Actually -- I think you're dead on. I think you even described -- and this is sheer speculation -- why a number of people beyond my family bother reading me on a regular basis. Because in all reality, "just who the hell is Nick Lewis?"*

I know for a fact that my audience is quite valuable. I'm not kidding when I say that my audience launched my entire career, and is responsbile for the majority of my income (prior to when I became a servant of the VISTA program and took a very real, and increasingly impractical vow of poverty...). Once, I found myself in really bad situation, and not really knowing what to do, I wrote them for help. By the second day, I woke up and found more than enough financial help to get me out of an impossible situation. Upon seeing what they had given me, I immediately broke down crying. My friends that I'd known since grade school would probably not have even given me 20 dollars to help. And yet my readers, most of whom I've never met -- helped me -- someone who they only knew through a blog. What a thought provoking moment that was... realizing that your readers were more willing to help you than your best longtime friends...(of course, we my friends are starving college students... but still).

The single largest point of that story, however, is that for all the help I received, my traffic wasn't astronomical. I think it was 200 hits a day at that point. However, it was 200 hits that gave a damn. And that is far more valuable than 10,000 creeps who might give you a marginal check every month via ad-sense.

Bringing this around to your question, "value" is completely in the eye of the beholder. You'll notice no ads here. And while my traffic levels could make me a nice chuck of money through an adsense block, I 've never even considered putting up ads. And the reason is entirely because of what I value from an audience, and, its a subtle message of respect. Plainly, it says, "I'm not exploiting you".

Since money is not my motivation, its very difficult to connect size with value. Indeed, its a rule that in order to gain a large audience, you must speak to everyone's gossipy, vulgar, and reptilian brained side. The reason being that people are quite similar in terms of what vulgarities they find interest. In fact, at parties, I've noted that the subject of sex, or defication always leads to a large, and very dynamic conversation -- nearly everyone has something to say, and often its quite funny.

However, in terms of our higher, noble, and beautiful interests, people are very diverse. When I discuss classical piano, I'm definately not trying to reach a massive audience, and yet -- there is a group of people on the internet that are so desperate to find someone else who listens to Rachmaninoff that my posts on Classical piano bring in a significant portion of my traffic. Some of the best discussions I've ever had were on the thoughts of Michael Foucault.

Did I mention I'm long winded? lets end up this magnificent tomb of a comment with a pithy answer to what I value in an audience: As a 23-year old, who is surrounded by stoners, I yearn to find people who bother with figures like Sergei Rachmaninoff and Michel Foucault; I am desperate for discussions on how the Internet can enable widespread social change through decentralized, and uncontrolled bands of people who are loosely connect. My audience gives me that gift, and in return I give them the gift of someone else who bothers to write about such matters. In addition, they share my sick sense of humor, which is often the single biggest factor. Now.. someone find me a bloody editor.