Should Academics Blog?

A class post from Dan Drezner on this is here:

http://www.danieldrezner.com/archives/001936.html

I am lucky, in that I am past tenure. But the question is whether blogging detracts from doing "serious" work. The answer is perhaps, but not necessarily.

First, one can't help but note that some great academics, such as Gary Becker, Richard Posner, Brad Delong and Jim Hamilton, blog regularly. I learn a lot from these blogs (much more than I do from Atrios or Dailykos or Huffingtonpost), and am grateful that they are out there. Among other things, they help inform my choice of reading, and therefore lead me to knowledge I care about more efficiently.

Second, unlike, say, Ed Glaeser and John Quigley, who are seemingly incapable of intellecutaly exhaustion, I am not able to do "serious academic work" 24/7. Sometimes I just like to put ideas out there and see if I get any response. When I do, it helps me think things through, and therefore makes me a better professor.