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

[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.