Are blogs morphing into forums?

How do you like our new blog?

Of course its really a regular forum on phpbb which we modded slightly to give it more of a 'traditional' blog appearance (we'll release it as a packaged up 'blog mod' soon) but functionally its using the same old forum configs and permissions that have always existed.

Which brings me to the question: are blogs morphing into forums?

Looking at blogs they seem to have gone from a standalone site where the owner would just talk about whatever they want, a 'personal pulpit' in effect. But then comments were added to the blog allowing for a certain amount of conversation albeit it in a relatively basic format..

Then came comment notifications so you can get an email if someone comments on a blog post where you also commented..

Blog networks also started appearing where instead of a blog being a place for a single person to write stuff, there are now many people writing blog entries. Still limited to specific people but getting closer to a forum/message board type thing.

What forum type feature will be bolted on to blogs next? What blog type feature will be bolted on to forums? Will Blogs 3.0 = Forums 2.0?

The difference I think between blogs and forums lies in the community aspect of forums which is mostly lacking in blogs. In a blog the focus is almost entirely on the initial entry by the blog owner, comments are incidental and I would guess in many cases rarely even read. It could be said that the 'blogosphere' as a whole can be seen as a community in itself but it is a very loose and fractured community and eventually breaks down to the inidividual blogger - a community of one.

In a forum a thread can be posted by anyone in the community and will result in a discussion between members of that community - the focus is more on the entire discussion not just the first post.

In the 'real world' you could equate a forum thread with for example a round table discussion, a group of friends sat together in the pub, a self help group meetup, or an open meeting at work perhaps. Whereas a blog entry is more like a speech, a single person stands up at the front and says his/her piece to the crowd who may or may not have the opportunity to make some comment at the end, but either way nobody goes to a speech to listen to other peoples comments at the end, they go to hear the speech itself. For example this excellent speech at Google by Seth Godin.

The value in forums is in the community involvement. For example say you are a Honda enthusiast, you could seek out Honda related blogs and no doubt there are many good blogs each with their own unique viewpoint. Or you could seek out Honda forums (and of course there are several of those also) such as this one which has over 100k members! Imagine what you can learn from all those Honda enthusiasts, think of the valuable discussions to be had there and the like minded friends and even business contacts you could make in such a place!

People are (mostly) social creatures and we all like to 'belong' to a group or groups of like minded people, it is a fundamental human need, we thrive in communities and therein lies the power of message boards and forums and BoardTracker opens the door to those communities for you.
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