It occurred to me, thinking back to my blog talk yesterday, that the best answer for “why I blog� that would be especially compelling for an academic is as follows.

The professoriate is populated by people who are quite passionate about their subjects and love thinking, writing and talking about their stuff.

Blogging means, if one is even semi-successful, attracting an audience of persons who are genuinely interested in that same subject matter and who will actively participate in the discussion thereof (either by comments, or linking and continuing the discussion on other blogs). Gee whiz, how often would we, as professors, love to have a classroom full of students as active as the readers of most blogs? (Although if you type in all caps, and can’t spell, I doubt I want you in class…). Heck, with blogging I have had people actively seek me out for explanations for such things as the role of separation of powers in the confirmation process while it can be a tooth-pulling exercise to get students to ask questions in class.

Blogging also allows for easy access to one’s peers and colleagues.

What’s not to find attractive?

This situation seems especially operative for political scientists, law profs, economists and the like, as there is an intersection between their academic disciplines and broader public interest. It would be less likely, for example, for an organic chemist to draw a large audience. Still, the basic concept—the ability to attract interested participants to such a blog would still exist, as such is the nature of the internet. The scale of the net means that out there, somewhere, is someone interested in what you are interested in—the only challenge is finding them.

(And yes, I also realize that blogging–really, any writing for public consumption–is an act of ego, and that profs are an especially egotistical lot, so there’s that angle as well).