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Junior high was a trying time for most of us. Our popularity was based upon our approval by our peers. Sometimes, that popularity was justified, sometimes not. Often folks gained popularity for all the wrong reasons while those of us on the unpopular side were rejected despite our good traits.

Much the same kind of treatment exists in the world of blogging. Except instead of being judged quickly by 12 year olds, a bloggers ideas and popularity are judged by a cast of thousands from all walks of life and all around the globe. Popular bloggers range from the socially graceful to the socially awkward, but their words are valued by a much larger audience.

Blogs (short for "web logs") are collections of articles typically centered around a subject area posted by an individual or group of individuals. In the beginning these web logs were intended to communicate simple change information for the host site. They were not a destination in and of themselves.

Since the beginning, these "blogs" have become sources of rich commentary, biting cynicism and good humor. Many blogs are casual musings of the site owner. But to a few, writing blogs has become a full time job -- and to a growing few, a very well paid full time job.

Take for example, Kevin Kelly`s Cool Tools. kk.org began as a place for a well respected author and social commentator to post information on tools he liked to use -- kitchen tools, garden tools, gadgets, etc. Now, Cool Tools is a trusted source, a place folks can go to research the "best of the best." Other popular blogging sites have similar stories. Jalopnik.com, Engadget.com, Instapundit.com just to name a few. Blogs are typically written for people who know the site owner personally, but they have grown to make experts out of these folks -- folks whose opinions and words are validated by the community of the internet.

Which brings up a great feature of the new generation of blogs: accountability and peer review. In the scientific community, peer review is of utmost importance. When a researcher makes progress on an important medical advance, for example, the progress is verified by other researchers in his or her field. The same is with blogging, except in addition to other experts in the field, the blog content is verified by the internet community at large through comments or other blogs. Blogs in effect police themselves. If many people find the information in a blog useful and true, the blog gets promoted, praised and referenced.

So, can folks really make a living writing blogs? Oh yes. Through advertising and traffic and the magic of advertising services such as Google, blog sites can rake in copious amounts of money. If a person is a respected blogger, traffic to his or her site can generate hundreds or thousands of dollars per month in ad revenue. Using tools such as Google AdSense and AdWords, the blogger can imbed links to related sites. Readers visit the blog, notice the ads that are related to the article they are reading and click.

If you are an expert in a field and already publish papers and/or articles to a group of peers, you are well on your way to becoming a successful blogger. If you are a respected member of a large fan base, you too can blog about the things you love and potentially make some extra cash. Or you may just end up living through the Junior High of the internet and blog all day long to no one interested.