] If recent rumours are to be believed, AOL is getting
] ready to add blogging to the homepage services it offers
] users in the next month or so. It's a sign of how far
] these regularly updated pages of web links with personal
] comment have come in the past five years.
]
] When they first got started, these real-time online
] diaries were the preserve of the techno-literate. The
] advent of easy-to-use publishing services such as
] Blogger, launched in August 1999, began to bring it into
] the mainstream. In the past year or so, blogging has
] bloomed, becoming one of the most interesting and popular
] online phenomena. It's mass market enough for AOL, but
] still innovative, thanks to software such as Moveable
] Type, which adds feedback and networking to the basic
] formula, turning weblogs into places where ideas can be
] developed by groups of like-minded friends and
] colleagues.