LiveJournal

LiveJournal (also LJ abbreviated) is a website that offers weblogs and thus allows every user to keep an online diary. LiveJournal is also the name of the open source server software that was developed to provide this service. LiveJournal differs from other weblog providers primarily through its emphasis on the user community, as it was previously known primarily in the WELL (one of the oldest online communities), and through the support of social networks.

distribution

LiveJournal had approximately 14 million users in October 2007, of which over 3 million were in the US , over 500,000 in Russia , approximately 270,000 in Canada and approximately 240,000 in the United Kingdom . About 43,830 users from Germany were registered (rank 9).

LiveJournal is particularly popular in Russia. There it translates as Shivoy shurnal (Russian: Живой журнал or ЖЖ for short ). Unlike in the USA, for example, an increasing number of well-known Russian journalists , publicists , politicians , artists and athletes are running their own LiveJournal weblogs.

Founder and operator

LiveJournal was founded in 1999 by Brad Fitzpatrick, originally to keep his classmates informed about his activities. In January 2005, the operating company of LiveJournal, Danga Interactive, was bought by the software company Six Apart , which sold it on in December 2007 to SUP , an international online media company headquartered in Moscow.

Even after LiveJournal was taken over by SixApart, the software will be further developed and the project will be continued.

In "Russian hands"

In December 2007 LiveJournal was bought by the Russian entrepreneur Alexander Mamut , whose company SUP had operated the Russian branch of the service as a licensee since 2006.