What makes a blog successful?

All successful blogs have two things in common:

• They have interesting (and often unique) and timely content presented from a distinct point of view
• They have readers that link (share) to the posts from other websites, blogs and social media (Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, Groups, etc.)

Examples of some "successful blogs" that I read:

• How the World Works -- a blog by Andrew Leonard on Salon Magazine
• Tree Hugger -- a blog by multiple authors posting on "green" topics
• View from Taiwan -- a blog by Michael Turton