Alone on The Internet

[captain_slinky]

I'm so tired of the monosyllabic grunting and nodding of FaceBook. Three-Hundred-And-Fifty "Friends" over there giving the illusion of connectivity when all we're actually doing is reposting memes and clicking "Like", maybe if you're in a particularly talkative mood you can reply with a "LOL" or "NICE!" before scrolling on to the next meme. Even original posts, stuff that people took the time to writ out and share with the world, is only a line or two at the most for fear that everybody will scroll right past it because it's too long.

I miss *writing*, and I miss READING what other people WRITE. I miss the back-and-forth dialogue. I miss jumping in to a thread and making new friends. I miss challenging friends to write! In short, I miss LIVEJOURNAL. I think everyone has forgotten how to communicate, in favor of just trying to make sure their voice is among the loudest in the room.

Amazing how alone these "Social Network" sites can make you feel, isn't it?

Comments

[aurora77]

They're so full of noise with so little content. I don't use Facebook at all anymore. Google Plus is only marginally better, with people actually writing things sometimes, at least. I miss the way LJ used to be, too.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Content isn't even my biggest concern here, it's PEOPLE and INTERACTION. I'd have NEVER met people like you and Russell through Facebook!

Livejournal allows socially awkward people to find each other and interact on a level playing field, developing legitimate interaction and friendships. Facebook takes you back to First Grade, "YOU LIKE THAT PICTURE? SO DO I! NOW WE ARE FRIENDS!!!"

Nothing real over there :(

[aurora77]

I remember people doing social experiments here on LJ years ago. I met some awesome people that way.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I *loved* that stuff! Package Exchanges! Meme's that actually required *thought* rather than just hitting the "Repost" button on a regurgitated quote! Stuff that actually let you learn about the people before you hit "Add As Friend"!

I miss that so much :)

[penelopes-web.livejournal.com]

I think I get something out of both - but I agree, there is a lot more conversation here...but then again there also seems a lot more deception here as well - the internet is a weird place. :/

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Deception???

[penelopes-web.livejournal.com]

ahh yes...deception is a huge part of LJ. People making up story lines of their life, pretending to be someone they are not and hurting people in the process.
It's happened a few times in my "circle" where fan-fic writers have been "outed"
Not that it's not okay to use a pen name for writing, but the fact that they created characters who played them and in return "played" their fans...Fans that sent gifts and money to say a struggling young, male writer who just had twins - to find out later the writer was a 60 year old grandmother - that kind of deception.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Wow... I've never run in to that on LJ! That's CRAZY! Not sure I think it's really a regular thing about LJ, though... that's more of a "Internet In General" thing?

[pete23.livejournal.com]

LIKE.

Ahem, in a more LJ style, I agree with you 100%. Unfortunately for me, LJ has become pretty much ranting to an empty room. And so I've pretty much stopped doing it.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I blame Facebook (and Twitter) for the whole "Shouting at an empty room" syndrome, only it's shouting at a crowded room. Facebook gives you the illusion of interaction when you hit the "Like" button, but that's the end of it.

The point that really drives it home is when I meet somebody from Facebook IRL and even though we "Like" so many of the same memes and have even left single-line comments on posts, we have NOTHING to talk about. On-line we had the illusion of compatibility, but out in the Real World we're still just as awkward and incompatible as ever.

Contrast that with LJ; twelve years of meeting people I met on LJ, twelve years of people I actually like and talk to IRL because we actually KNOW each other through The Internet. That's what was so great about The Internet in the first place was that all of us shy, awkward people had a chance to show what was on the inside; a place where we didn't stutter, didn't just nod and grunt at social interaction...

Facebook brings us full circle I guess?

[lynna12000.livejournal.com]

Facebook has always been more about the pictures. LJ is more about the words. Kind of like the difference between newspaper comics and novels. Both have their place.

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

Well put!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I understand that, makes sense :) I'm just saying that Facebook isn't for *me*. Facebook, for me, is like choosing to go to a Superbowl Party at my brother's house - I like the commercials and the food, and those things WILL be there, but the people I'm surrounded with are going to be there to watch football and get drunk. We'll not and acknowledge each other's comments, but really we have no reason to be interacting :/

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

Ahem? What was that? You are NOT alone!

For me, the memes go over there, instead of here like they used to back in the day;. That gives this venue more space for writing!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Well that's just it... I'm not alone *over here*, on LJ... FACEBOOK is where I feel completely alone. Like... like being at a Superbowl Party full of strangers? I'm there for the food and the commercials, everyone else is there to watch sports and get drunk. We nod and grunt in acknowledgement of each other, but I'd hardly call it interaction. Surrounded by a crowd of people, all alone - That's Facebook to me :/

The point that really drives it home is when I meet somebody from Facebook IRL and even though we "Like" so many of the same memes and have even left single-line comments on posts, we have NOTHING to talk about. On-line we had the illusion of compatibility, but out in the Real World we're still just as awkward and incompatible as ever.

Contrast that with LJ; twelve years of meeting people I met on LJ, twelve years of people I actually like and talk to IRL because we actually KNOW each other through The Internet. That's what was so great about The Internet in the first place was that all of us shy, awkward people had a chance to show what was on the inside; a place where we didn't stutter, didn't just nod and grunt at social interaction...

Facebook brings us full circle I guess?

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

I agree; I have yet to meet people I have read over THERE in real life, but I maintain many real life friendships with people I have met here. Last night, before I saw this post, someone, a friend of a friend, was trying to talk to me; but he kept repeating himself, and was without humor. I suspect he was either drunk or a bot.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

drunk. bot. needs. love. too.

[xerhino.livejournal.com]

Plus their pathetic icon/avatar system only allows for a single static image, not the plethora of images we use to illustrate our mood or topic here on lj. If I want to post something with a thematic image on fb it changes *all* of my posts to use that image. Bah!

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

That's such a common theme! Every time somebody complains about something that Facebook does wrong, I always think "They already do it the right way over on Livejournal".

I can remember the days when people were OUTRAGED that LJ would DARE to put banner ads over to the side, and now they all flock to Facebook where the screen is 40% ads and even a bunch of unsolicited "Paid Sponsor Posts" in your feed despite your interest or consent! How did we lower our standards so much???

[tfcocs.livejournal.com]

I think that with FB, the reader KNOWS that it is an ad base enterprise; here, the very definition changes with every viewpoint.

See:
http://www.dailydot.com/culture/livejournal-decline-timeline/

http://www.dailydot.com/society/5-tips-livejournal-newbies/

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

Ooh! It's like The Theory Of Relative Assholiness!

When an asshole does something that isn't 100% assholy, like maybe he decides to NOT kick a kitten or he decides to NOT steal your lunch out of the work refrigerator, everybody is all "Ooooh wow that's great I've never seen you be so kind!"

But when a person who is always good does something like ask "Hey, if nobody else wants it, can I have the last piece of pizza?" everybody gets all "You are SO GREEDY! You used to be so nice!"

LJ said "Hey anybody mind if we put adds on here? If you don't want them that's okay we have a special kind of account wher you won't have to see ads" and everybody got all "OMG YOU ARE TH WORST THING EVAR!!!"

Facebook said "Yeah we're gonna give you all the ads, figure out ways to slip them in to your feed, change how you do everything so you can't figure out how to see the stuff you want to see, and what the heck we'll also go ahad and sell all your information to people. But here... you can play Farmville with your Aunt Petunia" and we're all OMG THANK YOU SO MUCH THAT'S AWESOME you're the best!!!"

[dagna76.livejournal.com]

OMG!! I JUST wrote about this on my FB, and got quite the backlash for it. How dare I question the use of nothing but meme communication! This is some transhumanism, NWO stuff, I swear.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

LOL! Welcome to my little outcast social network; it's made up of people who have been shunned for our disdain of social networks :)

Maybe if we use the Quick Meme Generator to put our unpopular opinions about memes on to a background picture of George Carlin or something, pople will start "Liking" us more?

[dagna76.livejournal.com]

Nope, even my memes are unpopular. Im ok with this.

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

I actually like Facebook. I have an overwhelming number of family and friends that are there and not here. Yes, there is a lot of meme poisoning. But my personal chatting with people I know is far above what it was here when LJ was at its height. I don't meet many new people on FB but I never did on LJ either. I don't use either for that. Over 90% of the people on my FB list are people I know in the real world.

Yes, LJ is a far superior blog platform. I have a blogspot account for that and more people read it than anything I post on LJ. Again, this is because LJ is dead. I was sorry to see how poorly LJ adapted to the rise of Facebook and Twitter.

At this point my friends feed here consists of a bunch of webcomics and you. I never see anyone else post. I rarely leave comments because I forget to check back into the conversation because the notification system rarely updates properly. It is a feature on FB that I like a lot (no pun intended). If Livejournal were alive and vibrant again I would gladly be here. But for all its faults Facebook is alive and adaptive and filled with people I know.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

I hear that a lot; variations of "Livejournal is dead because it is dead" combined with "It's far superior, I'd rather use Livejournal but since no one is using Livejournal I don't use Livejournal".

[sasjhwa.livejournal.com]

All true statements. I tried for years to make Livejournal work and felt like I was writing in a diary that no one would ever read. I took years of my entries and actually had them printed into a 5 pound book through lulu.com. For a while a few of my friends were on here but none of my family could be convinced to change from Myspace. Facebook crushed both of them under sheer weight of numbers.

Part of the reason people use Facebook is because there are so many people on Facebook. People don't use Livejournal because there aren't many people on Livejournal. Having that large audience is the reason Facebook works.

Both have tried to get people. One succeeded and the other didn't. Livejournal just isn't attractive to the masses. It likely never will be. It lost the fight. There will always be the faithful few who cling to it but it will never reach its full potential unless it pulls a miracle and became popular. I don't see that happening.

[greenpear.livejournal.com]

Facebook is very shallow. Most people you communicate with have passing similar interests but that's where it ends. And the entries are more like little bite-sized nuggets that never quite fill you up.

I haven't been that active here lately with the change in life/job situation but I still enjoy reading the post here better.

[captain-slinky.livejournal.com]

That's a good starting point for my feelings... I actually *enjoy* coming to Livejournal and reading posts; Facebook feels like a chore and something I have to constantly fight with to make it bearable. Block this, unfriend that, remove this from my news feed, no I don't want to accept this request from Farmville, oh look Aunt Carla got hacked and she's posting pics of gore and porn, why am I not seeing updates from my old high school friend OH it's because Facebook decided I don't need to see them any more I wonder what hoops I have to leap through to get those posts back, OH AND NOW FACEBOOK IS CHANGING THEIR WHOLE DESIGN AGAIN SO I GET TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN AAAAAARGH!!!"