The Genre of Blogs

I've been spending some time studying the genres of blogs. Specifically, I've been looking at the most popular, most linked to, most prolific blogs. You can see lists of them on Technorati and Intelliseek.

I've found, in my un-scientific study that most of these "top" blogs are what I'd call pundits (Instapundit, Eschalon, and Daily Dish for example). Often they are focused on politics -- American politics to be specific.

There are a few traditional journalists at the top of the list. And there are the smattering of humor blogs, consumer reviews, IT and music blogs.

But only two or three out of 100 are the classic blog genre -- diaries or journals. The most popular of these right now are Dooce and Baghdad Burning. The former is probably popular because it's a bit quirky and well written. The latter because it's a compelling look at the author's daily life in the center of a war.

However journals are what most people create when they first create a blog. They talk about their lives. Not very interesting stuff to the average reader, unless the author is a very compelling writer or is living a very interesting life.