The Journal That Was Already Live

LiveJournal in March 2000 explains itself with charming directness: a free service that lets you create and customize your own "live journal," an up-to-the-minute log of whatever you are doing, when you are doing it.

The navigation is compact: Home, News, Create Journal, Modify Journal, Download, Directory, Support. The page emphasizes that updates can happen on the web or through an easy-to-use program. Personal publishing is being pulled closer to daily rhythm.

That is the historical hinge. A journal had once implied privacy, reflection, and delay. LiveJournal made it social, networked, and current. It turned the act of keeping track of yourself into a shared interface.

The page also shows how blogging and social networking overlapped before they hardened into separate categories. Customization, directories, friends, software clients, and frequent updates all sit together. The future feed is not here yet, but the pulse is unmistakable.