FROM diaries about their lives to online performances, celebrities are embracing the Internet like never before.

It is now possible to read how Hollywood actress Melanie Griffith tackled her addiction to pain killers in a sugary online journal at www.melanieonline.com or get the latest news from the home of Michael Douglas at www.michaeldouglas.com.

But as well using the Internet to publish chosen parts of their personal lives, more and more celebrities are waking up to the power that the web gives them as a medium in its own right. David Bowie (www.davidbowie.com) was the first artist to release a single exclusively on the Internet way back in 1996 but now he is being joined by other big names.

Friends star Jennifer Anniston is about to launch a new project exclusively online at the website www.voxxy.com. This online sitcom series of 13 half-hour slots sounds like the sort of content any television broadcaster would be glad to be offered.

As reported previously in this column, Madonna recently used the web for a concert which nine million people were able to log onto and plenty of others are getting in on the act.

Among them is football star David Ginola who broadcasts Radio Ginola at his website www.ginola14.com and Kelly Brook at www.kellybrookonline.com.

There are currently several celebrities waiting to go online at www.planetcelebrity.net and there seems to be an unstoppable wave of famous faces who are favouring the chance to talk directly to their fans.

So it seems the Internet has come of age as a mainstream medium.

The stars have made it official - an online exclusive is no longer just material no one else wants to publish.

* Previous columns from The Cyber Space are available online at www.thisisthenortheast.co.uk/leisure/cyber.html.