Why I LJ...
Jan. 7th, 2005 01:08 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alexpgpIn the wake of the news that Danga has been acquired by Six Apart, I feel a dull, nagging compulsion to summarize why it is, exactly, that I do this LiveJournal thing.
At a high level, we can go the direct route and identify the basic driving factor as, simply, ego. However, it is not ego in the sense that I believe everyone in the world -- or even on LJ -- must or even should read my tappings, but in the sense that I believe my posts may be of interest to a small circle of folks (who, I realize, can just as easily not read what I post), and hopefully will be of interest decades hence to my children and grandchildren. You can think of this as "writing for an audience," without the trappings of looking to create a following.
Indeed, posting in my LiveJournal provides a release for the unfortunate affliction I have -- described by Robert Heinlein among others -- of needing to express myself in writing for an audience. In earlier years, this illness manifested itself in fruitless efforts to write pieces in which no editor was interested, culminating in an eight-year run of limited writing success, during which I wrote two books, several hundred articles, and became a columnist in four magazines, all having to do with computers. It was fun while it lasted, but like a heroin habit, repeated administration of the stimulant finally killed the ability of the organism to respond, for a time, but I digress...
I'm not addressing the main question, am I? What is it about LiveJournal that has allowed me to scratch that itch so well, when alternative (e.g., Blogger) and more traditional methods (e.g., paper journals) have not?
The answer is obvious with regard to a paper journal: there's no audience when you examine your life between the covers of a Moleskine. That's why I've started many paper journals, only to have them peter out shortly thereafter. The advantage of paper is the ability to draw pictures and diagrams, and to paste in mementos, but again, I digress...
Vis à vis online alternatives, the obvious question is: "Why is LJ better?" In my opinion, this lies in the "community" aspect of LiveJournal -- and that's significant coming from me, as I generally detest the word -- and in a very delicate balance that I somehow seem to have achieved here.
When you set up an account with one of the mass blogging services or on your own, it's much like setting up a vendor's kiosk on a highway in the middle of nowhere. Sure, anyone passing by may stop, but your visitors generally get there by accident and unless you work hard at providing a product with what Web designers like to call "stickiness," such visitors will hardly ever return. (People who say they don't care if anyone reads their stuff are either exceptionally indifferent to other people or lying, in my opinion. Why else write it?) So, for a personal blog or journal, this means having to conscientiously pursue a course of action that results in repeat visitors, i.e., you have to build a following.
The ease with which you can create a friends list of journals that interest you here on LJ is the critical factor in creating an audience (just turn the concept around), and the comment feature provides an avenue for the audience to let you know it's out there. I am fortunate in that the size of my comment stream is enough to keep me aware of the audience, but not so large as to drive me to "play to the house," so to speak.
More later, maybe.
Cheers...
At a high level, we can go the direct route and identify the basic driving factor as, simply, ego. However, it is not ego in the sense that I believe everyone in the world -- or even on LJ -- must or even should read my tappings, but in the sense that I believe my posts may be of interest to a small circle of folks (who, I realize, can just as easily not read what I post), and hopefully will be of interest decades hence to my children and grandchildren. You can think of this as "writing for an audience," without the trappings of looking to create a following.
Indeed, posting in my LiveJournal provides a release for the unfortunate affliction I have -- described by Robert Heinlein among others -- of needing to express myself in writing for an audience. In earlier years, this illness manifested itself in fruitless efforts to write pieces in which no editor was interested, culminating in an eight-year run of limited writing success, during which I wrote two books, several hundred articles, and became a columnist in four magazines, all having to do with computers. It was fun while it lasted, but like a heroin habit, repeated administration of the stimulant finally killed the ability of the organism to respond, for a time, but I digress...
I'm not addressing the main question, am I? What is it about LiveJournal that has allowed me to scratch that itch so well, when alternative (e.g., Blogger) and more traditional methods (e.g., paper journals) have not?
The answer is obvious with regard to a paper journal: there's no audience when you examine your life between the covers of a Moleskine. That's why I've started many paper journals, only to have them peter out shortly thereafter. The advantage of paper is the ability to draw pictures and diagrams, and to paste in mementos, but again, I digress...
Vis à vis online alternatives, the obvious question is: "Why is LJ better?" In my opinion, this lies in the "community" aspect of LiveJournal -- and that's significant coming from me, as I generally detest the word -- and in a very delicate balance that I somehow seem to have achieved here.
When you set up an account with one of the mass blogging services or on your own, it's much like setting up a vendor's kiosk on a highway in the middle of nowhere. Sure, anyone passing by may stop, but your visitors generally get there by accident and unless you work hard at providing a product with what Web designers like to call "stickiness," such visitors will hardly ever return. (People who say they don't care if anyone reads their stuff are either exceptionally indifferent to other people or lying, in my opinion. Why else write it?) So, for a personal blog or journal, this means having to conscientiously pursue a course of action that results in repeat visitors, i.e., you have to build a following.
The ease with which you can create a friends list of journals that interest you here on LJ is the critical factor in creating an audience (just turn the concept around), and the comment feature provides an avenue for the audience to let you know it's out there. I am fortunate in that the size of my comment stream is enough to keep me aware of the audience, but not so large as to drive me to "play to the house," so to speak.
More later, maybe.
Cheers...
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no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 12:38 pm (UTC)I most prize the Sharing aspect of your journal, Alex ~ you are who you are and don't mind letting others see how your life plays out from day to day. I enjoy being a 'hitchhiker' on your journeys, but don't feel that I must comment on everything. As you say, you are not writing for an audience; you are musing over your daily living, and allowing me (and others) to listen in, if we want to.
Thanks for opening these doors for a tethered JumpingMouse Person!
no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 06:04 pm (UTC)But having talked about this when you were here, Alex... yes. Although I think I want my 'kiosk' to be less 'public' in a way - I do appreciate people commenting, but often don't want what I say being too - well - public.
I started LJ during a fairly tough period of life, and for many things wish I'd started before, to compare that 'before' with the far more introspective (OK, self-centred and miserable) version of late. But maybe there'll be an 'after' when I look back on these last 3-4 years and either shake my head in horror or at least see some glimmers of memorable moments among the moaning *g*.
no subject
Date: 2005-01-07 10:56 pm (UTC)Now I keep at it for the same reasons you do. I just can't express it as well as you do. Great job!