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It's big in Russia (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/Picture%20360.jpg http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/Picture%20360.jpg) and so you do get a n
by mdasen 18y ago
It's big in Russia (http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/Picture%20360.jpg http://cache.gawker.com/assets/resources/Picture%20360.jpg) and so you do get a network affect.
And LiveJournal became really popular with certain subcultures. You're able to do friends-only entries, there's a login system for comments and such for your friends, etc. Great for someone who hates the world and wants to share it with a few others. It also allows you follow others on LJ in a way that you can't with Facebook and that Wordpress requires RSS/Atom. It appeals to some. Not everyone wants a public blog (WP), not everyone wants the randomness of Facebook's feed, not everyone wants a 140 character limit. . .
Facebook's real names thing can deter some postings and its closed nature means you don't get random subcultures becoming prevalent as much as you get more mainstream stuff. Twitter isn't a competitor really and Wordpress doesn't have the same features of authentication, friends, etc.
LJ doesn't appeal to me, but I can see why it does for some.
- tptacek 18y agoA network effect implies that you get more value from using it the more people do use it. But LiveJournal is just a blog. I can read anyone's LiveJournal without joining. AIM, on the other hand, you have to join to use, which is why we're all still running the ridiculously baroque OSCAR protocol.
- allenbrunson 18y agono, you cannot read anyone's livejournal without joining. many people make some or all of their entries friends-only, which can only be read by people on their friends list. it's features like this one, and many others, that make connectedness with friends much stronger than on traditional blogging platforms.
- mdasen 18y agoTo add a bit, LJ users can leave comments attached to their accounts and so comments become "by someone" in a way that blog comments aren't always. Likewise, you can look through the friends lists of people you're friends with and see if you like their stuff. It's not a great network affect like AIM or Facebook, but it's definitely there.
- raffi 18y agoI have a lifetime account on livejournal. An LJ friend actually bought it for me (I was very surprised). I love the service and use it as an online diary. It has novelty to those of us who want that. Plus some of us started with it many years ago (2001 for me) and never left.
- andrewf 18y agoNot strictly true. Livejournal supports OpenID for this purpose. (The average user will just join).
- gaius 18y agoLJ features: http://www.livejournal.com/doc/server/lj.intro.why_use.features.html http://www.livejournal.com/doc/server/lj.intro.why_use.featu...