About 12 million Americans keep blogs, according to a survey released last July by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Even more people might blog if the technology weren’t so public. After all, who wants to share a high-school-reunion video with stockbrokers in Istanbul or teenagers in Tokyo?

Privacy controls that let a blog’s author decide who can view each post are a major feature of several new blogging platforms. Vox, a free Web-based service launched by the San Francisco blogging-software maker Six Apart, allows users to assign various privacy settings to each post. The software is free, but bloggers have to accept that an advertisement will follow each of their posts.
Six Apart was already making blog-publishing software when, in 2005, it acquired LiveJournal, which has one of the fiercest followings in the blogosphere, thanks partly to privacy settings that are now part of Vox. “Sometimes you only want your five best friends in the world to see a post, and you should be able to do that,” writes Six Apart cofounder and president Mena Trott in her own blog. The Pew survey suggests that this desire is widespread: only 27 percent of U.S. bloggers told researchers that a major reason they blog is to change the way other people think. A larger group, 37 percent, cited staying in touch with family and friends.
Keep Reading
Most Popular

Why China is still obsessed with disinfecting everything
Most public health bodies dealing with covid have long since moved on from the idea of surface transmission. China’s didn’t—and that helps it control the narrative about the disease’s origins and danger.

These materials were meant to revolutionize the solar industry. Why hasn’t it happened?
Perovskites are promising, but real-world conditions have held them back.

Crypto is weathering a bitter storm. Some still hold on for dear life.
When a cryptocurrency’s value is theoretical, what happens if people quit believing?

Anti-aging drugs are being tested as a way to treat covid
Drugs that rejuvenate our immune systems and make us biologically younger could help protect us from the disease’s worst effects.
Stay connected

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review
Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.