If you still don't understand - or believe in - the ripple effect of blogging, consider this story: the father of a Maryland family was laid off and eviction from their home was imminent. A friend posted a donation link on her blog to help them raise a little cash. After five days, strangers had donated $11,032. Enough so the family could pay $10,000 on their mortgage and enjoy Christmas...

Arianna Huffington flogs her new book, The Huffington Post Complete Guide to Blogging, on The Daily Show. Best line: she tells Jon that "50,000 new blogs are started everyday." He interrupts, "that sounds like a sexually transmitted disease." No really… "Blogging is not about perfectionism. Blogging is about intimacy, immediacy, transparency and sharing your thoughts," she elaborates.

Ouch. As the author of The Corporate Blogging Book, I ought to be upset about this. But I'm not. Forrester's new report, Time to Rethink Your Corporate Blogging Ideas, says that only 16% of consumers trust company blogs and that they rank dead last in terms of marketing channels. Yep. That's below consumers' trust level in promotional emails and direct mail. See chart...

Really. Click here to find out your score.

Heads up: this is going to a short riff. I realized the other day that I'm feeling muzzled in my blogging. Too often recently I find myself thinking in short, 140 character bursts. It's not enough to articulate full thoughts. Seth Godin makes the point that microblogging sets you up to be misunderstood. I agree. So... after turkey I'll be back with some longer-form thoughts. In the meantime,