There are a lot more of us out there than you think—metro Birmingham bloggers that is.

The ability that blogging platforms like WordPress , Blogger and Movable Type provide the average person to shout from the top of Red Mountain (or at least their own soapbox) about anything and everything under the sun is viewed as both a blessing and a curse, particularly in a community where people enjoy their right to do so.

These folks, whether they’re talking about what happened with local politics or what happened with their family, provide that great window onto the city’s happenings that I suggested as this column started.

There have been several attempts to create a comprehensive list of blogs that exist in metro Birmingham and the truth is that we’ll probably never know how many there truly are. AL.com provides a good starting point for the region and the state—as does AlabamaBloggers.com—while sites like Birmingham Blogging Academy have directories focused specifically on The Magic City.

One look at any of them should tell you that blogging is not just a fad and that there are more folks reading them than are willing to admit (though they are not always visiting the sites every day).

I’ve run into several people in the city who wonder what the benefits of peeking into these windows are if some of the information is personal.

One thing to consider is the idea of their online space as a virtual front porch—somewhere that they’ve invited you to visit and to participate in a conversation. They realize that sometimes you will not say anything on the site, but they’ve still been able to get you to think about an issue or a daily occurrence for just a moment longer than you would have normally—and that means more to many of these people than anything else in the world.

A recent conversation with a fellow blogger helped me come up with that virtual front porch theme.

Charlotte Donlon started the35212.com last year because she felt passionate about her surrounding community which includes Birmingham’s Crestwood and Woodlawn neighborhoods.
Donlon got interested in starting a blog for what’s seen as a popular reason.

“I wanted to know more about the persons, places and things happening in my neighborhood and I felt a desire to help others know about those things. It’s a place where I can express my thoughts on community revitalization.”

“Woodlawn and Crestwood are in the same zip code but there are so many differences in race, income level and other things that this can help explore ways that we can come together as well as the things that we do have in common.”

I also asked Charlotte about how she would measure success as a blogger and was happy to hear her response.

“I think it can be; it depends on what your definition of success is. There may never be thousands of readers [of the site]because it is so hyperlocal but I would consider success meeting my neighbors and having more relationships with people that are around me and helping others form relationships… increasing interactions between people who may have never talked to each other before. It can help foster a larger sense of community.”

And while she believes that it can help with facilitating that conversation, she does add one important caveat.

“I do think that community development has to happen in the context of real relationships; it can’t just happen online.”

She hopes that in the long term that the website could be a way for people in the neighborhood to see what’s going on there and to feel more connected to each other and to be part of the larger conversation in Birmingham in general.

One of those conversations she suggested could be the one about what it means to truly be a neighbor—one that looks like it may begin to dominate conversations regardless of where they take place in Birmingham as we begin 2010.

André Natta is the stationmater for bhamterminal.com, a community blog about Birmingham, AL.