Blogging is now no longer an exclusive cyber tool that only journalists and software geeks employ. Bollywood film stars are fast adopting it to promote their movies.

For those new to the Internet, a Blog, short for web log, can be described as a sort of online diary that can be viewed by all-like web pages.

From Aamir Khan to Rani Mukherjee and even Amitabh Bachchan, they have all entered chat rooms and Blog spaces to woo fans all across the globe. "Blogs have traditionally been used for communication of the litterati types. Till six months back, journalists, writers and techies have been using them for information sharing. But now these Blogs have reached a new level - to the common man," says Krishna Prasad, head, programming, MSN India.

"Blogs are reaching new communities, larger bases and Bollywood is one of them. Since it is a medium for communication, it is a big opportunity for entertainment," says Prasad.

Many producers are setting up full-fledged websites of their movies so that they can be promoted in one go all over the world, he says. The chat and Blog story of film stars initially started with Lagaan. "It was the first such experiment and people went crazy. When Aamir was chatting, we had over 1000 users in one go," says Yasheel Jain, head, chat group of a website.

"It was also the time, when we received maximum hits," he says noting, "it is like being in direct touch with the star... It works very well for the movie."

However, Prasad says these Blogs are an indirect method of film promotion in the sense that they are not promoting the movie. "We use stars as the medium, they tell people about themselves, their work and the particular movie. Since it is not possible for film stars to answer 20,000 questions, everything they want to say can be reached to masses through the Blog."

MSN set up a Blog for Aamir at the time of Mangal Pandey and again for Rang De Basanti. "There is something intriguing about him. People want to know about him all the time and so his Blog is an instant hit," he says. Blog groups are also putting up webcasts of the premiere of the movies along with the Blog to lure more people.

"Blogs are infact emerging as an ideal vehicle for film cast to interact with a wider audience on their movie, it's making and on the special events leading upto its release," he says.

But then Prasad laments, "you can't use this sort of promotion for each and every film, only big names sell. People would want to read what the Big 'B' or King Khan have to say. But they would lose their meaning if every Tom, Dick and Harry in Bollywood sets up a Blog."

He says besides film stars, those associated with TV and soaps are also using this medium in a big way to promote their TV serials, besides offering a peep into the lives of these actors.