Emily Butler used to keep a pen-and-paper diary. But after her mother found it, ironically, the Arlington, Virginia, teen started pouring out her feelings online.

“When there were days when I just needed to rant, it felt good,” said Butler, 16, a sophomore at Yorktown High School who started a blog on the site Xanga a couple of years ago. “I’d come home after school, and I’d spend, like, an hour typing in everything I did all day. Once I discovered posting online, it definitely became, ‘Why would I write it in a book?’”

Online diaries have become a well-known phenomenon in recent years, with teenagers and young adults attracted to the genre in huge numbers. Raised on the Internet and reality television, these diarists make their writing accessible to friends, acquaintances and, often, to hundreds of millions of World Wide Web users. Many include their full names and school names.

Parents, teachers and police constantly urge young people not to reveal too much about themselves online. They warn that personal disclosures might be read by college admissions officers and potential employers, not to mention stalkers and paedophiles. The risks were underscored in a highly publicised 2005 Virginia murder case in which investigators looked for clues in the online journals of college student Taylor Behl and her killer.

One entry from a high school student read: “Unfortunately I feel very distant from everyone. ... Maybe it’s just how I function. I think its probably my worst flaw.”

“i feel she could be the one i know it is crazy because well i am 18 and all that but i really do i am just scared i have never let someone get as close to me as i have let her.”

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