The battle lost?

Apr 15, 2009 08:11

Methinks the battle of Live Journal versus Facebook may be lost at the moment. I see a lot more activity over there these days.

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cgronlund April 16 2009, 11:59:45 UTC
I still prefer LJ.

I like keeping up with people on FB, but I have always (obviously), liked doing longer posts.

I don't read notes on FB for the most part. If I write something longer, I do it here.

I've been working on essays, blog entries, and some other stuff and haven't posted here much. Most of what I've been posting, here, lately has been writing related, and I think only a handful of LJ friends find that interesting.

LJ's always been my preferred site. It's where I write stuff like writing thoughts and other things so I can always go back and see things later. I check my archives frequently and definitely dig LJ.

Facebook is great for some things. I DO like seeing what's up with people. I'd much rather see somebody tell me they are eating breakfast on Facebook than LJ. I enjoy reading things with more substance on LJ. Facebook is the place where I say, "Christopher is playing tennis." LJ is the place where I talk about what playing tennis means to me, and remembering how I started out playing as a kid with wooden racquets found in the garage.

I've always tried to not use LJ as a "This is what I did today," thing. I obviously post stuff like that, but I've always tried making things on LJ a bit deeper.

Lately, I'm writing stuff like that, but not posting it...I'm considering trying to sell some essays.

But LJ crushes FB as far as I'm concerned.

I just think many people have convinced themselves that they are so friggin' busy that they don't have time to post anything substantial. So they go to FB, or 140-words-or-less Twitterland...

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akedz April 16 2009, 13:15:16 UTC
I think there may be a bit of LJ snobbery in that assessment of yours. There is no technological hurdle to posting long texts in Facebook. I see Finn over there frequently posting his occasional long essays and I and others seem to find time to read them (yourself included as your comments there indicate). While the top level of FB is indeed for the attention impaired, there is acceptable depth available there.

I don't see Facebook as just a Twitter substitute; I see Facebook as a consolidated one-stop site that replaced my need for Twitter, LiveJournal, YouTube, Flikr, and all those other content-specific publishing sites. And to ease the transition, it cleverly links to most of those places as well in a Subscribe/Re-publish mode.

It is what you make it, man. Dig deeper. You have a wider audience over there, I bet.

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cgronlund April 16 2009, 23:16:14 UTC
I think there may be a bit of LJ snobbery in that assessment of yours.

No snobbery at all--I just use LJ and Facebook for different things (just as I use Twitter for something else entirely). Like you say: It is what I make of it, and I choose to make lines between how I use each place; otherwise, I should scrap everything but Facebook.

There's no doubt that Facebook and even Tumblr are better all-in-one stops. But the people I have contact with on Facebook are different than the people I stay in touch with on LJ. There's no snobbery about any of it--I will agree that Facebook has the most overall potential of all the social networking sites I've used.

I'm just not interested in posting the things I post on LJ on Facebook. Different people, and Facebook is something I can roll through a few times a day and stay in touch with people and see what they are doing.

I read Finn's stuff--I always will. As somebody who's struggled with weight, I'm going to support a good friend in what he's doing. But I don't read most notes on Facebook, and if Finn updated LJ or his Finn's Wake Yahoo group, I'd reply there.

I don't have any issue with Facebook notes. I know my audience, and I simply choose not to post what I post over there for a variety of reasons.

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akedz April 16 2009, 14:08:21 UTC
Next I expect to hear you say "And what's with this whole XBOX thing? Checkers and kick-the-can were good enough for my grandparents and they're good enough fer me. GET OFF MY LAWN, YA DURN KIDS!"

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cgronlund April 16 2009, 23:19:29 UTC
What was that you were saying about snobbery, Art? ;)

I don't own an XBox because I'd use it.

I canceled cable, and if the TV is on for two hours a month, I'd be surprised.

It works for me. It gives me time to exercise, and time to write.

TV's not evil; XBox is not evil.

It's just not for me right now.

(And for the record, when I thought Kick the Can was the shit, I also thought Yar's Revenge was the coolest game ever :) )

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