Keeping a daily, weekly or monthly journal can be made a lot easier by moving that journal online. The therapeutic expression of keeping a diary stays much the same with only the venue changing. A web-based online journal can easily be accessed from work or while travelling, and there's no worrying about leaving a diary or journal lying around to be found. An online journal can be made completely private so that it isn't searchable from a search engine.
Blogs vs. Journals
While many blogs are written in order to attract the most readers possible, most free blogging sites offer the option of keeping each blog private. Blog sites such as blogger.com and Wordpress.com offer blogs that can be made completely private or accessible only to people that the blogger chooses.
Sites like LiveJournal offer blogs in a diary format. Each entry can be set to any privacy setting desired. But for those who want their diaries to be public, any of the free journal sites offer that option. For blogs that are made public, a pen name can be chosen to protect the identity of the blogger.
Journal Software
Software offers a safe alternative to keeping a journal online. Specifically designed software is available to keep a journal on the computer that is not accessible outside the software. Journal software is made to be user friendly and customizable. Images can be added and the pages be sorted into any number of categories. Journal software is accessed with a password, much like the key that many bound diaries have.
Personal Blog Sites
Free blogging sites are popular and are designed to be user friendly. But, many bloggers prefer to create their own site. This can be done by buying a domain name and installing Wordpress or another blog program onto the site. The site, and its privacy settings, are then completely up to the blogger.
Another form of journaling is real-time, short entries throughout the day. Twitter is a site where members update what they are doing at any given time. Much like journaling, it can be used as an ongoing record of a person's day.
Part of the attraction of the online journal is that it can be a way to connect with the world rather than a book that sits in a drawer. Some people who keep personal online journals may choose to turn them into a public blog that is open to comments and subscribers.
Related Article: How to Run a Blog
