By Mark Savage Entertainment reporter, BBC News

Spears cited irreconcilable differences in court papers

Celebrity internet sites and weblogs have been predicting the demise of Britney Spears' marriage to Kevin Federline almost from the day it was announced.

So, when news broke that the singer had filed divorce papers in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening, the reaction was akin to a collective shrug of the shoulders.

As Hollywood gossip site Defamer put it, this was the "tragic news the world has been patiently awaiting ever since it was revealed that Britney Spears would be following up her first, Vegas-binge-enabled marriage with an even more ill-advised one to a background dancer".

Many bloggers agreed, happy to replicate the news with a small comment that this was what everyone had been expecting.

But some quick-thinking writers seized the opportunity to re-brand Federline, commonly known as K-Fed in gossip columns, as Fed-Ex.

Support for Britney

The couple were married in 2004, and have two sons

Sadly for Federline, the majority of people writing on the internet already seem to have sided with his soon-to-be-former wife.

"Britney Spears got rid of 150 pounds of dead weight," wrote Steve on his Myspace blog. "She got rid of Kevin Federline".

"Hallelujah! Praise the Lord! Ring the bells and release the doves!" added Wanda on her Livespace page.

However, others were slightly more considerate.

"I will never celebrate the ending of a marriage," wrote Someboy0716 on the message boards at popjustice.com.

"However, I will say I much prefer Britney without K-Fed and I can't wait for her new music".

New look

The pop star's own web diary is, sadly, offline

Indeed, many web users seem to believe the divorce proceedings herald a creative rebirth for Britney Spears.

They are no doubt bolstered by the singer's appearance on David Letterman's talk show on Monday night.

There, the singer unveiled a new, toned image a far cry from the tracksuits and unstyled hair she displayed during her pregnancy.

"Single and sexy" is how the Perez Hilton weblog put it.

As the news spread and the story developed, celebrity website TMZ.com seems to have taken the lead in pursuing the story.

They obtained video of Spears ice skating at the Rockefeller Center in New York just hours after the divorce papers were filed.

Another picture sent to the website shows the pop star shopping in Gap while an electronic billboard behind her displays the headline: "Britney Spears files for divorce".

A quick look at blog search engines shows that thousands of stories and blogs have been written about the pop divorce over the past 24 hours, and the interest seems sure to continue.

As Perez Hilton writes: "Yesterday we reached our highest number [of readers] ever, despite periods of time where the website was down for a bit because too many people were trying to view it.