Why should you blog?

Today 120,000 blogs will be born, according to stats from the 2009 Blog World Expo. With so much static in the system, why throw your hat into the ring?

Most blogs spark like meteors: a brief dazzle, then burnout. But some are sticking – and turning the publishing industry on its ear.

“By all appearances, the blog boom is the most democratized revolution in media ever, " notes Clive Thompson in New York Magazine’s “The Haves and Have-Nots of the Blogging Boom. ”Blogging should be the purest meritocracy there is. It doesn’t matter if you’re a nobody from the sticks or a well-connected Harvard grad. If you launch a witty blog in a sexy niche, if you’re good at scrounging for news nuggets, and if you’re dedicated enough to post around the clock—well, there’s nothing separating you from the big successful bloggers, right?”

Well, nothing except some chops: literary, marketing and technical. Not to mention financial savvy. You're taking on every role in a media outlet, from intern cup-washer to publisher, reporter to ad rep, designer to accountant.

And that's why we're here. To map and better navigate the fast-changing new media terrain.

On the way, you may encounter some surprises, beyond "aha" moments about metrics, video links and short-form narrative. As Rebecca Blood, author of The Weblog Handbook, says this is a journey of self-discovery and intellectual self-reliance. “As [the blogger] enunciates his opinions daily, this new awareness of his inner life may develop into a trust in his own perspective. His own reactions – to a poem, to other people, and, yes, to the media – will carry more weight with him … Ideally, he will become less reflexive and more reflective, and find his own opinions and ideas worthy of serious consideration.”

So there you have it: potential fame, fortune and spiritual enlightenment, like California writ large. Get blogging already!