"Create your own blog in just two minutes," said the headline at Blogger.com, the leading blogging software provider. I thought to myself, "All right then," and clicked on the start button. Following directions, I decided on a user name and password and typed in my name and e-mail address. Next, I gave my blog a title and a Web address, selected a design from the available templates, and then -- wow, I was already at the "finish" button. Just like that, the Furukawa Blog was born. Blogger.com's services are free of charge. They supply server space to users as long as they accept banner ads on their sites. Or, for $15 a year, users can eliminate banner ads. So far, more than 1 million people have registered at Blogger. People in Japan might not yet be familiar with the term blog, but it comes from Weblog, which basically refers to an online journal. The structure of a blog is simple: each new blog entry automatically appears at the top of the page and older entries are pushed toward the bottom.
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"'Create your own blog in just two minutes,' it said at Blogger.com. ... And just like that, the Furukawa Blog was born." |
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One of the key features of blogging software is that bloggers can work on their blogs from any computer by going through the providers' site. There, bloggers bring up their personal work palette by typing in a user name and password. All that is left to do is to write your article and click publish, and the entry is posted at the top of the blog. The software automatically archives older blog entries.Running Web sites requires a lot of technical knowledge -- you have to know how to write HTML code and how to upload files to servers. Blogging, on the other hand, releases one from such grunt work. The best part of blogging software is that it is instantaneous -- as long as you can log on, you can easily enter a blog whenever, from wherever. The blogging trend took off in the United States shortly after 9/11, when individuals used blogs to distribute information. Blogging has caught on in Japan as well, where blogging software like Moveable Type has emerged. According to Daiji Hirata, a passionate blogger and the person behind the creation of the Japanese version of Moveable Type, "The main features of blogging software are their facilitation of advanced content management and instantaneous editing. Through such software, people can now revive home pages they built long ago and left to rot."
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