Blogs vs. Traditional Web pages

Fifteen years ago when I first started using the Internet as a middle school student, I would not have dreamed that I would be sitting here tonight writing about the difference between traditional web pages and blogs.  At that point, we only had traditional web pages (well, and chat rooms).  "Blog" wasn't even in our vocabulary.  What will come next?

So what makes this so different than a traditional web page?  In some ways it seems that it's much like the difference between a published book and a diary.  Traditional web pages offer a wealth of information, often expository.  That is, we have a question, we look for a web page to answer that question, and we move on.  Just as published books, particularly nonfiction books, offer the reader with a wealth of information on a given topic, traditional web pages provide a new way for people to obtain necessary information on a given topic.  Traditional web pages are often written for a specific cause, institution, government agency, organization, etc.  Though periodically updated, the information on these traditional web pages is often rather set.  Blogs, on the other hand, are much like diaries.  Written for a number of reasons, blogs provide people with a new way to express their thoughts.  They are constantly updated and can carry great personal attachments.  Anyone can have a blog (diary) rather easily and with little outside resources.  It is not so with traditional web pages.  It often takes many more resources for these to come to fruition, much like publishing a book.  

Blogs have given people a glimpse into the minds of others, and I think the implications of that are yet to be known.  Is it helping to connect people around the world?  Are we blogging for the sake of blogging?  Is it giving everyone an outlet for their thoughts?  Does it make people care more about others' thoughts or do we all just feel better because we can send our thoughts out there regardless of whether people read what we have written?  It reminds me of a quote from one of my favorite movies, "You've Got Mail":

"Sometimes I wonder about my life. I lead a small life - well, valuable, but small - and sometimes I wonder, do I do it because I like it, or because I haven't been brave? So much of what I see reminds me of something I read in a book, when shouldn't it be the other way around? I don't really want an answer. I just want to send this cosmic question out into the void. So good night, dear void."  Are we satisfied with just sending our thoughts out into the "void"?  Are we using our blogs for valuable purposes?  Only time will tell.