America Online on Tuesday announced updates to
its AOL Journals service, which allows customers to create
online diaries.
The company said it has expanded character limits
for journal entries, creating greater space for diarists to
share information. A rich-text editor has also been added, to
let customers edit journals using HTML (Hypertext Markup
Language) and insert links to images.
In addition, members will be able to add to their
journals by sending instant messages or text messages from a
mobile phone.
Journal readers also can now get alerts via
e-mail or text message whenever their favorite journals are
updated. Journal owners also can set an alert to notify them
each time others add comments to their diary.
Online journals, more widely known as blogs, have
become popular in recent years by allowing people to share
views, photos and other information. Tech companies also have
tapped into the trend, in areas such as software development.
AOL launched its journal service last year. It's
designed to let members create private journals with restricted
access to a select set of people. AOL said members have created
over 220,000 journals since last summer.
The new update will be available free to
customers of AOL and of AOL for Broadband service, the company
said.
