Blogcritics The critical lens on today's culture & entertainment
Blogger has upgraded in an effort to stop the world from passing it by, and – who knows? – maybe the new version is a big step forward. Since I only used Blogger/Blogspot for about seven months back in ’02, I don’t have first-hand knowledge, but from what I have heard anecdotally, the biggest problems – excessive downtime, poor-to-nonexistent customer service, the inability to search your site – haven’t improved much or at all with Blogger/Blogspot since I fled to Movable Type when we started Blogcritics in August, ’02.
- Blogger, which is owned by Google, has redesigned its site to make it easier to use and added new features, including posting by e-mail.
“The focus is on lifting the barrier to start blogging,” said Evan Williams, co-founder of Blogger.
There are hundreds of thousands of blogs, creating an eco-system of ever-changing ideas on the net.
Blogger is one of many free web-based services that helps people share their thoughts on the net, without writing code or installing software.
The service has changed little since it was bought by Google in February 2003.
But in the meantime, rival services have sprung up and others have been innovating furiously.
Blogger is racing to make up time with a new look and tools to let people do more with their blogs.
“We’re aiming at expanding the user base and appealing to the mainstream internet audience,” Mr Williams told BBC News Online.
As part of the overhaul, Blogger is adding a facility to post to a blog via e-mail, as well as a comments box.
It has also done a deal with a company called Hello to let subscribers upload photos directly to a blog.
Among the other changes are 26 new templates and new profile pages so that bloggers can learn more about each other.
….Google does not release figures for the number of active bloggers. But at the time it bought the company last year, Blogger had some 200,000 online diarists.
….”Blogging has shown itself to be a fundamental part of the web,” said Mr Williams.
“But we still have a tremendous way to go.”
As for the future, Mr Williams said they would be looking at incorporating Google’s search technology into Blogger, offering subscribers the ability to search their blog. [BBC]
What do you think, Blogger users?
