Hats off to young British entrepreneur Chris Ridgeon for developing a new tool for self-expression. Internetshout.com which launches today describes itself as "the world's voice-based social and discussion forum" - and delivers exactly what it promises on the tin.

Instead of simply spraying your thoughts onto the Hive Mind's graffiti wall using ASCII, you can now speak your brains at the internet, instead. Or if you prefer, SHOUT YOUR BRAINS at it.

Sceptics may mock, but surely the biggest objection to such sites has already been overcome. Bloggers blog and fools Twitter without worrying that their efforts are being sent to /dev/null. Traditionally, talking to yourself (or no one in particular) is a sign of being bonkers. But in the Web 2.0 era, the act of getting stuff off your chest is itself considered therapeutic, and even a suitable proxy for democratic engagement.

Internetshout.com is at the "pre-revenue stage", as they say in VC land; Chris only graduated in May and previously ran the Tomb Raider fan site PlanetLara.com. But he sees plenty of scope in what he calls "a new medium", because of the site's facility to allow private groups to form and leave messages for each other.

You think I'm making it up? It's OVER HERE. ®

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