LJ is still a little relevant

[sabotabby]

I'm consciously avoiding Facebook these days. I don't even want to look at it. I gather there are probably some features on it that I need to disable.

Facebook's effect on social networking reminds me of what happened with Chapters-Indigo in Canada. All of the small publishers and bookstores went out of business, and everyone had to go to Chindigo, and then Chindigo realized that it was much more profitable to sell a small number of popular books and lots of diaries and scented candles. So everyone ditched and started buying books on Amazon. I don't know what the SNS equivalent of Amazon is.

I'm avoiding G+ because nymwars have resulted in practically no one I know using it for anything other than posting about nymwars.

I'm trying to like Tumblr but there is not a convenient way to comment. It doesn't feel very social or interactive to just click a heart. And I'm not sure that there is a big audience for pictures of pulp sci-fi covers that look like they have dicks on them, which appears to be the theme I've fallen into.

So I'm glad LJ is still here.

And also because I love you guys.

Comments

[hopita.livejournal.com]

About 5ish years ago when LJ was having one of those sales, I bought a permanent account for myself. I'm so glad I did, because it really keeps me coming back here, permanently. I still love fb for sharing articles and links, and for checking in on the THOUSAND or so of my friends who aren't on LJ, but LJ will always be my long-form home.

[sabotabby]

FB is good for some things. Thoughtful discussion isn't one of them.

[misslynx.livejournal.com]

Yes - that's one of the things I find annoying about it. It's fine for posting little short snippets or observations, and for brief exchanges with others, but it really sucks for in-depth discussion. I've seen a few people try and use it for that anyway, but I find it so difficult to follow due to the flat comment structure and lack of notification.

I have one old friend on there who occasionally posts big, long notes about contentious topics in an attempt to stir up discussion (with a fair bit of success - a lot of people do seem to comment, though I have no idea how they keep track of the discussion - I certainly couldn't!). The first time or two I saw one of those I did comment, but it was frustrating not knowing if anyone had replied unless I remembered to go back to it and sift through a ton of comments to see if any of them referenced what I'd written. And then at one point he got mad at me because I mentioned that I had not read every single comment on one of his posts before writing mine. But there were 150 comments, and I have a life...

LJ's threaded discussions, with replies e-mailed to you, are about 1000% easier to follow, at least for me.

[sabotabby]

YES. This. Exactly this.