prepared to divulge? You can write about any subject that interests you and take your writing in any direction. Bottom line - how much of yourself are you willing to share with the World Wide Web?

Which brings us to the most important feature of blogging - the readers.

They are the reason for the rapid growth of the blogging phenomenon. Without readers blogs would not exist - they'd be diaries or personal journals kept under lock and key. The comments and contributions to each entry feed the blog, inspiring further writing and increasing entries. It's an accepted fact that the feedback received encourages bloggers to keep writing. The same applies to the blogger's interaction with and contribution to other blogs. Many bloggers will write an entry after being inspired by another blog. Over time a blogger develops a fairly close relationship with regular readers, and the way these relationships are conducted are important if you want your blog to grow.

Those who take the time to read a leave a comment in a blog are people, regardless of whether you agree with their opinions or not. Although the relationship may have developed in cyberspace with a screen replacing the face of an actual physical presence, that doesn't mean we have to lose our manners. Someone who's read through an entry that's made enough of an impression upon him or her to want to write a comment deserves some respect, even if the opinion is contrary to our own. Think about how you would answer that person if he or she was physically in front of you before committing your fingers to the keyboard and pressing submit. Words typed and sent in anger are

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