Here's what blogs are not: (1) the super-personalized news filters that social critics fretted would splinter the nation into a million tiny interest groups, or (2) the Drudge Report. Blogs don't limit your news intake, break stories or promulgate rumor, at least not intentionally. They have an only seemingly more innocent agenda. Blogs express opinion. They're one-person pundit shows, replete with the stridency and looniness usually edited off TV.

Needless to say, blogs are addictive. They are not, however, the most economical use of your time. ...

... blogging's advantages over traditional journalism: greater looseness of spirit; openness to more points of view; a more conversational tone; and a compulsive honesty that has bloggers linking to articles in which they found their ideas.