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Create your own:
ONLINE JOURNAL
By: Rebecca Schwartz
Need
to get your feelings out? Want to keep in touch with friends and family
without having to personally address each and everyone of them? LiveJournal.com
is a free service designed to customize and create your very own on-line
journal. Within seconds, the world can know the story of your life…as
you type it.
Using
the member directory, you can search for members who write about things
that interest you. There are also paid accounts starting at $5 for
two months, that allow you special features, including text messages,
an e-mail address, and faster access to your journal.
Brad Fitzpatrick created LiveJournal.com
in 1999. Initially, he was updating his own journal for friends to
read. After letting his friends use his Web-based journal, the method
caught on and became a huge success, currently used by over 800,000
people worldwide.
If the Internet is open to the public,
the idea of having such a private medium of expression on the Internet
was a little scary to me. Have no fear. You control who reads your
words. Security levels range from public (open to the entire universe)
and private (your eyes only), to friends (anyone on your livejournal
buddy list) and even custom where you pick who gets to read it.
In doing a little of my own research,
I read through quite a few journal entries. It was totally weird.
I felt I was intruding on complete strangers. They seem to be no different
from any other diary: daily frustrations, accomplishments, and questions.
There is, however, a picture feature, which allows the writer to add
pictures. One woman was describing earrings she received on Valentines
Day. She didn't have to do too much describing though…she showed a
picture. Reading about someone else's life reminded me of the new
trend in reality television, it was pretty entertaining. I thought
about starting my own online journal, but couldn't quite see myself
pouring out my heart on the web…even if you can control the security.
I think I'll stick to pencil and paper…but the decision it yours.
Check out www.livejournal.com for more information.
This begs the question…is it a journal if it's on the web?
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