By now, you've probably heard of blogs, or Web logs - personal stories and other meanderings about the news of the day or anything else a blogger feels like writing about. 

Blogging can be addictive, particularly if the blogger begins to connect with a network of loyal readers and other bloggers

The Internet search engine Technorati indexes new blog posts and helps bloggers distribute the product of what it calls this convergence of journalism and conversation. Technorati just completed its annual report on the state of the Blogosphere.

It found that . . .

• Twenty-six million Americans have posted blogs in the past year. Think about that: That's 12 percent of the adult U.S. population that has found the motivation, time and resources to write on the Web.

• Seventy-eight million different Americans visit blogs online.

Blogging is intensely personal and informal in tone. Sometimes bloggers reveal a whole new personality that would surprise their friends and family

Technorati found that bloggers run the gamut from bricklayers to corporate executives.  Their online chatter covers every imaginable topic - and an average of five different subjects in each blog.  So there's a stream-of-consciousness aspect to blogging.  Bloggers typically read and react to other blogs and use various Internet tools to promote their blogs and measure their success. 

Technorati reports that a lot of folks find that blogging has, in its words, had an incredibly positive impact on their lives, ranging from an improved self-image to career advances. Blogs also can make money; more than half accept advertising. 

Blogging is more than a creative outlet or an ego trip. A lot of bloggers make money doing it by selling advertising on their sites

One blogger told Technorati, "Until recently, the blogosphere referred to a small cluster of geeks - or technically savvy computer enthusiasts - circled around a single tool.  Now it refers to hundreds of millions of people worldwide using a vast warehouse of tools that allow people to behave increasingly online like they do in life."

Now if that's true, the Blogosphere could be scary!

Everybody's blogging, all right.  VOA's Ted Landphair has begun a blog called Ted Landphair's America. You can find it at: http://tedlandphairsamerica.blogspot.com.