Empowering Self-Expression: Blogging Through Instant Messenger Made Possible by MindSay

With blogging emerging as a mainstream communications medium, MindSay (www.mindsay.com) offers users the ability to create their own blog that is personalized, attractive, and exceptionally easy to maintain. Blogging has recently exploded as a way for anyone from angst-driven teenagers to seasoned journalists to publish anything online -- from a virtual diary to professional news commentary.

With blogging emerging as a mainstream communications medium, MindSay (www.mindsay.com) offers users the ability to create their own blog that is personalized, attractive, and exceptionally easy to maintain. Blogging has recently exploded as a way for anyone from angst-driven teenagers to seasoned journalists to publish anything online -- from a virtual diary to professional news commentary.

Through MindSay, keeping friends, family, and colleagues connected with a blog is as easy as sending an instant message (IM) to one of MindSay's automated agents. These agents, with their own screen names on AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Yahoo Messenger, recognize users and publish messages in real-time to their MindSay blogs. With instant messaging deployed in more than 40% of American households, MindSay enables millions of Internet users to create and maintain a blog site without any programming or additional software.

"Integrating MindSay with the most popular communication tools on the Internet enables anyone to publish a blog, but the added customization features of our service ensure that each blog captures the identity of its creator," said Brian Klug, MindSay's co-founder. MindSay's features include personal URLs (name.mindsay.com), a choice of ready-to-use blog designs, and the ability to create your own design from scratch.

As MindSay grows, it plans to provide users with individually tailored content through MindSay's channels, targeting specific interests such as technology, politics, and sports. Channel-subscribed members will be provided with relevant content from both members and XML news feeds from third-party sources. "As we have seen recently with the interest in the Iraq war, more and more people are turning to blogs for real-time commentary on the pressing issues of the day. At MindSay, we cater to that increased interest and are presenting blog content in a logical and organized fashion," said Adam Ostrow, MindSay's other co-founder.

College roommates Ostrow and Klug, students at the University of Maryland, continue to push the vision of blogging as a centerpiece of personal communications with plans to release additional innovative services at MindSay in coming months. "Blogging is emerging as a tremendous medium for staying connected. At MindSay, we are dedicated to finding new ways of making the medium a pervasive part of every individual's online experience," said Ostrow.