![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Why Are You Still Here?
Mar. 11th, 2010 06:29 pmSomeone on my f-list noted yesterday that LJ seems to be turning into Detroit, with far fewer active accounts than there used to be. I've noticed this myself. In the heyday of say 2005 or 2006, I'd have to go through three or four pages just to keep up with one day's worth of posts from my f-list and my f-list was pretty limited compared to a lot of other f-lists. The guy on my f-list thinks it has a lot to do with Facebook's current popularity. It's certainly true that when it comes to internet social networking, right now the party's at Facebook and at Twitter.
Reason number two is the proliferation of user-friendly freebie blogging programs like Blogspot and WordPress that allow more verbose people to post away.
Reason three is that many LJ members who were active few years ago feel like they've outgrown the whole concept of chatting about their lives to anonymous "friends" online or got tired of their fandoms and quit writing about them. Some haven't liked changes to LJ's management or rules instituted a few years ago concerning adult content and icky stuff I won't get into here. Others have realized that LJ seems to have attracted a lot of loons.
Reason four is that in recent years, LJ has lost people who post in English but gained a LOT who post in Russian. LiveJournal is way popular in Russia and Ukraine. I don't speak Russian and can't read or post in the Cyrillic alphabet, which limits the folks who can friend me or I can friend in return.
I have accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and I use WordPress for the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society. Yet here I still toil. Why?
Facebook and Twitter have their uses. The primary reason why I got a Facebook account was because a lot of big names in SW fandom have accounts there now and I wanted to keep up with what they have to say. It is nice to be in contact with new fans I've not met before and others I haven't chatted with in a long time. Twitter is good for giving and receiving information in a hurry. It's like that scrolling line at the bottom of the t.v. when you watch cable news. A lot of big names in SW fandom have (real) Twitter accounts too: starwars.com, Leland Chee, Bonnie Burton, Kyle Newman, Jaime King, Matt Lanter, Anthony Daniels, Daniel Logan, James Arnold Taylor, and Carrie Fisher to name a few off the top of my head. But they're not great formats for the kind of writerly discussion you can have on LiveJournal or to host fan fiction. You only get 140 characters to say what you need to say per Tweet. Most people on Facebook make short posts, though you can make longer ones in the "Notes" tab.
WordPress works great for a blog like SWPAS. There have even been times when I've considered leaving the LJ reservation and using WordPress instead. But the problem with regular blogs is that unless it's hugely popular, you'll get very little commentary from readers. Even some popular ones seldom get responses. That makes the kind of lively discussion you see on LJ very rare. Moreover, readers have to use a search engine like Google or Bing to even find your existence. On LJ, all you need to do is run a search on "star wars" or whatever interests you and find a potential audience. The only other sites that are as good or better for hosting fan fiction are TFN's Jedi Council forum and FanFiction.net. Besides, I like having all of the different icons for use here.
Who knows how long the Facebook/Twitter bubble will last? Just a few years ago, MySpace was hot stuff. Now it is not. LJ may never reach the heights that bigger networking sites have attained but I still think it has something to offer for people who want the fun of networking AND blogging in the same program.
(By the way, LJ did not pay me to write this.)
Reason number two is the proliferation of user-friendly freebie blogging programs like Blogspot and WordPress that allow more verbose people to post away.
Reason three is that many LJ members who were active few years ago feel like they've outgrown the whole concept of chatting about their lives to anonymous "friends" online or got tired of their fandoms and quit writing about them. Some haven't liked changes to LJ's management or rules instituted a few years ago concerning adult content and icky stuff I won't get into here. Others have realized that LJ seems to have attracted a lot of loons.
Reason four is that in recent years, LJ has lost people who post in English but gained a LOT who post in Russian. LiveJournal is way popular in Russia and Ukraine. I don't speak Russian and can't read or post in the Cyrillic alphabet, which limits the folks who can friend me or I can friend in return.
I have accounts on Facebook and Twitter, and I use WordPress for the Star Wars Prequel Appreciation Society. Yet here I still toil. Why?
Facebook and Twitter have their uses. The primary reason why I got a Facebook account was because a lot of big names in SW fandom have accounts there now and I wanted to keep up with what they have to say. It is nice to be in contact with new fans I've not met before and others I haven't chatted with in a long time. Twitter is good for giving and receiving information in a hurry. It's like that scrolling line at the bottom of the t.v. when you watch cable news. A lot of big names in SW fandom have (real) Twitter accounts too: starwars.com, Leland Chee, Bonnie Burton, Kyle Newman, Jaime King, Matt Lanter, Anthony Daniels, Daniel Logan, James Arnold Taylor, and Carrie Fisher to name a few off the top of my head. But they're not great formats for the kind of writerly discussion you can have on LiveJournal or to host fan fiction. You only get 140 characters to say what you need to say per Tweet. Most people on Facebook make short posts, though you can make longer ones in the "Notes" tab.
WordPress works great for a blog like SWPAS. There have even been times when I've considered leaving the LJ reservation and using WordPress instead. But the problem with regular blogs is that unless it's hugely popular, you'll get very little commentary from readers. Even some popular ones seldom get responses. That makes the kind of lively discussion you see on LJ very rare. Moreover, readers have to use a search engine like Google or Bing to even find your existence. On LJ, all you need to do is run a search on "star wars" or whatever interests you and find a potential audience. The only other sites that are as good or better for hosting fan fiction are TFN's Jedi Council forum and FanFiction.net. Besides, I like having all of the different icons for use here.
Who knows how long the Facebook/Twitter bubble will last? Just a few years ago, MySpace was hot stuff. Now it is not. LJ may never reach the heights that bigger networking sites have attained but I still think it has something to offer for people who want the fun of networking AND blogging in the same program.
(By the way, LJ did not pay me to write this.)
