Blogging is about to get a mainline of adrenalin when AOL launches its "AOL Journals", a blogging too for the masses.

If it doesn't already seem as if everyone who has an (in)coherent thought and access to the Internet is online publishing their memoirs, now all the blue-haired contract bridge playing AOL weenies who couldn't navigate their way to blog*spot will be in there jamming up the Internet with their ramblings.

Why should I care? Good question. I don't really know, but for some reason it bothers me.

'AOL Journals' To Bring Blogs To Millions
By Leslie Walker
Sunday, July 13, 2003

The "blogosphere" may never be the same after America Online releases free blog-publishing software to its 34 million members this summer.

AOL this month began showing demos of its tools for creating Web logs, or blogs, to veteran bloggers. AOL has dubbed its service "AOL Journals" because its surveys showed that members found the word "blogs" confusing, said Rick Robinson, AOL's vice president for community products.

Whatever you call them, the idea is a Web page that people can update frequently with commentary and links to material they find interesting online. Blog software automates posting the commentary, images and links.

AOL will give members three ways to update their blogs -- through an online template with blank boxes for text input, through AOL's instant-messaging system or by telephone. The phone option will be available only to subscribers to the extra-cost "AOL by Phone" service, who will be able to leave voice messages that will be posted as MP3 sound files.

To publish via instant messaging, AOL members will send a text message to an IM software "bot" -- or automated script -- that will post the message to the user's blog. The IM posting will work only with AOL's internal messaging system, not its free AOL Instant Messenger program. Robinson said this would be a quicker way to publish than navigating to a Web page to type into a form: "You might have a fleeting thought you want to capture, and you don't want to take the extra few seconds to go and open up the publishing interface."

Robinson said AOL Journals will support a popular syndication system called RSS that lets people use news-reading software to get updates automatically from blogs they like. AOL members will also be able to post photos from the service's "You've Got Pictures" area in their blogs.

The new service will be made available to all AOL subscribers later this summer as part of the preview version of AOL's new "9.0 Optimized" software.