The News Shopper has become the 'News Blogger' with the launch of a new section of its website dedicated to readers' web logs.

Readers can now contribute to the newspaper's website with anything from diaries of their lives to their own commentaries on local and national issues.

Digital news producer Simon Bull said: "I've noticed that blogging is becoming bigger and bigger and I'm always looking for new ideas and ways to expand the web only content of the paper.

"A blogging section seemed like a good idea to increase the interactivity of the site and make it more accessible.

"There are countless blogging services out there now, but we just wanted to provide a simple sort of way for people to get into the blogging world."

The service has been available for less than two weeks, but Simon said it already has a number of regular bloggers and he hopes it will take off as word about its existence spreads.

On Tuesday, we reported how industry expert Vin Crosbie told the Newspaper Society's Circulation, Editorial & Promotions Conference that blogging and 'citizen journalism' has helped some regional papers in America double the page views of their websites.

Simon said: "I'll mention the service in my page in the paper which I do every couple of weeks but it will be kept separate from the paper. It's really an experiment for us to see how much it takes off."