Blogs and the Blogosphere

By 2000, the availability of blog host sites like Blogger, Typepad, Wordpress, and LiveJournal, made keeping a blog, short for weblog or web log-an online journal with dated entries-easy for people who do not possess Web coding skills. Women create and produce content with blogging tools, and many advance beyond online diaries to self-publish their platform to a broad audience as well as create communities.

Women's blogs range from the personal to the political. In 2003, there were 4.12 million blogs. Over 90 percent were maintained by people under the age of 30, with women having a slight edge over men in the practice. The highest rated blogs are male-dominated, yet scholars agree that there are more women bloggers overall.

Ideally the blogosphere (the world ...