Sorry, Facebook. I'm Done.

[ladyheatherlly]

About a week ago, I decided to take a break from Facebook.

Of course, they don't offer any sensible way to do this (i.e. setting a vacation message), so I made a couple graphics…

Comments

[rock_dinosaur]

I agree with all you've said here. I actually feel that Facebook has a dehumanising effect: you are nothing more to your 'friends' than a generic user-icon. If you don't post or you leave the site, people are unlikely to notice you've gone, and if they do they don't care, because they don't see you as an actual person. Satiating their Facebook-addiction is more important than maintaining any real connection with those who populate it.

A big part of my reasons for persisting with LiveJournal during its long moribund period, and for extricating myself from Facebook, was that I felt I should have the single-mindedness to do what's right for me, regardless of what the multitude are doing. If only more people could do that instead of mindlessly following the sheep, Facebook wouldn't have so much power. I think change may be on the way, though. There must be a reason why LiveJournal is evidently becoming busier and I've recently been gaining new additions to my friends-list almost daily.

[ladyheatherlly]

Totally agree with everything you said, and I really hope you're right about change. The problem with LJ is that it's not mobile friendly - I wish they'd create an app that would make them more competitive with Facebook and other social media options.

[rock_dinosaur]

I don't have a mobile phone and don't want one, so that's not an issue that affects me, but some people whom I've tried to persuade to come back to LiveJournal have said that the crap mobile interface is an issue. Am I right in thinking there actually is one, but it's just a bit shit

[ladyheatherlly]

Man, don't even get me started on my hatred for smartphones. I build websites and make 3D art, both of which are meant to be viewed on a proper computer screen. It is so damn frustrating to spend weeks developing a beautiful website, only to realize that many (perhaps even most) visitors will only see a stripped down mobile view with limited functionality. D:

As for LJ shutting down… that might just be a scare story, but I've always expected it to happen sooner or later. It's not exactly encouraging that so much of their functionality is way out of date, and I don't know that the money they earn from ad revenue/paid accounts is enough to keep it going for the long-term.

MySpace still exists because they made radical changes. LJ will have to go that far, hopefully, but the site in its current iteration desperately needs to be streamlined and improved. It also needs to be more accessible to smartphone users… that's the way the world is going, as much as I wish it wasn't.

[rock_dinosaur]

I was thinking that if LiveJournal finds itself up for sale or threatened with closure, somebody ought to organise a crowdfunding appeal to buy it and run it for the benefit of LiveJournal's users. Perhaps then it could be ascertained what improvements are required to bring it up-to-date and make it more user-friendly. Not that I personally really have any issue with it as it is. I just want my old Punquin Elegant layout back!

Seriously though, if there was a way to bring it under democratic management of some sort, I'm sure I'd be willing to contribute say $50 or maybe even a bit more towards that. Perhaps people who contribute to the fund could be granted lifetime membership.

[ladyheatherlly]

One of the nice things about LJ is that the code is open source: https://www.livejournal.com/code/

If I can ever find the time, I might install it on my own server and play around with it, see what improvements could be made. Sounds like a fun project. :)

[rock_dinosaur]

If you have the skills to do that, I think that would be a great idea. Maybe you could offer the owners of LiveJournal the fruits of your labour, for a suitable fee!