why I'm here

[calimac]

A recent comment on one of my posts said that, in contrast to LJ, "I find Fb does a better job *for me* of keeping me in loose contact with a lot of different people," emphasis added as if I might disagree.

Of course I don't disagree. FB does do a better job of keeping people in touch; that's because more of the relevant people are active there. If they were on LJ, LJ would do better.

I wasn't attracted to FB in the first place, before it became popular (and long before I learned of the company's ghastly attitude to customer privacy), because it has such a lousy platform. By which I mean things like the strict limitation of post length, the awkward placement of longer follow-ups, the lack of archives. LJ can do short posts, and many people do; but they don't have to. LJ archives don't disappear, but you don't have to look at them if you don't want to. It seems to me that one of these platforms satisfies multiple needs, and the other only satisfies some.

The other reason I'm still here is because I already am. To a degree, that's generated by "Please don't make me learn another interface if I don't have to," but mostly it reflects my character. I'm loyal; I stick to the tried and true; if I'm not totally dissatisfied I don't drop it to run after the new and shiny. I came online in 1991 at the suggestion of sartorias to join GEnie, and I stuck with GEnie to the very end. (When was that, 2000 or 2001?) I was literally still online at the moment they pulled the plug. After that I didn't have a regular online home until I joined LJ in 2004.

This principle works in other areas of my life. Since the topic of the discussion where this came up was retaining new members in the Mythopoeic Society, it's relevant that it's the reason I'm still in the Mythopoeic Society after 35 years. I've been with B. for 24 years. I have no interest in running after something new and shiny.

If I thought FB would last (and if it weren't so irritating to read, and if its management weren't so malignant), I might be tempted, but I don't want to keep chasing flocks of birds as they flit to the next thing and the next. If they'd come back to LJ, they'd find a system that can do everything FB does and do it better, and then we'd all be happy.

Comments

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

*nodding in total agreement*

[whswhs.livejournal.com]

Our tastes agree on this question of platform. Though Facebook is marginally better than Twitter; my reaction to Twitter when I heard of it was, "I can't say anything interesting in 140 words!"

A lot of the argument for Facebook seems to be "everyone is on it; you can keep in touch with so many people, and have such a huge number of friends!" But why would anyone want so huge a number of friends? At a certain point they cease to be individual people and become points on a graph.

[mithriltabby]

I prefer LiveJournal because it allows posts and replies to be long enough for nuance, and for discussions to be threaded so each tangent can go on a separate branch; it facilitates interesting discussion. Twitter, at its best, encourages eloquent, succinct writing with its 140 character limit; I think most of the people I follow on Twitter make their living as wordsmiths of one sort or another. (Sturgeon’s Law applies, of course.) Facebook doesn’t do anything to facilitate either one; I gateway my Twitter and LJ to it so people who know me on Facebook can see what I’m posting, but I rarely put anything original on Facebook itself.

[smofbabe.livejournal.com]

I do both - I really like FB because it enables me to find out from quick updates what my friends are up to, and to post fun web sites I run across or look at ones that other people have found. This is especially great for me because I live so geographically distant from the majority of my friends. One drawback to fandom is that for tact reasons I have had to agree to "friend" more people on FB than I am actually interested in hearing from, but luckily there are settings that enable me to filter out their posts.

I am on LJ because I like having a place where I can post longer updates about my life, or thoughts about current events, or just ruminations in general.

I'm on Twitter mainly for the great one-liners from a lot of very funny famous people :->

I do think these outlets serve different purposes.

[margdean56.livejournal.com]

*shrug* I mainly signed up with both FB and LJ because of who was already on them. For Facebook, originally, it was my kids (and more recently other family members), and LJ mostly because of fannish friends like you. I'd say I still do my most meaningful online communication by email.