Blogs have exploded in popularity amongst young people and adults in the last 18 months

The future of the advocacy movement.

"I am now looking at the way blogs can be used in the class, as an educational technology," Mr Huffaker said.

"The average blog post is over 2,000 words (per page), which is really interesting when you are trying to get kids to write essays."

He found evidence that some teachers had already been using blogs to highlight pupils' work to improve literacy, but also as a way for students to comment on each other's work.

Blogs have exploded in popularity amongst young people and adults in the last 18 months.

They are an increasingly common way of expressing and communicating on the net, along with e-mail, chatrooms, message boards and instant messaging.