When the Financial Times asked me to start a blog on international affairs I agreed instantly. After all, I keep reading that the internet and the “blogosphere” spell the death of newspapers – so it seems wise to start edging away from the doomed world of print and launching into cyberspace. What is more the FT pays my salary and I didn’t want to risk getting nasty looks in the corridors from my new bosses. (I joined the paper in July 2006).

It was only after I had agreed that I realised that I’m not entirely sure what a blog is. Having plunged into the blogosphere to get my bearings, it seems to me that they fall into two rough categories.

There are bloggers who are so obsessed by a particular issue – a sports team, a company, a film star – that they find that the mainstream media cannot provide enough material to satisfy them. Out there in cyberspace, they can bond with fellow monomaniacs. A favourite example of mine is an (apparently) influential blog dedicated solely to following the doings of Netflix, a big American DVD –rental firm.