Eight thousand, five hundred moms do it! Blog, that is. At least that’s the tally according to a New York Times interview with Technorati, a

San Francisco company that tracks blog traffic. What could all of these moms possibly have to talk about? Who has time to be a blogging mom? And most important, who has time to read all of this stuff?

It turns out that moms have quite a bit to talk about, whether they’re about to give birth to their first or send one off to kindergarten or to college. In this modern age, where there’s no Dr. Spock and often no extended family to share the trials and tribulations of motherhood, the Internet gives blogging moms a place to share information, meet compatriots, and swap war stories.

Some of the most popular sites for mom bloggers are the collective ones. At bloggingmommies.com, 500 moms and 100 dads all blog under one banner. Some keep daily diaries about life in general, others focus on specific topics: home schooling, gardening, cooking, even girl tech gear. The best bloggers provide a glimpse into their lives as mothers, sharing their wisdom (or lack thereof) and inviting you to chime in.

Some popular mom blogs are personality driven. A busy 42-year-old mom writes Busymom.net on Blogher (one the largest collectives of women bloggers). At Blogher you’ll find Korean moms discussing the Virginia Tech shootings from their point of view, moms of twins, city moms, and rural moms.

Humor has big blog appeal. Comedienne bloggers like Sherry Davey on iVillage edge towards humor with a bite, but a bite that other moms can relate to. Recently she explored what it’s like when kids discover their “privates.”

Blogs give us information about the mundane (what really works for a colicky baby?) to the sublime (how a busy family can stay spiritual) to the idiotic (lots of self-deprecating stories of foolish foibles). Blogs help cement networks of like-minded individuals who may share religious, political, or educational views. The rainbow spectrum of moms–gay moms, divorced moms, remarried moms, and all other special cases of mommydom–are well represented, too.

Some mom blogs stir up quite a ruckus. Recently, one of the most contentious discussions in the blogosphere was about the new book, The Feminine Mistake, which told women who stay at home with their kids that they were setting themselves up for failure. Mommy bloggers played a bit part.

Why do bloggers blog? It runs the gamut of those waiting for their writing to be discovered, to wanting to be a part of the collective whole, to wanting to have some adult moments in their lives, to wanting to preserve a record of their thoughts. And there’s treasure in blogging, too. On more than one occasion a blogger has gone from rags to riches by cultivating a voice and a following.

A few blogs worth looking at:

• MotherLoad: The Mom Advice Blog: Tips for cleaning and organizing.
• Mommybuzz: MySpace for moms. Put up your profile and start blogging.
• Blogher.com: A collection of women bloggers on every topic imaginable.
• Meredith Viera’s new blog.
• The Parenting Post: Parenting magazine features a handful of interesting bloggers.

A Blog’s Many Faces

A traditional blog is a series of diary-like entries, dated and titled. Comments and talkbacks from readers are invited. Entries tend to be short. Personal insight is desired. You’ve got to keep your blog up on a regular basis. But there are other forms of blogs for those who don’t want the commitment of a full time blog. A few examples are places like Our Story that encourage women to document their family’s lives using photos, video, and short blog entries. MomSpace also combines a blogging space for mom as well as repository for local recommendations for services like a plumber or a kid’s doctor.

Following the Bloggers

You can follow a favorite blogger by subscribing to their feed (often referred to as an RSS or Real Simple Syndication feed). This means that every time they create a new entry on their blogspace, the content will be pushed out to you. You can sign up for feeds to be delivered via Yahoo!, Google, or sites like Bloglines.