For many it's a daily ritual, some might even say an addiction. And surprisingly, it is worse – or better – than we think. Millions of users, young and old, are chronicling their lives, expressing their opinions, sharing news.

Unlike the days when diaries were filled with happenings and dreams, stashed away from intruding eyes, now they are publicly exposed and available for comments from absolute strangers.

Web logs, or blogs, are internet sites created and managed by individuals who post their news, views, rants and raves – from relevant reflections to mundane minutiae. Technorati, a blog search engine, claims to be tracking over 63.2 million blogs – a number to be reckoned with.

Journalists and professionals avail themselves of this unfiltered medium for the dissemination of credible news ignored by mainstream media or to challenge the content of published information.

Citizen journalists thrive in the world of blog. Once merely passive witnesses to government, their blogging provides an effective, user-friendly forum to voice facts, spins, complaints or support for issues affecting their quality of life or peace of mind.

A seductive appeal of most blogs is the capability for readers to contribute comments on the material posted, which engender further comments and responses, sometimes ad infinitum. This interactive salon of virtual conversation further allows the option of hiding behind a catchy e-pseudonym, or at worst the ubiquitous "anonymous," thus allowing, and even fueling, commentary devoid of truth or accountability.

Critics are alarmed at the spread of misinformation; the distortion of the fine line between fact and fiction. Political blogs and activist sites have validated this fear, with hidden agendas and the willful propagation of distortions intended to malign or disparage.

A new U.S. law passed last month under the larger umbrella of the Violence Against Women Act amended existing laws to create criminal penalties for those who use the Internet anonymously to "annoy, abuse, threaten or harass any person."

Implementation of this new amendment may well discourage those who hide behind the veil of anonymity to falsely attack with impunity. Predictably, however, bloggers have already posted their interpretations that the amendment applies to email and VoIP Internet phone calls, and not blogs. Surely, its application and implementation will be sorted out sooner rather than later, but a clear message has been delivered about the potential and future repercussions of anonymous annoyances.

One way or another, blogging is here to stay, and the numbers tell the story. A whimsical search for blogs on Technorati under the word "motherhood" generated 94,869 postings; it also located 1,953,377 while searching "politics," and 810,793 for "Miami."

Further use and time will undoubtedly render viable and acceptable modus operandi for blog operation and postings. In the meantime, blogs have millions of people reading and writing daily, with technological ease and instant gratification. It promotes reflection, insight, and learning. It incites the chronicles of modern day adventurers. It provides entertainment. It grants a voice.

So log on, click away, own up to your words and let your voice be read. Just remember that you cannot believe everything you read; and when in doubt, Google away and fact check.

For more often than not, if it's too good to be true, it is.