ho hum pig's bum

[facemeetpalm]

WHY AM I AWAKE. Damn you, hangover and consequenting nap at 9pm! But on the bright side, I got drunk dialed at 2am by Theo, my childhood friend and neighbor, who now lives in Philadelphia and wanted to tell me that he had a big crush on me in like sixth grade and unrelatedly thinks I have grown up into an awesome human being. All in all, a very

Comments

[facemeetpalm]

Yes, that has been the general opinion of Twitter. I once attempted to stumble around that god-forsaken integrity trap and could not understand the purpose of its existence. I mean, people update like a sentence, right? And there's nothing else? Just random sentences from random people? WHAT IS THE POINT? Maybe I'm just old-fashioned.

I agree, LJ was and remains sort of sweet. Back in the day, I remember there being a lot of imitators, and it was EXCLUSIVE for a while. Like, you either had to pay to sign up or have a friend who already had a journal so they could give you a fancy access code to start your own. Oh man did I feel cool once I got my mitts on a code. Hoooooo, boy.

LJ certainly USED to be the capital of slash. I have no idea if slash is even popular anymore. But one of the more recent episodes of How I Met Your Mother (a CBS sitcom that I really like) mentioned fan fiction and I was like :O whaaaaaaaaaat national recognition! I mean, not that mainstream people knowing about fan fiction suddenly makes it cool or anything, because I don't think fan fiction could ever be cool, but if a TV show is bringing it up perhaps the movement is still alive? Or maybe not. I mean, mainstream culture could just be like five years behind internet culture, which would NOT surprise me.

All the slash I used to read was written by people who were about five years older than me, and they all seem to have shuffled off this mortal coil. That is, they've probably outgrown the internet and have like. Real lives.

[ascii_70_85]

meh, Twitter's not as bad as people make it out to be.
(contrarian 180˚ {smirk})
I guess most varying inter-webs have different uses. Twitter is good for sharing links and the obvious brief status updates.

I guess my complaint is the whole idea of 'social' interaction / person-to-'person' is front and center on LJ, every other thing seems to not foster that vibe in quite the same way.

People like twitter 'cause it's 'quicker'.

Yeah in retrospect, I really like the whole code thing.
People were more invested. Though that doesn't make you money, but little does on the internet so … {shrugs}

Even now when I encounter an LJ link on delicious it's almost always fan-fiction. No idea if said communities are growing or shrinking.

As you suggest, maybe LJ and the like aren't losing people but everyone we 'know'/'knew' is getting older.
(assuming they weren't that way to begin with)
That typically means people are busier, which allows for less time to contemplate. Thus a preference for brief snippets on twit-book vs. posts and stories on LJ, sadly.

Ironically after I fired off the previous comment, an old LJ friend posted a link on her twitter to her new blogspot {ugh/smirk}.

You've outgrown the internet yourself a bit, but still good to read you.
Thanks for commenting.

[facemeetpalm]

I would agree that the more popular social networking sites are more geared towards the short and sweet rather than the in-depth kind of connection that was possible with LJ. Although, I remember quite a few LJ folks I used to follow who rarely updated with long-winded posts, or who rarely updated anything at all, and just used their journals to read their friends lists and presumably did all their conversing through AIM or some other instant chatting program. So I mean, you never had to post anything more detailed than a brief status or link or whatever, it was just more common to write more. Nowadays the option to write extensively is almost eliminated. Facebook has notes, but nobody really sees them unless you specifically tag them in one or they are actively searching them out.

I think there's something to the Getting Older argument. I don't think LJ and similar sites are getting many new, younger users because they are all growing up with things like Facebook and Twitter and probably aren't interested in writing long things, or perhaps are not aware that it's even an option because it isn't popular among their generation. Or perhaps they are simply incapable of stringing together thought forms more complex than "EATIN CEREAL N WATCHIN THE KARDASHIANS LOLZ JK LOLZ" because today's youth is LINGUISTICALLY, CULTURALLY AND INTELLECTUALLY BEREFT. But I digress.

True, I have outgrown the internet to a large degree. The structure of my life has changed considerably now that I am in college. The nature of my studies (theatre) necessitates that I participate in shows and rehearse in the evenings in addition to a full-time academic schedule, so I just don't have the time anymore. Plus I kind of like having a social life centered around corporeal interactions rather than the virtual kind. But I still do spend a lot of time on the internet. I mean, I'm on Facebook at least once every day - usually way more! The time commitment hasn't totally diminished. The only difference is that on Facebook I am interacting (mostly) with people who I actually see in real life. ALTHOUGH, lots of my Facebook friends are real life friends who live too far away for regular visits, and some are folks I hardly know and rarely see but live in my city so it doesn't SEEM like they are strangers when they essentially are. So. Perhaps the difference isn't really that great.

[ascii_70_85]

You didn't have to use LJ for depth.
Many don't and didn't, but it lent itself to that, so you could. Difficult to use twitter have a rich or deep interaction, or difficult without jumping to another interweb. With Facebook you can do their mail thing, or some chat, but as you're typically writings are in view of your aunt Ida or everyone you know kinda hard to get too share-y. I'm certainly not comfy with that. Though part of my resentment of this is 'cause I enjoy my creepy and anonymous skulking/trolling, it doesn't play the same on Facebook ( Ascii Seventyeightyfive {smirk} ) or I'm not really inclined to try for respect of my imaginary friends.
Thus in part my adoration of Google Wave. It's a great place for conversations to go, but not so much to start, I think (that'd be assuming anyone was on it though).

That's funny on a bunch of levels (your 'twittering')
While you maybe the exception, it's amusing reading that from she who (checks info, yep!) cannot legally buy beer.
There are stupid kids there are smart kids. I remember being annoyed with people talking about This generation is the worst ever! a few years back.
I was like "Hey" (to myself), I talk to my imaginary friends, the kids are alright (or some of them). People have been saying that sort of thing for decades. Maybe it's in part true, but maybe it's always true?
Part of it is people go where the social is, it was LJ (for some odd niches?) now it's the book of face & such.

'corporeal interactions' that's an amusing turn of phrase.
Maybe the depth is the history with people? I suppose it is healthier than talking to complete strangers (irony?).
It frustrates me, though 'cause there used to this world out there and not so much any more. It recalls childhood memories of "Would you like to share that with the rest of the class?" I don't recall people having such huge issues with LJ privacy, then again perhaps a savvier class of user?