Some of us blog because we're full of ideas we'd like to express. But is blogging really smart? Lots of smart people don't blog. Which side do the smartest of the smart come down on? Do we blog because we think, or because we're not thinking clearly? Am I stupidly wasting my time at this very moment?

So what are some reasons not to blog? There's the chance that you might give away a great idea or reveal something you should have kept confidential. Those aren't unimportant issues, but with a little thought, they can easily be avoided. The main argument against blogging in my mind is that it isn't worth the time. It's a question of the opportunity cost of time. Had you not blogged, would you have benefited more from what you would have done with the time you spent blogging? The answer is different for different people.

What are the potential benefits of blogging? I can think of a few: it's good writing practice (unless you don't put any effort into writing well--in that case, it's bad practice--it cultivates bad habits). It helps you clarify your thoughts by creating concrete expressions of them. It benefits society (if you blog about things worth reading). It earns the respect of anyone who thinks that only impressive people blog. It earns the respect of anyone who actually reads and is impressed by your blog. It brings people to your website. It pumps your search engine ranking by creating more inbound links to your site. It earns you advertising revenue. It's fun.

Are the benefits great enough to be worth the time? If you don't have anything to say that many people will read, maybe not. If you don't have a website that your blog will benefit, maybe not. If nobody advertises on Google for products related to what you blog about, maybe not. If you don't enjoy it, maybe not.

I started out this post thinking it would be a discussion of how to convince people to blog. In the end, I guess it's more a discussion of how to decide whether to bother trying to talk someone into blogging. If you can't see enough benefit for them to make it worth their time, then maybe it's not worth the time it would take you to try.