With the introduction of services like MSN and now - Windows Live Spaces, blogging is fast becoming a popular means of communication for India's online community.

"Blogging India: A Windows Live Report", a report put together by Windows Live Spaces, as part of a pan-Asian research initiative based on an online survey of over 1,000 visitors to the MSN portal from within the country, revealed that India's so-called nascent blogosphere actually stands out within the region.

We enlist some of the survey's interesting findings.

For one, the country s blogosphere is largely driven by youth, and by a passion for self improvement and entertainment. Forty two percent blogs world-wide are read for event updates, and 49 percent for Entertainment.

Although blogging is on an upswing the blogging community is still largely nascent, with a mere 14 percent of the country's netizens involved in active blogging while 39 percent just about aware of it.

"It's a man's world" rings true at least in case of the country's blogosphere, which has to its credit 76 percent male bloggers, and 24 percent female bloggers.

Not surprising, young adults are fueling the blogging revolution with 54 percent bloggers aged between 25 and 34 years; 32 percent under 25 years; and 15 percent over 35 years of age.

The key driver for blogging remains a passion for self improvement and personal development, with a large majority of online users reading blogs to stay on top of world events and subjects like Technology and Education.

Interestingly, business leaders are leading the way here too, with half the country s online population preferring to read blogs written by these distinguished gentlemen. Politicians are next on the popularity charts.

The survey indicates that blogging could well become the new 'fourth estate' with nearly half the respondents putting as much faith in blog content as much as traditional media.

An important motivator for blogging remains the need to share lives with family and friends. Meanwhile, 58 percent of blogs are started to express passionate views, while the remaining 40 percent are started to entertain others through writing.

The survey shines the light on the flip side of blogging as well, what with readers admitting to being put off by things like badly written entries, self centred blogs, lack of regular updates, etc.

Morever, with 90 percent bloggers spending up to 5 hours a week reading blogs or updating them, the survey hints that the Internet could soon become an inseparable part of the advertiser's marketing mix.