To blog or not to blog?

Do people blog to escape the reality of an unhappy environment? Do they feel the people in their accessible vicinity have no interest in what they have to say? Or does the blogger have no interest in communicating to them? a bit of both perhaps. A lot of blogs are highly informative and instructional and a marvellous opportunity for us to extend our immediate horizons. Of course we could do this by reading - books, journals, newspapers etc. But this does not have the dynamic quality of following an evolving thought process. and the reader can interact with the writer - possibly - more easily than with some far away author.
As a means of communication amongst educators it has become a valuable tool to spread helpful and innovative teaching ideas - particularly related to the use of technology in the classroom.
This electronic and borderless (unless you live under a military dictatorship) means of communication is a unique means of finding out about the lives of far away people in exotic cultures. Remember The Bagdad Blog by "Salem Pax" as he waited for the US reign of terror invasion? He was lucky not to have his blog intercepted.
I suppose if you have relatives living overseas, or if you are travelling yourself, you can post pictures and written accounts that your friends and rellies can read. I am hopeful to start my students blogging sometime soon. I'm sure they will find it exciting and motivating.
So, I suppose there's lots of good reasons why people blog.