The internet has changed and left me here

[ataxi]

If the user population of sites such as LJ and Blogger is going to shrink and possibly disappear as a consequence of mass migration to Twitter, Facebook et al., what is there to do about it

Comments

[eclipsedeyes]

I also have this dilemma. Tumblr is quite sexy as a blogging site but doesn't have comments as standard and it seems harder to find people, but facebook has the opposite problem - you only find people you already know, and there's no specific facebook community. Twitter has neither problem but is not what I would consider a blogging site, more a giant chatroom. So really it's the people that keep me here, but that kind of halfarsed commitment is self-perpetuating, and one day there'll be no one left to keep me here.

[mojave_wolf]

I confess to still liking it here; I have a twitter account that I've pretty much abandoned already.

I think LJ will stick around until some other sort of discourse that permits discussion and lengthy musings shows up; everyone will continue to read and comment on some blogs as well.

I'd read yours, tho as w/all stand-alone blogs, not quite so often as I read here. And hah! to the readership/quality correlation; I've seen people who write beautifully and have longstanding accounts w/f-lists in the low teens, and stumbled across some of the great dumbshits of all time who have hundreds or even thousands of friends. So, as with books and magazines, readership level and quality have only a glancing acquaintance. Your writing is quite good, tho.

[exp_err]

I think LJ will stick around until some other sort of discourse that permits discussion and lengthy musings shows up

I wonder whether that will be Google Wave. It sounds like it has that potential: a lot will depend on implementation and popularity.

[ataxi]

Do you have an invite by any chance? I wouldn't mind checking it out.

My chief concern with it was that it sounded a little over-complicated.

[exp_err]

No, I don't have an invite yet. From reviews I've read, it's hard to tell whether it would work for me. It could be over-complicated and disruptive, or it could just take a little time to adapt.

[dfordoom]

You have to remember that when the world was young and LJ was new hundreds of thousands of people set up accounts here simply because it was the latest thing and all the cool kids were doing it. Most had no idea what they were going go do with their LJs. When all the cool kids started joining facebook these same people rushed to do the same. In a couple of years we’ll be hearing stories of how facebook is dying because all the cool kids will have moved on to the latest next big thing

[ataxi]

That's all true of course. I don't really mind that LJ is shrinking, I suppose I'm just bored with my blog or something.

[dfordoom]

I'm just bored with my blog or something.

That happens to me at regular intervals! I go through bursts of enthusiasm, and periods of boredom and despair.

[ataxi]

"I can see no evidence that LJ is dying."

I don't think the population here is declining to zero, but I do think the platform might be moribund, or the holding company unwilling to continue maintaining it if their business is shaky.

The slow fix to the exploit the other day (is it even fixed yet, or are they still just disabling all embedded content?) didn't help.

I need to back up my posts somewhere, in other words.

[benpeek]

i've been noticing a bit of a downward trend on lj too. the pick up and move of my blog didn't work so well, actually (most people just kept reading it here, but new people go to the webpage, i've found). anyhow, i'm not sure there is much to do, other than to say that all things have their life span, and we'll all figure something out.

[exp_err]

If you move, please do syndicate back here. Because you're right, I won't go to a separate blog page just to see what you've posted lately, but at the same time, I do enjoy seeing your posts when they come up here.