Livejournal is trying to attract new users. Non-Russian users
Over the past few months, I've seen something interesting happening on Livejournal.
It seems like, over the past few years, as more and more Western users left Livejournal for other social networks (mostly Tumblr and, to lesser extent, LJ-sourcecode-derived Dreamwidth), our fair blogging platform has been focusing its attention on Russian/ex-Soviet users. A lot of new features were geared strictly toward Livejournal Russia, and the non-Russian speakers seemed like, at best, a second thought (just compare Russian news updates and the English news updates. Even if you don't read Russian, you can tell that the latter tended to by physically smaller).
By virtue of my Russian-ness, I've had my feet in both worlds, and the contrast between the smaller, but very much vital Livejournal Russia and the much quieter English-language Livejournal has been fascinating.
But then, something changed. It started with the latest update, which radically changed a lot of functions users have come to take for granted. The backlash came from all sides, but especially from LJ-Russia side (since if you've been following LJ-Russia, you at least got some foreshadowing). And Livejournal actually seemed to listen. It revived the long-dormant lj_feedback community, and it sees to take at least some of the suggestions seriously. And just recently, it unveiled a new ad - which marks the first time Livejournal tried to attract new users in years.
I actually quite like this ad. It highlights what I still feel are the platform's strengths (and some of the reasons why I stuck with it as long as I had) in an appealing, easy-to-understand format. And there is something to be said about how it presented Livejournal as a fresh, new(ish) thing. I don't think there's any point to try to bring back people who jumped ship for Tumblr. I've found that, for better or for worse, once people leave a social network/blogging platform, they rarely come back. And enough time have passed since Livejournal's glory days (outside Russia) that a lot of Westerners genuinely have no idea what it is, and may (may!) be willing to give it a chance. (An aside - just a few months ago, I came across an American travel blogger who started blogging on Livejournal to appeal to Russian fans. She seemed to legitimately think that Livejournal is just a Russian blogging platform, and seemed genuinely confused by my references to ohnotheydidnt and other English-language communities).
Given that Russian government has made lives more difficult for Russian LJ users, it would make sense that SUP would try to expand elsewhere - even if it is the old, previously ignored grounds. It remains to be seen whether or not it will actually work - look at Myspace and its repeated failures to breathe new life into the platform. If nothing else, Livejournal needs to resolve one of the things that drove users away in droves in 2011-2012 - the repeated DDoSings every time there's political upheaval in the former Soviet Union. It hasn't been as bad as before, but it still happens - and I highly doubt any new users would be terribly forgiving if it keeps happening. Also, as several commenters pointed out, having a better front page that's more newbie-friendly would be a big improvement
Still - it's nice to see Livejournal at least trying.
It seems like, over the past few years, as more and more Western users left Livejournal for other social networks (mostly Tumblr and, to lesser extent, LJ-sourcecode-derived Dreamwidth), our fair blogging platform has been focusing its attention on Russian/ex-Soviet users. A lot of new features were geared strictly toward Livejournal Russia, and the non-Russian speakers seemed like, at best, a second thought (just compare Russian news updates and the English news updates. Even if you don't read Russian, you can tell that the latter tended to by physically smaller).
By virtue of my Russian-ness, I've had my feet in both worlds, and the contrast between the smaller, but very much vital Livejournal Russia and the much quieter English-language Livejournal has been fascinating.
But then, something changed. It started with the latest update, which radically changed a lot of functions users have come to take for granted. The backlash came from all sides, but especially from LJ-Russia side (since if you've been following LJ-Russia, you at least got some foreshadowing). And Livejournal actually seemed to listen. It revived the long-dormant lj_feedback community, and it sees to take at least some of the suggestions seriously. And just recently, it unveiled a new ad - which marks the first time Livejournal tried to attract new users in years.
Click to viewI actually quite like this ad. It highlights what I still feel are the platform's strengths (and some of the reasons why I stuck with it as long as I had) in an appealing, easy-to-understand format. And there is something to be said about how it presented Livejournal as a fresh, new(ish) thing. I don't think there's any point to try to bring back people who jumped ship for Tumblr. I've found that, for better or for worse, once people leave a social network/blogging platform, they rarely come back. And enough time have passed since Livejournal's glory days (outside Russia) that a lot of Westerners genuinely have no idea what it is, and may (may!) be willing to give it a chance. (An aside - just a few months ago, I came across an American travel blogger who started blogging on Livejournal to appeal to Russian fans. She seemed to legitimately think that Livejournal is just a Russian blogging platform, and seemed genuinely confused by my references to ohnotheydidnt and other English-language communities).
Given that Russian government has made lives more difficult for Russian LJ users, it would make sense that SUP would try to expand elsewhere - even if it is the old, previously ignored grounds. It remains to be seen whether or not it will actually work - look at Myspace and its repeated failures to breathe new life into the platform. If nothing else, Livejournal needs to resolve one of the things that drove users away in droves in 2011-2012 - the repeated DDoSings every time there's political upheaval in the former Soviet Union. It hasn't been as bad as before, but it still happens - and I highly doubt any new users would be terribly forgiving if it keeps happening. Also, as several commenters pointed out, having a better front page that's more newbie-friendly would be a big improvement
Still - it's nice to see Livejournal at least trying.