What's the social media now for LJ?
July 10, 2015 7:33 PM Subscribe
I used to be on LJ and loved it, making online and RL friends until I began editing myself to silence because my ex was not keen on what I wrote etc. Now I'd like to talk to people again but how's that done in 2015? Twitter, Tumblr, Myspace? I want to be able to write short random posts, but what I miss most is the interaction and sense of community, reading a group of friends and having conversations in comments and messages. Facebook feels like shouting across a mall.
LJ is still around. It's kind of a ghost town now, and I haven't seen anything better take its place. People seem to be all about Tumblr and Facebook now, and I'd probably like those sites more if I hadn't already seen LJ do everything those sites do, and do it a lot better. Twitter is OK if you just want to exchange quick, itty-bitty messages with people, kind of like passing notes in class when you were a kid.
I think you're kind of stuck with Facebook or Tumblr, for as long as those last. The web is moving away from social media where people use actual paragraphs. It's the future, and we're supposed to just send each other 3-letter texts and emojis as we slowly evolve into the people on the giant spaceship at the end of WALL-E.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:54 PM on July 10, 2015 [14 favorites]
I think you're kind of stuck with Facebook or Tumblr, for as long as those last. The web is moving away from social media where people use actual paragraphs. It's the future, and we're supposed to just send each other 3-letter texts and emojis as we slowly evolve into the people on the giant spaceship at the end of WALL-E.
posted by Ursula Hitler at 7:54 PM on July 10, 2015 [14 favorites]
I can only say I sympathize. I have years of writing on LJ and I still write there occasionally, but my community is almost completely gone.
I think there are still active users, I'm just not sure how to find them. If you find out, let me know.
posted by bunderful at 8:21 PM on July 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
I think there are still active users, I'm just not sure how to find them. If you find out, let me know.
posted by bunderful at 8:21 PM on July 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Try Dreamwidth.
posted by bgal81 at 8:25 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by bgal81 at 8:25 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
Maybe check out reddit? Take a look at some of the smaller subreddits that interest you.
posted by pyro979 at 8:25 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by pyro979 at 8:25 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
A lot of LJ users are on tumblr and complain that it's a much more irritating format for conversations, BUT i've made a wonderful group of friends there.
posted by you're a kitty! at 8:29 PM on July 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by you're a kitty! at 8:29 PM on July 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Yeah, tumblr--the convo format isn't nearly as easy or as intuitive as LiveJournal's was, but I've made some great friends there, and finding community (or, at least, filling a feed with interesting things and people) has been relatively easy. Lots of mefites there, as well.
posted by MeghanC at 8:49 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by MeghanC at 8:49 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
I came in to make nearly verbatim you're a kitty!'s comment. So. Ditto.
It is harder to have conversations but I absolutely have a group of wonderful friends there. We occasionally bemoan things and try to find a different place but it does seem to be where the LJ people have washed up.
posted by Mizu at 8:50 PM on July 10, 2015
It is harder to have conversations but I absolutely have a group of wonderful friends there. We occasionally bemoan things and try to find a different place but it does seem to be where the LJ people have washed up.
posted by Mizu at 8:50 PM on July 10, 2015
Response by poster: This is depressingly making me realise I would pay serious coin to have metafilter add a mini-LJette feature.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:54 PM on July 10, 2015 [12 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:54 PM on July 10, 2015 [12 favorites]
I'm still on LJ. I have a couple friends on it and have friended some of their friends; it feels quiet but not really empty.
Um...anyone want to make a Mefi comm? I would be happy to meet other Mefites who are still on LJ.
posted by town of cats at 9:20 PM on July 10, 2015 [11 favorites]
Um...anyone want to make a Mefi comm? I would be happy to meet other Mefites who are still on LJ.
posted by town of cats at 9:20 PM on July 10, 2015 [11 favorites]
I've been posting on ello cuz no one else is even there and I can write all my secrets there.
posted by chrchr at 9:42 PM on July 10, 2015 [3 favorites]
posted by chrchr at 9:42 PM on July 10, 2015 [3 favorites]
I still use LJ, even though I have multiple Tumblrs, twitter accounts, Facebook, two Google+ pages, and a Medium account.
My friends are mostly gone, but the ones who are still there are worth it.
posted by Gucky at 10:14 PM on July 10, 2015
My friends are mostly gone, but the ones who are still there are worth it.
posted by Gucky at 10:14 PM on July 10, 2015
Seconding Dreamwidth. Most of the lj friends I didn't know in person are over there now. It's niche, but it feels more active and more stable than lj.
posted by yarntheory at 10:31 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by yarntheory at 10:31 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
I get exactly this on G+.
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:52 PM on July 10, 2015
posted by Sauce Trough at 10:52 PM on July 10, 2015
Town of cats, I made one after the 2012 lj-on-mefi discussion. You are all welcome to join, but up till now it's mostly been tumbleweeds.
posted by fings at 10:57 PM on July 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by fings at 10:57 PM on July 10, 2015 [1 favorite]
Facebook groups have much more back and forth and conversation. There are probably groups in areas your interested in as well as local groups. If you're already in a group then once you click into it you may get group suggestions on the sidebar based on your location, interests, etc. I'm personally part of a couple groups that discuss the podcasts I listen to.
posted by Crystalinne at 11:18 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by Crystalinne at 11:18 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]
I left LJ a long time ago, but thirding Dreamwidth as where all of my friends fled after some major PR issues in ~2009.
posted by serelliya at 2:16 AM on July 11, 2015
posted by serelliya at 2:16 AM on July 11, 2015
Tumblr is where many many LJ-ers have ended up, especially if you were in the fandom side of things, although tumblr also has a very very rich non fandom side, and you can participate in both if you want by way of sideblogs. It is more difficult to have in depth conversations easily because no comments, but it is possible to find a community there. I've made some great friends that I follow and we converse either through the ask feature or by replying to/reblogging each other's posts. I've tried twitter, but I hated being restrained to 140 characters and there's too much "noise". Tumblr lets you make all kinds of posts, of practically any length (although it's most suited for small posts).
posted by katyggls at 3:03 AM on July 11, 2015
posted by katyggls at 3:03 AM on July 11, 2015
I still use LJ. I kind of like the way you can write about more personal stuff now without feeling like a total drama queen. Only a handful of my friends list are still on there and it's a really odd mix of my closest friends and strangers I added in 2005 because of some obscure common interest.
As for where to go that is like LJ in the old days, I wish I had an answer. This page was actually recommended to me on a post about missing LJ! All my friends are on bloody Facebook and it's not the same yet I just can't leave it alone. It's a filthy habit.
posted by intensitymultiply at 3:34 AM on July 11, 2015
As for where to go that is like LJ in the old days, I wish I had an answer. This page was actually recommended to me on a post about missing LJ! All my friends are on bloody Facebook and it's not the same yet I just can't leave it alone. It's a filthy habit.
posted by intensitymultiply at 3:34 AM on July 11, 2015
I still use LJ, too. I have a handful of stalwart friends that keep me going, but the heyday of 2004-2006ish is certainly passed.
Anyone wanna be my LJ friend? I'm gonna post on the LJ community Chatfilter as mentioned above. It can be a Friending Frenzy, like back in the old days.
posted by Elly Vortex at 7:13 AM on July 11, 2015
Anyone wanna be my LJ friend? I'm gonna post on the LJ community Chatfilter as mentioned above. It can be a Friending Frenzy, like back in the old days.
posted by Elly Vortex at 7:13 AM on July 11, 2015
My impression of Tumblr (as a 5 year user or something) is that the people I follow are more or less like the same people I see on the same music gigs. I know them, talk to them once in a while, but most of the time I just wave or nod to acknowledge their presence.
because actually trying to talk to them is a pain in the arse.
posted by lmfsilva at 9:48 AM on July 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
because actually trying to talk to them is a pain in the arse.
posted by lmfsilva at 9:48 AM on July 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Tumblr is exactly what you make of it. I follow people I know in real life, fandom people, asthetic blogs, art blogs, all manner of things. I'm not in it for the chatting, mind you, and I can see how that would be hard. There is a fairly solid message service which is about as good as it gets.
posted by Jilder at 3:51 AM on July 12, 2015
posted by Jilder at 3:51 AM on July 12, 2015
I am on lj, still. I've got a dreamwidth account but I've never quite hit the point of making the migration over.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:23 AM on July 12, 2015
posted by rmd1023 at 4:23 AM on July 12, 2015
I still use LiveJournal. I don't post super often, but I haven't stopped altogether and don't intend to anytime soon. It's just a great place to process and write about personal things in a way that feels more authentic than Facebook and Tumblr. I'd be happy to add anyone who wants another LJ friend, just send me a message.
To answer the question more directly...I think LJ is still LJ. I see people make personal blog posts on Tumblr sometimes but it's just not the same format or feeling.
posted by cosmicbeast at 11:43 AM on July 13, 2015
To answer the question more directly...I think LJ is still LJ. I see people make personal blog posts on Tumblr sometimes but it's just not the same format or feeling.
posted by cosmicbeast at 11:43 AM on July 13, 2015
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My recommendation is Twitter. Twitter gets a bad rap, too, but if you follow interesting people who talk about interesting things, it can be great. You just have to accept that, unlike LJ, you are probably not going to have friends comment on things you said yesterday. Or 3 hours ago. Twitter is fast-moving, and you can't go into it expecting to see everything others say or to have everything that you say read or responded to. And you have to remember that it's all public--and available on search engines--all the time. (You *can* have a private account, but there's not much point.) I've done some great professional networking on one account, some local community-building on another account, and have great conversations about books and writing and random goofy things on my main personal account. I've also gotten a chance to meet several of my mutual Twitter followers, and have had lots of great personal conversations in DMs (private messages analogous to MeMail). If you get used to using Twitter, it can be very rewarding.
posted by wintersweet at 7:46 PM on July 10, 2015 [2 favorites]