A Blog Post Is a Very Long and Complex Search Query

Henrik Karlsson argues against the mass-media-era injunction to "write to be accessible." A blog post, he claims, is best understood as a very long, very specific search query: the more idiosyncratic and unmarketable, the more useful, because instead of broadcasting to a general audience it filters the world down to the small number of people who care about exactly your concerns. Writing in public is then less performance than network construction — letting strangers route interesting material to your inbox by recognising themselves in your prose.