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| this is Google Blogspot interface in 2000 |
This is Blogspot Old Interface in Year 2000 - The photo you see above is the screenshot of the Blogspot homepage taken on October 18, 2026. As far as we know, Blogspot is the hosting name for Google blogging service called "blogger".
During that time which is 26 years ago during the dot com boom when the internet still in early stage, not so many people know so much blogging or web blog.
Ths is what was being written in Blogspot homepage:
"BlogSpot is a free hosting service for Blogger™-powered blogs.
Blogger is the easy (non-tedious!) way to update your home page. Keeping a journal, what's new page, weblog, project page, or any other type of frequently updated web page with Blogger is as easy as typing in a form.
Blogger will publish to any web site, but if you don't already have one, BlogSpot makes it quick and easy to get started (and did we mention it's free?). Just fill in the form on the left. No really, do it!
If you'd like to get started using Blog*Spot, and want to see an in-depth overview on how to sign up and use it, see our visual tutorial.
If you'd like to see what other Blog*Spot blogs look like, take a look at the directory."
All they know is the internet as the source of free information. During that time to access the internet you have to open up internet from a bulky desktop computer.
The internet line during the early years was accessed using dial-up phone line, which basically means the device has to "call" the internet serves to initiate internet connection before you can open up a browser to start browsing the internet.
At first I was so curious why Google called their blogging service as "blogger" but put their server in "blogspot" domain name, why not put it in official blogger name such as "www.blogger.com" instead of "www.blogspot.con"
Well, overall it was all up to Google to decide.
Blogger blogging service was started by Pyra Labs as new web technology which is not yet overtaken by Google during that time.
Pyra Labs published Blogger publicly as free blogging service on Agust 1999. During that time, I was still studying in local university.
Somewhere during 2001, Pyra Labs introduced Blogger Pro, a paid subscription-based high end version of the free-version Blogger.
How Blogger Become So Popular In year 2000-2003
From my own experience, Blogger blogging service was very easy to use compare to other free blogging service during that time such as TypePad, WordPress and LiveJournal.
Blogger become much popular because you can earn money from blogging activity in Blogspot using AdSense, which is online advertising platform by Google.
Google’s Blogger (originally created by Pyra Labs) skyrocketed in popularity between 2002 and 2004 because it removed the technical barriers to web publishing right as global demand for real-time,
The surge in popularity also was driven by three distinct phases: the pre-acquisition momentum of 2002, the massive catalyst of Google's acquisition in 2003, and the Web 2.0 monetization boom of 2004.
Before 2002, building a website required knowledge of HTML, FTP servers, and manual coding. Blogger changed this dynamic entirely.
You can create a blog for yourself for free withbout a need to pay for anything.
All you have to do is register for a Gmail account without any charge, then you can use that Gmail to open up a new Blogger account.
Google only allow Gmail to be used as the email to register for their Blogspot blog.
Google did not allow other email address to be used as registration email for their blogging platform. All because Blogspot fully owned by Google.
Personal Web Publishing Become Personal With Blogger Free Blogging Service
Anyone who could type an email could now run a global website for free. As an internet user you can publish your blog posts from your email. Free and easy.
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| this is Blogspot homepage interface in 2003 |
Following 9/11 events and leading into the Iraq War, everyday citizens and experts grew frustrated with mainstream media filters. They turned to Blogger to publish immediate, firsthand, and alternative political commentary.
2002 saw the birth of grassroots web culture, including the rise of the first tech, design, and "mommy bloggers" who built highly engaged communities using Blogger's dynamic RSS feeds.
In 2004, Google deeply integrated Google AdSense into Blogger. For the first time, regular people could monetize their hobbies and make real money online simply by writing.
Bloggers quickly noticed that Blogger sites ranked incredibly well on Google. Blogger natively exported structured RSS feeds, which Google's search spiders could crawl and index faster than traditional websites.
During that time, social media such as Facebook as Twitter was not popular yet just like today in June 2026 at the time I wrote this blog post. So, all internet users prefer blogs and websites to search for latest news and latest info.
