AOL Blogs Now Open to AIM Users

Mediaweek reports "that America Online is extending its blogging product, AOL Journals to the general Web market via its vast AOL Instant Messenger user base." AIM users can immediately set up blog pages and others downloading the AIM product can similarly gain access.

It is postulated that the AOL Journals will be ad-supported in the future. This is a direction that MSN is taking with its Spaces blogging platform.

It looks as though there is forming yet another tier in the blog platform market -- free ad-supported hosted platforms. The market is clearly separating into products and platforms built for the individual, the casual, user, those developed for more demanding users (who may or may not want hosted services) and full enterprise systems.

The market is quickly evolving. It will be fun to watch and report on.