We first heard about washingtonpost.com's intentions to launch a comprehensive directory of D.C. area blogs last January, when they gathered a bunch of invited local bloggers to come have free soft drinks and chocolate-covered strawberries so they could pick all of our brains about how best to reach us on the interwebs. Today, we received the first word that the Local Blog Directory is up and running and available to users to register.

Generally, we think a comprehensive blog directory is always a nice idea, and the interface they've come up with is relatively useful. You can browse for blogs by specific neighborhood, there's an RSS feed for the most recent posts from across the board (which does seem like it could be awfully cumbersome to subscribe to in an RSS reader -- we'd love to see feeds tailored to specific areas or topics), and there's an edited section called "What We're Reading" that points you to the most interesting posts of the day, according to Posties. One potential problem is that the general "search" functionality appears only to search the self-reported descriptions of each blog, not any of the content of the blogs themselves. Probably the most unique feature is that it allows you to search for blogs relevant to specific areas in Northern Virginia and Maryland -- since DC Blogs has long been doing an admirable job area for blogs within the city.

The intention of the new directory seems clear enough: washingtonpost.com would like to become a home base for people who are looking for local blogs or unfamiliar with what's out there, and local blogs might like to be listed in order to get traffic directed their way from the WaPo's large base of readership. If you have a local blog you'd like to add to the directory, head over here and fill out the form. And don't forget to let us know what you think of the new feature -- very few blogs have already signed up, so the content is a little sparse right now, to be sure.