I've been liking Wordpress as a blogging platform. At first it seemed redundant, but it's a whole different crowd of people over there. I haven't done anything fannish on Wordpress, but it feels a little like a cross between LJ/DW and tumblr. There's better interactivity, a wide range of people, but it's more thoughtful in general (and more wide-sweeping) than the now-forced "hey, we're a great social network like facebook, aren't we?" that LJ has become and less "look at all 200 of my favorite pictures from the last 30 seconds" that tumblr is.
To me, tumblr is a lot like twitter with pictures. It's very much flavor-of-the-instant. I've deleted blogs there before and will likely do it again. It's one of the social networks I care about least and really, I'm there primarily to keep up with what you're doing from a fannish perspective and to look at pretty pictures of Rob Machado and his hair. I get much better feedback on my photos on WP from other photographers, a lot of them professionals. I get better feedback on thoughts about writing there too, mostly from other writers.
Also, I feel like tumblr has become a great place for one-way conversations and a lot of opinionated yelling. If I want that, I know where to find it. There's a lot of anger bubbling around on tumblr, and I've unfollowed blogs from people I know and like simply because it's all ranting and reposts of other people ranting and I don't care to be around that much negativity. It's the passing-in-the-school-hallways of social networks: we overhear a lot, but don't have a chance to really discuss it. I think I'm too old for it. The little heart button is easy to click but it doesn't really mean anything when it's the only method of feedback.
I know what you mean about LJ having been home base. It was for a long time. I don't like where it's headed. Dreamwidth is better because its development staff seems more sane. I don't mind paying to support it like I did with LJ for a long time. It's more difficult on both sites to meet people than it was, or maybe I'm just bored by it and stopped trying. I did a friending meme a year or so ago and found some fun people that way, but I've been retreating from fannish things and most friending memes are fannish in nature.
One social network I really can't stand is Google+. I could bitch about that for a long time, but I won't waste your time. I'm always going to be thankful for LJ because I found my best friend there, but if I was just starting out here now I don't know that it would happen the same way.
To me, tumblr is a lot like twitter with pictures. It's very much flavor-of-the-instant. I've deleted blogs there before and will likely do it again. It's one of the social networks I care about least and really, I'm there primarily to keep up with what you're doing from a fannish perspective and to look at pretty pictures of Rob Machado and his hair. I get much better feedback on my photos on WP from other photographers, a lot of them professionals. I get better feedback on thoughts about writing there too, mostly from other writers.
Also, I feel like tumblr has become a great place for one-way conversations and a lot of opinionated yelling. If I want that, I know where to find it. There's a lot of anger bubbling around on tumblr, and I've unfollowed blogs from people I know and like simply because it's all ranting and reposts of other people ranting and I don't care to be around that much negativity. It's the passing-in-the-school-hallways of social networks: we overhear a lot, but don't have a chance to really discuss it. I think I'm too old for it. The little heart button is easy to click but it doesn't really mean anything when it's the only method of feedback.
I know what you mean about LJ having been home base. It was for a long time. I don't like where it's headed. Dreamwidth is better because its development staff seems more sane. I don't mind paying to support it like I did with LJ for a long time. It's more difficult on both sites to meet people than it was, or maybe I'm just bored by it and stopped trying. I did a friending meme a year or so ago and found some fun people that way, but I've been retreating from fannish things and most friending memes are fannish in nature.
One social network I really can't stand is Google+. I could bitch about that for a long time, but I won't waste your time. I'm always going to be thankful for LJ because I found my best friend there, but if I was just starting out here now I don't know that it would happen the same way.
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