Dissolution

[darkemeralds]

Is anyone else trying to re-figure out how to have an online life? Is anyone else feeling that Google+ is cool but how many more social networks do I need? Does anyone else wonder if there's still a place for a journaling site like Dreamwidth and LiveJournal in their life?

I'm finding G+ very homey--more succinct than here, not quite as flighty as Twitter. Less conversational than here, but more interactive than Tumblr. It feels like a comfortable stream of connection.

Of course, it's new. Not many people are on it yet. Everyone's behaving like early guests at a nice party, so it's also much less contentious than here tends to be sometimes. (I have invites, by the way, if anyone wants one.)

Journaling/blogging has been a mostly wonderful experience for me for the past six years or so, but I feel it slipping away as a concept. I hate to let it go, but fighting the flow seems futile. Does anyone else feel that way?

Comments

[rainkatt]

I refuse to have FB, hate Linked In, even though I got on it when I was looking for work, don't get Tumblr. I have a Twitter account, but am rarely over there. It seems to take a certain mood.

I wouldn't touch G+ with a ten-foot pole, and am wondering about the state of one of my email addresses, and all the stuff I have stored there. I don't want to use my real information in a lot of circumstances, and feel that anyone who does that whole rant about sharing personal information and using one's real name or you're a troll, has never been stalked, ever, not even for a few minutes.

Most of my online life is for fun and sharing with the fan community that I found when I started watching Buffy, even though it's moved on from that. It's not for sharing with people I work with or "family" or other folks I bump into in real life. If I've met you online, I'm more inclined to share both sides of me, though.

I have no desire to hook up with my family or anyone I went to high school with, though I did give my family my LJ name in a moment of insanity about eight years ago, so they could be watching, but I don't much care at this point.

Google Plus sounded scary to me right off the bat, and I'm avoiding it completely.

I'll stay here, even though I'm not posting much at the moment. I'll stay on Ravelry, as well.

[darkemeralds]

Ravelry wins!

I'm still struggling, I guess, with what my online life is for, if you know what I mean. I agree completely about not wanting the FB milieu of old high school friends and inane chatter--can't stand that place and opted out right after I opted in.

But I don't think I can separate my online life from my life-life. There has been too much overlap for too long. I've been quite closeted about my fannish life, and I've treated it much as you describe. Family members know my LJ/DW names, but they can't be bothered to read me.

Then there's Flickr. I use it to store real photographs as well as "journal illustrations" including things like screencaps from shows, fic illustrations, etc. Family members who look at my photos can deduce certain things from the bits of stuff that I either fail to make private, or have to leave public in order for the posting link to work right.

But Ravelry! That is the most wonderful internet place. Did you see the fantastic Slate article about it?

[rainkatt]

I did see the Slate article about Ravelry! There's so much going on over there; it seems to appeal to my ADD way of being online. I still try to keep up with FLists at DW and LJ, but don't always manage so much.

I've always been more of a lurker, anyway, so I'm happy enough with the way things are evolving.

My Flickr is mostly yarn and cats, so I've quit worrying about it. I did for a while, but I think I've succeeded in locking down the personal stuff.