Ohhhh, ElJay...
On Facebook, Livejournal posted this article recently about a push towards making a comeback in the United States.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1809674/the-return-of-livejournal
I was excited. I think I still am. I'd love for LJ to make a come-back. Facebook is awesome, yes, but there is more depth and more... intimacy about LJ. The friendships I have culled from this site have grown deeper than some friendships I have made "in real life," and I have met and gotten to know some amazing people I never would have known otherwise - from across the GLOBE. So for me, it's encouraging to hear maybe we will have a push towards new and exciting things... Maybe awesome people will come back. Maybe new awesome people will join.
There is a certain excerpt though, from this article that has gained a lot of negative attention from LJ users:
"LiveJournal's leadership has made it clear that their future American business strategy lies in generating new traffic rather than catering to the service's current small-but-loyal membership. "
OK... I understand that in order for LJ to survive they need to see growth in users and whatnot... But what the fuck, right? Anyone in PR would tell you that's a STUPID thing to say, woops! Lots of people claim to be jumping ship because of this particular sentence without even seeing any changes or what the strategies are. They are OUTRAGED that they have been loyal users for years, only to be "treated like shit". When they rolled out a new comment system all hell broke loose because there was a change. I didn't hardly notice a change in the commenting system and to be honest I like it better. It seems many LJ users are pretty self-important and think LJ should cater to them. And in a sense, yes customer service is very important and I admit I had the same reaction initially, but why jump ship right away? Wait and see. Reminder: LJ is a free service with the OPTION to upgrade to a paid account, which has perks like more storage. People bitch about having to pay. Newsflash: You don't HAVE TO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. Your journal's been stored along with millions' others for YEARS and you don't have to pay a penny for them to do so. Hell I just logged into a journal I made in 2007 and had forgotten about, and it is still intact, icons, words, EVERYTHING. I haven't paid them a penny to keep that journal up and running but they have.
OK LJ may not be perfect and I've been peeved at some decisions in the past too, but I'm sticking in for the long-haul. I don't know about you guys, I hope the changes are positive ones - and maybe it's exactly what LJ needs to thrive as social media changes the nature of the Internet... Maybe LJ dwindled because it DID stay the same and never changed. We'll see. I hope you all stick around too. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this campaign though... Are you excited at the potential of a revitalization of LJ, or do you dread new users and new attention, etc?
DISCUSS. Like right now. Here. Because I'm bored. Entertain me. Please? ;) Fine be that way, I'm off to shower and start my day.
http://www.fastcompany.com/1809674/the-return-of-livejournal
I was excited. I think I still am. I'd love for LJ to make a come-back. Facebook is awesome, yes, but there is more depth and more... intimacy about LJ. The friendships I have culled from this site have grown deeper than some friendships I have made "in real life," and I have met and gotten to know some amazing people I never would have known otherwise - from across the GLOBE. So for me, it's encouraging to hear maybe we will have a push towards new and exciting things... Maybe awesome people will come back. Maybe new awesome people will join.
There is a certain excerpt though, from this article that has gained a lot of negative attention from LJ users:
"LiveJournal's leadership has made it clear that their future American business strategy lies in generating new traffic rather than catering to the service's current small-but-loyal membership. "
OK... I understand that in order for LJ to survive they need to see growth in users and whatnot... But what the fuck, right? Anyone in PR would tell you that's a STUPID thing to say, woops! Lots of people claim to be jumping ship because of this particular sentence without even seeing any changes or what the strategies are. They are OUTRAGED that they have been loyal users for years, only to be "treated like shit". When they rolled out a new comment system all hell broke loose because there was a change. I didn't hardly notice a change in the commenting system and to be honest I like it better. It seems many LJ users are pretty self-important and think LJ should cater to them. And in a sense, yes customer service is very important and I admit I had the same reaction initially, but why jump ship right away? Wait and see. Reminder: LJ is a free service with the OPTION to upgrade to a paid account, which has perks like more storage. People bitch about having to pay. Newsflash: You don't HAVE TO IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. Your journal's been stored along with millions' others for YEARS and you don't have to pay a penny for them to do so. Hell I just logged into a journal I made in 2007 and had forgotten about, and it is still intact, icons, words, EVERYTHING. I haven't paid them a penny to keep that journal up and running but they have.
OK LJ may not be perfect and I've been peeved at some decisions in the past too, but I'm sticking in for the long-haul. I don't know about you guys, I hope the changes are positive ones - and maybe it's exactly what LJ needs to thrive as social media changes the nature of the Internet... Maybe LJ dwindled because it DID stay the same and never changed. We'll see. I hope you all stick around too. I'm curious to hear your thoughts about this campaign though... Are you excited at the potential of a revitalization of LJ, or do you dread new users and new attention, etc?
DISCUSS. Like right now. Here. Because I'm bored. Entertain me. Please? ;) Fine be that way, I'm off to shower and start my day.