I have been reading Michael Powell's "blog," which so far consists of two entries and a gazillion comments. His first post is here, and his second post is here. Take a spin through the comments. Some are serious, some are accusatory (calling Powell a "fraud" or a "crony").

All of this makes me wonder: is this a good way for public officials to stay in touch with their constituents? Michael Powell seems to think so. He said this at the end of his first post:

One reason I am participating in AlwaysOn Network's blog is to hear from the tech community directly and to try to get beyond the traditional inside the Beltway Washington world where lobbyists filter the techies. I am looking forward to an open, transparent and meritocracy-based communication—attributes that bloggers are famous for! Regulated interests have about an 80 year head start on the entrepreneurial tech community when it comes to informing regulators what they want and need, but if anyone can make up for that, Silicon Valley can. This is important not just for Silicon Valley—it's essential to insure that America has the best, most innovate communications infrastructure.

I have mixed feelings about this. I participate in a group blog that generates a lot of comments, and I find that I learn a tremendous amount from the commenters. Reading thoughtful comments is exceedingly time consuming, especially so in the amounts generated by Powell's posts, but surely Powell has office lackeys to do the heavy lifting.

My hunch is that the big downside of blogging for public officials is not the time, but the quality and tone of the comments. If you are hoping to learn from commenters, you had better attract people who are willing and able to engage in reasoned conversation. It does not take of lot of vitriol to poison a blog, and political figures are often divisive in a way that ensures poisonous comments.

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