A couple of buddies and I dialogued via email about blogging, and what they had to say spoke to the essence of what this medium is all about.

Zane Safrit, CEO of Conference Calls Unlimited, reminded me that blogging is essentially "Your own participatory journalism that creates your own, defined, social network. As you develop your participatory journalism resources (writing, topics, angles, media resources, etc) your social network naturally gravitates towards and develops around you."

Isn't that the beauty of this medium really? With passion and zeal you write about what is most important to you, and what holds the most meaning. On this journey you find others who share your views and something called community develops. You begin to get to know them, and they you. Even greater, you begin to care about them and what they think.

You're writing begins to take on a new tact. At the outset it was all about you. Now, it's more about them. You want to scratch where they itch, answer their questions and concerns, and be a helpful resource. Blogging becomes less about getting something off your chest and more about being a point of light where others can find help.

I've always believed that what you give comes back to you "pressed down, shaken together, and running over." If you sow good seed (substantive content) on good soil (those who can make use of what you have to say; the members of your community), then it will produce a fruitful harvest.

Lenny Charnoff, a marketing instructor at Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon and avid blogger himself, said that "Bloggers are the digital version of the 'Town Crier'. The Internet expands the geographical boundaries of the town to the world...Bloggers create a networked world and the bonus of blogging is the ability of RSS newsreaders to find the 'pearls of wisdom' from the entrepreneurs all over the world."

While Zane's comments spoke more to the human side of blogging, Lenny's address the more technical. That, too, strikes at the essence of blogging, for at its heart, it is a technology.

But, it is a technology that allows for human connections to be made, both head-to-head and heart-to-heart. Blogging, more than any other internet technology that I know, humanizes the web.

Take StrengthentheGood.com for example. Through the use of blogging technology multiplied thousands of dollars have been raised to help needy people. I cannot think of a better use of technology than that, can you?

The joy of blogging for me? It is knowing that something I might have to say has a positive impact on another's life. The essence of blogging is its ability to shine a light, speak truth, and bring hope.