Robert Scoble (Scobleizer) responds to someone who is considering quitting blogging:
Really the weblog metaphor lets you do some really interesting things.
1) It lets you share. I bet you know OneNote tricks that no one else does. Tell us! We’ll hang on every word. (If you are doing a personal weblog, it lets you share your life with other people, say, your family members).
2) It lets you reveal. You could tell a world-wide audience about the next version of OneNote. Why on a blog? Because of the influence of who reads here. Mary Jo Foley, for instance, tells me she reads all the Microsoft blogs looking for information about Microsoft. (If you’re writing a personal blog, you might reveal something cool about your life. A photo of the sunset out your front door, for instance).
3) It lets you reward others. Do you know the social power of a link? I’ve had people come up to me at conferences all giddy saying “do you realize what happened after you linked to me?” Certainly I’m aware of the GooglePower that I send someone when I link to them. But it’s more than that. I’ve made powerful friends after I’ve linked to them. It’s a social thing. Dave Sifry, the guy who founded Technorati, is right. It’s a social gesture. (Personal bloggers, it’s a far more powerful act of friendship to link to someone on your blog than it is to say “that guy’s my friend” in Google’s Orkut).
4) It lets you have conversations. One thing I’d say to Chris is to put “OneNote” and “Pratley” into Feedster.com and subscribe to those two feeds. Then, when someone says something about OneNote or Pratley, respond. By showing you care about people’s opinions, they are far more likely to give you feedback that’ll make your product better. (Personal bloggers, if you respond to people who talk about you, you’ll find you build real and lasting friendships).