A blog is a Web journal. After you set up an account with any of a number of blogging sites, you can post entries for either public or private viewing. You then have a custom Web address you can pass out to people so your friends and/or family can read your thoughts. You can talk about anything! It's all up to you. You'll create a Web address and a blog title, the more creative the better.

If you make a public blog, be careful not to give out your name, address, telephone number or school name and make sure you don't write anything you will regret if others see it.

People of all ages and backgrounds blog. For me, it's interesting to blog surf and read up on random blogs of people I don't know. I love reading peoples' posts from all around the world. It gives me a range of different perspectives on current issues, international news and events, cultural thinking, or just reading about a day in a person's life. Sometimes you will run across some profound posts. One lengthy post I read was written by a man who lived in Baghdad, Iraq. His opinions and views were dramatically different than what the media wants us to think. Interestingly, some people read blogs as a source of news.

Aside from writing my own posts, I am not the kind of person who would pick up a pencil and paper, sit down and write in a journal or diary. To this day I'm not quite sure why I started so many months ago, but I really enjoy it. I highly recommend non-users to give it a shot.

There isn't a limit or restriction of what you can put in your blog (however I warn against revealing personal identity, your whereabouts, and vital personal information). You are the master of your blog domain.

Most sites offer a basic blog for free! There are premium services available for anywhere up to 24.95 or more a month, and that fee gets rid of the ad banner across the top and offers more publishing power and control. Most teens choose to go with a basic blog, which lets you pick a template, and font and background colors and fonts.

This is a really easy to use blog site that is the most popular blog site at my high school. It has pretty nice features for the beginning or causal blogger. Your blog will be at www.blogtitle.blogspot.com. A word to the wise: be careful not to accidentally hit the escape button when typing an entry, because it will erase the whole thing!

Easy-to-use, but extremely powerful and customizable "blogging" tool, built on open source software. Joining the site is free. Users can choose to upgrade their accounts for extra features.

If you have your own Web page, you can use Pitas to add a blogging section. Update your blog from any Web browser without editing and uploading pages.

I'm not sure when or how I stumbled upon Xanga, or why I even started to blog. I remember first hearing about blogs in one of my Teens Online board meetings. That was probably what sparked my interest, little did I know that I would become become an avid blogger. A lot of my friends now have their own Web logs. Most use xanga.com like myself while others use LiveJournal. There are many sites to chose from. Personally, I have no preference. Xanga was the first one I hit and it fulfills my needs.

by Cory Doctorow, et al.

Estimated that over 350,000 people "blog"--that is, keep a personal journal on the Web that features observations, opinions, and Web links-Ideal introduction to the art of creating and maintaining a Weblog-Looks at how Weblogs can be put to use as a business communications tool-Covers setting up and hosting a blog, using existing and building blogging tools, blog publicity, and syndication (click to request book).