The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Web logs catch fire as kindling for change

The Seattle Times: Business & Technology: Web logs catch fire as kindling for change "The number of people keeping online journals known as Web logs, or blogs, has exploded in recent years. Blog search service Technorati says it now tracks almost 4 million blogs around the world, up from 100,000 two years ago.
Blogs, which are open for anyone to read and often to post comments, are emerging as a new medium of expression. They're different from garden-variety Web sites because they're updated often, like diaries, and the most recent information appears at the top.
Bloggers also link to each other to spread ideas. But their reach is still relatively small. A study this year by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that only 2 to 7 percent of U.S. adult Internet users have created blogs and 11 percent have read blogs.
Nevertheless, bloggers have played a key role in national issues."