AOL unveils blogging service for teens

America Online has announced a new blogging service for teenagers.

Red Blogs, which AOL unveiled Tuesday, allows teenagers and parents to select the level of privacy they want for their online diaries; a private blog can be kept locked. A semiprivate blog is locked to all but those who are invited to read it. And a public blog allows access to anybody on the Net.

However, blogs of younger teenagers, those between 13 and 15, will be locked from general public viewing. Similarly, with semiprivate blogs, parents must approve the list of people invited to read the journals of younger teenagers.

		Related story Yahoo 360 takes spin through blogosphere Web giant invites members to sign up for beta test of blogging service.

When AOL asked teenagers in a survey who they were more likely to share their feelings with--parents or a blog--parents narrowly won out, 51 percent to 49 percent, the company said.

Still, most teenagers, 84 percent, said they would not like to share their blog with just anyone on the Web--hence, the varying privacy levels AOL is offering.

The teenagers who read blogs said they prefer Web logs written about people they know and about their favorite musicians, TV shows and movies, according to the survey, which was conducted in conjunction with Digital Marketing Services. Teenagers who read blogs said they are more entertaining than traditional Web sites, the survey said.

AOL's service is designed to let teenagers select their blogs' color and layout and add content such as polls and news.

Every week, AOL will highlight the five most frequently visited blogs, the company said.

"With the unique customization features threaded throughout Red Blogs, we are confident that our more than 5 million teen members will find this the best place online to express their creativity, showcase ideas and share their thoughts with others," Malcolm Bird, general manager of AOL Teens & Kids, said in a statement.

Many Internet companies have launched blogging services. Microsoft's MSN has announced a service called MSN Spaces, and Yahoo is testing a social networking and blogging offering, Yahoo 360, which is scheduled to launch this week.

[PCCRomeo]

Blogger.com is better...

Better interface, easier to use, and not owned by AOL. I recommend Blogger.com....

AOL Refuses to Restore Wrongfully Deleted Journal

AOL's Community Action Team (CAT) recently issued a Terms of Service violation for, AOL claimed, a pro-bulimia weblink on a Journaler's site.

Multiple calls to the CAT and Tech Support were wasted upon outsourced workers who could not understand the problem, mostly because they are unfamiliar with the product and because their English-communication skills are severely lacking.

Once in contact with the corporate office, AOL held the line regarding the violating link which was actually a link to an AOL partnered WebMD site.

AOL has admitted their mistake, but refuses to restore the subscriber's journal on the account that "once deleted," the files are irrecoverable.

This flies in the face of lower-level customer service agents who, probably accidentally, let-slip the fact that journals remain on the company's servers for up to 45 days and that someone should have initiated a "Recovery Order."

See http://journals.aol.com/armandt/sense

[rockerlover]

boyfreinds

Seriously, i have this amazing hot strong sexy funny guy but he had to move to florida and well lets just say i live up north and i miss him so much and i don't have a computer....he talks to me through freinds computers and thwen they call me and i lost his # to wich is not good at all...i really love him but could this be fate telling us to back off...what do you think?

[aspendougy]

AOL TEEN BLOG

Blogging service for teens is a wonderful idea!!

I have some very interesting but controversial information for teens contemplating joining the military

sincerely,
aspendougy
[e-mail]