I'm excited to welcome our private beta testers to Open Salon. Our staff has enjoyed kicking the tires, friending one another and posting fantastic pet photos. We've discovered a lot of talent outside the editorial department. I can't wait to see how more new users will use it.

But I'm like a lot of our beta testers – since I already have a blog, I find myself asking: What will I do here? I'm not entirely sure yet -- but that's the fun of a new product. I know I'll use Open Salon to create a personal profile page, with photos and videos and links I want to share. I also expect to be less formal here, sharing personal observations about the news, and other things, that might feel a little out of place on my "official" Salon blog. I've been dying to write about the final phase of my daughter's college tour, for instance, but in the midst of an historic presidential election it's felt a little self-indulgent. (Maybe you'll indulge me on that here, later in the week.)

And soon members will be able to easily import their existing blogs, to also host them on Open Salon – to get access to our wonderful audience as well as to take advantage of opportunities to profit from your work that we will be rolling out later in the beta. I may do that, too; it's a great option, and we hope many of you will take advantage of it, once we offer it.

Mostly I'm just thrilled to create a new venue for the creativity of our readers. A media critic once told me Salon had "the smartest audience in journalism," and we do. I see it often in our letters threads; now some of our most prolific letter writers will be the first to become Open beta testers (if you're a letter writer reading these words now: Welcome!)

Anyway, enough about me. What about you? How will you use Open Salon? Show or tell, it's your choice!