The group's goal is to develop the web blog as an online community for people of all occupations and ages - including "ordinary" people. Its slogan is "Anyone, anytime, anywhere".

Internet users will be able to create their own blogs and share their opinions and news with others. NMG opened the web blog with a soft launch in December last year. Its official launch is expected during the digital industry exhibition, Commart Thailand 2007, between March 23 and March 26.

NMG's editorinchief Suthichai Yoon said the group is one of just a few media organizations that have fully entered the digital media era by launching web blogs. It will also use its web blog to tap the "users generate contents" global media trend.

The company's next step is to introduce "citizen reporting" in the web blog, allowing people who are not journalists to report news from all around Thailand by way of video clips. This will create various new dimensions in news reporting, Suthichai said.

"They are the ones that really touch places and know what happens," he said.

Cheaper broadband, costing Bt599 per month, and new 3G mobile phone technology, which is expected to be unveiled in Thailand within two years, will allow people to easily record and send video clips.

Other countries already have this "citizen reporting", but it has not appeared in Thailand, Suthichai said, adding that NMG has developed the web blog by using www.youtube.com and myspace.com as role models.

He expects www.oknation.net web blog to have up to 1,000 blogs after its launch.

Currently, the Nation Multimedia Group has three main media outlets - print media (newspapers, weekend magazines), television and radio broadcasting. Each outlet also has its own website. Nevertheless, the three newspapers - The Nation, Krungthep Turakij and Kom Chad Luek - remain NMG's core elements.

by Nitida Asawanipont

The Nation