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MSN launched MSN Spaces, its new blogging service. The MSN Spaces beta version is a free service available in 14 languages and 26 markets worldwide.

MSN Spaces was designed to make it easy for consumers to create and maintain a personal Web site, bringing the power and benefits of blogging to millions of Internet users, regardless of their level of technical expertise. More than a blogging tool, MSN Spaces is a dynamic online scrapbook where consumers can share photo albums, personal music lists and more.

It is also more than an ordinary personal Web site, via seamless integration with MSN Messenger and MSN Hotmail. MSN Spaces will automatically notify online contacts when a person's Space has been updated so his or her online community knows when it is time to pay a visit.

People can sign up for MSN Spaces through MSN Messenger or by going to http://spaces.msn.com. Key features of the service include the following:

1. Control your Space. Consumers can choose the people who visit their Space through three levels of permissions: public, MSN Messenger contacts only or private.
2. Use pictures and music to say more. MSN Spaces enable consumers to easily display their pictures via a photo album slide show. Consumers can easily share playlists through their Space with Microsoft Windows Media technologies. With just two clicks, people can sample or purchase a song on someone's playlist through MSN Music.
3. Create an extension of yourself. Contact Cards - a new addition to MSN Messenger and Hotmail - are windows into a consumer's Space, mirroring its look and the most recent information posted. MSN Spaces also supports RSS, so consumers can publish their Space to others by way of RSS viewers and aggregators - including My MSN, coming soon.
4. Post remote updates. Consumers can post updates to their Space remotely via e-mail or a mobile phone.
5. Make it your own. Fifteen custom backgrounds and five layout templates give consumers a way to quickly customize and personalize their Space.

Read Nathan Weinberg's first impressions about MSN Spaces

Olivier Duffez is an SEO consultant specialized on Google. Working on the Internet since 1997, he created in 2002 Web Rank Info, a free SEO resources French community (+13,000 members), and in 2003 his company Web Rank Expert. He created an online collaborative dictionary supported by Google.fr and DMOZ. He's giving SEO conferences in ImiTiki's seminars and wrote a book about Google and SEO in 2004. He's also part of the developpment team of PR Weaver and Agent Web Ranking softwares.