LiveJournal (LJ), or Zhivoy Zhurnal in Russia is a social networking service where Internet users can keep a blog, journal or diary, and is also the name of the free and open source server software which runs the LiveJournal website and online community. A wide variety of political pundits also use the service for political commentary, particularly in Russia, where it partners with the politically independent online newspaper Gazeta.ru. As with many other social networks, a wide variety of public figures use the network.

LiveJournal was started on April 15, 1999 by American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick as a way of keeping his high school friends updated on his activities.In January 2005, blogging software company Six Apart purchased Danga Interactive, the company that operated LiveJournal, from Fitzpatrick. Six Apart sold LiveJournal to Russian media company SUP Media in 2007, but continued to develop the site by the San Francisco-based company LiveJournal, Inc. In January 2009 LiveJournal laid off some employees and moved product development and design functions to Russia.