Frequently Asked Question #4

LiveJournal.com is a global online community built around personal journaling, created by computer science major Brad Fitzpatrick back in March 1999. Brad Fitzpatrick transformed a database-driven method he'd been using to update his own journal since 1998 into a Web-based application that his friends could also use. LiveJournal was an immediate success and soon became a bigger website than a single person could easily handle.

Since its humble beginnings, LiveJournal has grown into a Webby-award winning open-source service with millions of users worldwide. LiveJournal Inc. was acquired in 2005 by U.S. blogging software start-up, Six Apart, and subsequently purchased in 2007 by Russia-based media company, SUP, with U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, California, and executive offices in Moscow.

LiveJournal's small staff (of less than 20 U.S. employees) and passionate volunteers continue to work together to keep the site running for more than 20 million users spanning every continent in the world.