Ever since I started blogging I’ve been asked the same two questions over and over:

1. What makes a blog different from a regular website?
2. Why do you blog?

I’ve often struggled to answer both questions, but over time I came to realize that one overarching feature of blogs attracts me: the comments.

I read other peoples’ blogs because they’re interesting and because I want to see how people react via comments. (A quick aside: I’ve found that I rarely continue to read blogs that have the comments turned off).  A great case study is Ed Cone’s blog post about the furor in the Muslim world over some offensive comics.  I found the 23 comments (when I read it) more interesting than the post itself.  To use a real world analogy I’d find having dinner with Ed and the commenters and listening to their debate over the issue far more interesting than going to speech given by Ed (no offense to Ed, I just don’t much enjoy speeches).

One of the main reasons I continue to write my blog is that I truly enjoy the comments I get.  I really don’t care if someone agrees or disagrees, but I do care that I’m having a form of interaction.  It helps me avoid intellectual petrification because there are a lot of smart people out there and when they provide me with alternate theories, ideas and arguments they give me the gift of context and a larger worldview.

So I guess you could say that the one word answer to both questions is: dialog.