Dissolution
20/7/11 13:12![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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?
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?
(no subject)
20/7/11 20:30 (UTC)(no subject)
20/7/11 20:46 (UTC)(no subject)
20/7/11 20:53 (UTC)However, I use each service for different things. Dreamwidth is for lengthy thoughts and making interactive connections. Tumblr is for posting pictures and I expect it will fall away once that has been integrated into DW. Twitter is for quick thoughts, short questions to friends (I often use it like text messaging), and sharing links. I loved having a separate real name space on FB but couldn't ignore their behaviour any longer but if another service comes up that I can trust (not Google), I think I would create that separate identity space once more.
tl;dr Every service I use has its own purpose and for the most part cannot be replaced by another.
(no subject)
20/7/11 21:01 (UTC)(no subject)
20/7/11 21:12 (UTC)I think perhaps my complete avoidance of Facebook (on aesthetic rather than political grounds) causes me to view G+ as more of a novelty than I would if I'd lived on FB for the last couple of years.
(no subject)
20/7/11 21:14 (UTC)Perhaps I am wrong in carrying the metaphor to the point of supposing that one of them must be ju-u-u-u-st right.
(no subject)
20/7/11 21:15 (UTC)(no subject)
20/7/11 21:19 (UTC)I don't sense G+ being the end of blogging generally--any more than Facebook has been--but I'm wondering whether it will prove to be the end of my blogging. Mind you, even on G+ I tend to be wordier than the average--and I'm not sure I've ever been a "blogger" per se. I change the subject too often.
(no subject)
20/7/11 21:25 (UTC)It raises some interesting (to me) questions about concepts of flightiness, fickleness, faithfulness, etc., that I hadn't realized were operating in my mind.
(no subject)
20/7/11 21:37 (UTC)I've got both a fannish and RL twitter - though I'm not using the RL one much. I should get on that. And TBH I use my fannish one to stalk actors/musicians and see what they're up to *G*. So Twitter is much more my skim late night reading for 10 mins before I hit the sack.
Tumblr? I don't really grok it. I made one but haven't used it yet and the only time I tend to look at it is when other peeps post links to ones of interest.
If you have a free invite I wouldn't mind seeing what Google+ is all about - but for the moment I'm staying primarily DW/LJ based.
(no subject)
20/7/11 21:37 (UTC)This pretty much sums up how I feel about them data mining.
(no subject)
20/7/11 22:33 (UTC)(no subject)
20/7/11 22:39 (UTC)My loathing for Facebook is primarily aesthetic. It just struck me as ugly and cluttered and filled with nonsense (and old high school friends whom, for valid reasons, I haven't seen in 30 years) and kind of sleazy.
I'm with you on Tumblr. I asked my 20 year old niece to explain it to me. She couldn't--and she's a writer. She gave me kind of a vague, "You know, it's a thing..." reply.
I have a fannish and a RL Twitter too, for the same reasons. My fannish one (Darkemeralds) is a steady stream of celebrity self-aggrandizement and amusement. My RL one is for my employer.
(no subject)
20/7/11 22:48 (UTC)None of which waffle addresses your questions. I... am finding it hard to get back online recently. I'm ambivalent about whether I want to - I do and I don't. I do miss writing in my journal, and the connection I had with people through it, though.
(no subject)
20/7/11 22:57 (UTC)Personally, I love the constant access and don't find it the least bit invasive. Isn't that curious? I would attribute it to my living alone and having a personality that puts me at significant risk of isolation, but that's kind of glib. I don't know--it just feels good to me, comforting, somehow, to know that the world is within reach. And I'm pretty comfortable with the off-switch, too.
Part of the reason I've drifted over to the Google side is that I've found things here on DW more contentious than I'm comfortable with.
The word "comfortable" appearing twice in this comment is probably fairly revealing.
(no subject)
21/7/11 01:01 (UTC)(no subject)
21/7/11 01:13 (UTC)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.
(no subject)
21/7/11 02:21 (UTC)Having said that, there have been a number of times where there was a thought in my head that I wanted to share, but it just seemed too short and abrupt for a whole post, which I don't have the time or desire to sit down and write just then. I realize some people post that way, but it just isn't my style. Of course, when I do go to write a post then either I forget about it or it doesn't fit into what I end up talking about, so I just leave it out. At this point I wouldn't say that I've found my most comfortable collection of services, although DW/LJ is definitely part of it. FB is necessary to me because of some people that I would otherwise lose contact with (and who are not geographically close), plus it lets me link them to posts I've cross-posted to Blue's Garden (non-fandom posts, basically). I've fiddled with Tumblr, but it hasn't grown on me yet, mostly because I have to jump through too many hoops to make sure something is properly attributed to its source.
I will say that my little network collective does include Delicious, which not everyone might think of that way. But that's how I find a lot of recs and how I help put the word out about ones I like.
(no subject)
21/7/11 05:15 (UTC)I'm giving serious thought to my use of Google Docs after reading through responses here and elsewhere. There are other cloud spaces where I can write (cloud computing is very valuable to me both for backup purposes and because I migrate among several devices and need access to my stuff no matter which one I'm using). The incredible convenience of Google makes switching a huge chore that I don't have time for--it synchronizes my contacts and calendar across platforms, and keeps all my stuff for me in a single accessible place. But Now I'm wondering if I was smart to let that happen...
Dreamwidth continues to be a haven of freedom of expression, and I don't see myself leaving or giving up my paid account anytime soon, but, like you, I don't always have something blogworthy to say. Back when I started, it was perfectly acceptable to make a very brief, fly-by post, but it seems almost rude to do it now, because that's kind of what Twitter and G+ are for.
Everything's in flux! I will say this: one of my very favorite social networks is Ravelry. It's absolutely brilliant, and I've spent many, many happy hours there.
(no subject)
21/7/11 05:17 (UTC)I'm finding it pleasant and easy to use, but several comments here and elsewhere have persuaded me that DW/LJ is still a valid and worthy internet home for me.
(no subject)
21/7/11 05:24 (UTC)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?
(no subject)
21/7/11 06:44 (UTC)(no subject)
21/7/11 08:15 (UTC)Certain behaviours on my home planets of LJ and DW have made me less enamoured of them, and I've done plenty of moaning in that regard, but seeing them shrink because people don't know how to play nice is very sad.
(no subject)
21/7/11 10:08 (UTC)(no subject)
21/7/11 10:18 (UTC)