Further impressions of LiveJournal (as compared to Tumblr):
Note: I'm talking about the personal and fandom parts of Livejournal. I have no idea if it's the same everywhere
- It's Oh, So Quiet. And I like that. It's like being in the library (mmm, libraries). Well, sure, people talk to each other - they talk to each other a lot! Sometimes angrily in allcaps, even! - but you can skip past conversations and flamewars in posts on your friends page in a way you can't really do on your Tumblr dashboard (which is the closest equivalent there).Tumblr doesn't have comments fields, so people reblog-with-comments a lot instead. And if you're following someone, you see everything they post - including heated discussions with other bloggers.
- Speaking of following ... I thought friending worked like that, i.e. like Watching a community. Turns out, it doesn't. Oops. >_< I hope I haven't made anyone uncomfortable by friending them without asking or even talking to them first, and if I have, I apologize.
- Sort of as a conclusion from the first two points: It's, well, by extroverts, for extroverts. Yeah, I know: most things are, because most people are more extroverted, or are taught to be. What I mean when I say it's for extroverts is that ... I get the impression that you're expected to want to talk to other people (which is a very reasonable expectation - I'm not complaining, just stating). I sort of get the impression that the expected general MO is: (0) Join any communities you want and/or LJ-Friend real-life friends (this step may be skipped). (1) Post stuff in your journal and/or in communities where you're a member (2) Comment on other people's posts (3) Reply to other people's comments (4) When it seems appropriate, ask people you want to friend if you can friend them. (5) Hopefully, you will now see one more person's posts when you check Livejournal. Repeat from 0. Not a problem if you find talking to new people easy, or if you don't expect to read more than you write; otherwise, it's a bit of a hassle. (Hmm, maybe this is a "shyness" thing rather than an "introversion" thing.)
- Things I miss: A "watch" function for people (as opposed to communities) which wouldn't give access to friends-locked posts, but which would still make "open" posts show up on your friends page.