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# Most weblogs are public forms of self-expression. It is important to keep this in mind, both as an author and as a reader, when trying to evaluate the quality and value of any given weblog.

Conceptually, the weblog is a format, a form of media. There is nothing about a weblog that constrains the content in any meaningful way. People are free to publish more or less whatever they like. So trying to talk collectively about weblogs is a bit like trying to generalize about books: it doesn't make much sense.

It does happen often, however, mostly because weblogs today have, overall, a certain character. The majority of weblogs are created by people who are taking advantage of inexpensive/free tools to express themselves in a public or semi-public way. They are not thinking about audience, in that they are not writing their content to meet the needs of a specific audience. They may want readers, but not people who are looking for useful information or a useful service. Rather, they are interested in people who are interested in them for what they have to say, for who they are.

Family and friends are the most natural audience, and I'm guessing, for the majority of weblogs, the primary audience. Having a weblog can also help you to meet people online, to make new acquaintances, new friends. Maybe it was because of something you wrote, a picture you posted. Maybe it was something you did on another site, in a discussion forum for example, and the person linked back to your weblog and found it interesting. Or maybe it was someone you met offline, and who googled you and liked what they saw. However it happens, your weblog connects you to others.

A lot of what you read about weblogs, about finding an audience, developing a readership, generating revenue, etc applies only to a very, very small number of people. Most of us should really be spending our time elsewhere, living our lives and perhaps, occasionally, reflecting on and sharing our thoughts and experiences with others through the words and images we post to our blogs.