minnesattva

Facebook sucks. It’s like 2001 all over again. Don’t get me wrong, 2001 was great... IN 2001. Do you remember 2001 - when almost everyone updated several times a day and entries were generally shorter? Some people updated like they were Twittering when there wasn’t even any such thing as Twitter. But do you know why people on lj stopped don that for the most part? Because it’s BORING. Because it lacks meaningful interaction. Because it was too much chatter. It was great for a while - when we couldn’t stand to be away from each other for longer than a couple hours. But our relationship matured beyond that constant need for reassurance and feedback and then those constant, short updates became an annoyance.
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I liked the playfulness, but I wanted more, too. I wanted substance; I wanted meaningful interaction. My journal began to change then, and so did my friends list. I wasn’t the only one. I saw lots of complaints over the next few years about frequent, low substance updaters. The tide had changed. And so did my friends page. There were fewer and fewer one or two line updates and more and more longer posts. I got to know you better. Some people became essay writers. More of us got digital cameras and began adding photos to our posts.

But that change also brought pressure to “properly prepare” an entry. There was an unspoken rule against the one-line entry, or more than x number of entries in a day. Entries had to be detailed and forthcoming because the vague post (except maybe with acknowledgement and apologies) was also out of vogue. And then there were the days that were too full to allow time to sit and write up a ‘proper’ entry and we were afraid of ‘cluttering’ each other’s friends pages with multiple entries, so we wouldn’t write one, and that happened more and more often until we were out of the habit of sharing with each other, largely for fear of not following the new rules.
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So I have been rethinking what *I* want to see on my friends page and what *I* want from LJ. What I want from LJ is simple: I want you; I want us. And we can’t have that if aren’t making the effort to talk to each other - and if we don’t feel free to do it.
- You know what? I don’t actually have an objection to more frequent and shorter posts.
- I do object to continuous posting without ever revealing what the fuck you’re talking about. Being cryptic is even less cool now that it was 8 years ago. If I can’t figure out what you’re talking about from reading the previous 3 entries in your journal, then uh.. no. More info or shush.
- I also have to admit that I’m not fond of the Twitter stuff. The formatting makes it difficult to read and so much of it is one part of a conversation between two or more people that I probably don’t know on a topic I can’t identify. I don’t read them and I don’t even register them as ‘updates’ any more.
- I love photos. Always have.
- I like recipes and lists and schedules and plans and timelines and summaries.
- I love travelogues, even if you only went to the dentist.
- I want to know what your kids are doing, how your mother is and why you want to strngle her this week.
- I like to hear your interpretation of things,what you think it all means.
- I want to hear about your goals, successes and failures, and when you just came out even.
- Your work, your play, your health... all of it.

And I like to hear it in 50 words or 850... whatever works best for you. So I’m doing the same.