Since Blogger.com debuted in August 1999, the site, which offers Web-based publishing software, has launched millions of blogs.

In May more than 125 million unique visitors viewed Blogger.com-hosted sites, landing Blogger at No. 1 on comScore World Metrix's list of top blogs, which includes competitors like Windows Live Spaces, Six Apart sites, and WordPress.

Now available in over 35 languages, Blogger, which Google bought in 2003, recently introduced a development blog (draft.blogger.com) where users can test out new features, such as the ability to upload videos.

In an interview with WSJ.com's Elva Ramirez, Eric Case, Blogger.com's new product manager, and Jason Shellen, a new business development manager, discuss the evolution of blogging, just how many (or how few) people are reading blogs these days and the difficult balance bloggers must strike when it comes to their privacy.

The Wall Street Journal Online: What's the average readership for a Blogger.com hosted site?

Eric Case: I don't have any specifics for you but it's definitely small. Our most popular users are individuals sharing their lives, their photos and their stories with a couple of friends, a couple of family members.

WSJ.com: If the number is small does that discount the accepted wisdom that bloggers are writing for attention?

Jason Shellen: That's something we've heard for many years, that bloggers are definitely attention-grabbing or that they are pseudo-journalists or something. I think the average blogger is thinking, "Hey I'd like to share some photos," or "I'd like to share a video." And to that blogger, the audience might be one person, but it might be the most important person to them.

Mr. Case: Most people, if not all, are writing with a given audience in mind, like friends or family. But because blogs are on the Web and get picked up by search engines like Google and get discovered in search results, they get wider distribution than the author initially intends. And that's where the misconception that people are writing for attention comes from.

WSJ.com: What's the biggest difference between a blog from 1998 and one today?

Mr. Case: I would say the richness of the content. Back in the late '90s, it was technically pretty difficult to post images, let alone video, music and sound for podcasting. Nowadays you can pretty much expect to see rich media in any blog you visit.

WSJ.com: How are new social media services incorporated into blogs?

Mr. Shellen: When new services come out, one of the first features they tend to add is a way to embed [user content] into a blog.

So Twitter [a real-time messaging service], for example, has had little badges that you can copy and paste into your blog since probably the first three to six months of their existence. The content that people are putting on Twitter tends to supplement the content they put on their blogs.

Mr. Case: What a lot of small companies and start-ups have found is that it's easier for them to create a little [widget or application] and if their users find it of value, it will make its way onto Blogger.

WSJ.com: Blogs seem to especially resonate with people after cataclysmic events like Hurricane Katrina or the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Have there been other events that have caused a spike in new accounts? What is it about blogs that make people turn to them?

Mr. Shellen: There is that urge to connect. [Blogs] were maybe the first social networks where you linked to people that maybe you didn't connect with socially or locally. There have been those catalyzing moments, [such as Sept. 11 and the Iraq invasion in March 2003.] The election in 2004 was a touchstone moment where people were starting to hear the word "blog" more and wanted to experience that for themselves.

Mr. Case: First and foremost, blogging is personal and that's one of the reasons it's so successful. The most engaging stories from these [major] events are the personal ones. Blogs are platforms for personal communication and sharing. They just happen to be accessible to all.

WSJ.com: We've heard of potential employers and recruiters vetting applicants and employees by searching Google and Facebook. How do you think blogs are negotiating increasingly blurred lines of private speech in a public space?

Mr. Shellen: It seems like that for every case that someone has had some sort of negative experience, there are just as many people who write in to say, "Thanks for having Blogger out there. I got my job because I was able to talk very specifically about my expertise in this area." Blogs are just like any other tool. You can get into a lot of trouble with a typewriter and a pencil, as I'm sure you're aware.

Mr. Case: Blogging at its core is just identity online. You can consciously create the identity that you want to be the one that's in the Google index and that turns up in search results. A blog is a place to show off and to demonstrate savvy about any kind of topic and so it's up to the individual to be aware of the identity that they are creating.

WSJ.com: As blogging becomes more mainstream, are concerns about privacy shaping blogging into something that you can do privately?

Mr. Shellen: We've certainly had any number of features requests for more privacy controls. I don't think there are a great preponderance of our users who are thinking that this is going to get them in trouble or somehow achieve greater fame and fortune. Most people just want to connect