Stranger And Friend

Jonah Lehrer on bloggy relationships:

One of the odd things about blogs, at least for me, is that they encourage a really informal and oddly intimate relationship between the writer and reader. I feel like I really know my favorite bloggers, in a way that I would never presume to know my favorite novelists or newspaper columnists or magazine writers. Partly, I imagine, it's the informal voice of the blogosphere, and partly it's the enticing mix of idiosyncratic personal information and opinionated commentary that defines the bloggy format. A blog, at least for me, is the writing genre that most closely approximates a friendly conversation.

Of course, I occasionally remember that I've never actually met Jason Kottke, or Matthew Yglesias, or Tyler Cowen, or Jessica Crispin, or the snarky asshole who writes The Superficial. They are all utter strangers.