Blogging is becoming a killer application that could rival e-mail’s impact on modern communications.

Yes, while e-mail still remains the quintessential killer application, some of its value is limited by the fact that once it’s sent and read (sometimes read) it’s often deleted and gone forever. A blog on the other hand can be archived, updated, edited, added upon and solicit and archive reader comments and additions.

Katrina provides an excellent case study of this muscle. Statistics reveal that blog postings of the name Red Cross increased by 10 to 20 times the normal amount to all blogs tracked by Intelliseek’s Blogpulse tool during the height of the chaos. Similar spikes were also seen at other not-for-profit organizations providing relief along the GulfCoast.

During this time of increased blog activity Nielsen/NetRatings statistics show that traffic at RedCross.org jumped massively. On August 31, 2005, Redcross.org jumped to more than 1 million visits – more than 32 times the average daily visits prior to Katrina. As of September 2, the site had raked in online donations through the website of $110 million – representing more than half of all the donations from all channels at the time.

One blog called TruthLaidBear.com, started a donation registration program tracking donations made by bloggers themselves. As of September 2, the site had tracked $430,203 contributors referred by 1,453 blogs (for a complete list of relief organization websites who accept donations see Fecal cholera death swamp).

Estimates show that there is somewhere in the neighborhood of 20 million blogs on the Internet. Tens of millions of people are reading blogs every week – many reading them daily.

This is the power of a killer application that continues to flex its muscle on a daily basis.