Using LJ

[cos]

One day last year, a friend asked me if I were going to her party that weekend. What party, I asked? It seems she'd posted about it on her LJ, twice. I read her LJ regularly, but had missed both of those posts, and she hadn't sent out email invitations, but was surprised I didn't know about the party.

Another person on my friends list (several, actually) sometimes posts on LJ to call a Dim Sum outing. He just wants some people to come, not any specific individuals, and expects to sometimes be surprised by people he wouldn't have expected to respond. LJ is the perfect tool for that.

People write on LJ for a mostly consistent readership they expect to know, so unlike with most blogs, LJ writers often don't think about newcomers or casual surfers when they write. This can fail, too, because even the people you know haven't been there for every post since the beginning, usually. There are some people on my friendslist who sometimes talk about "BPAL". Presumably, at some point, this abbreviation was defined, but I've never seen it in the year or so since I've seen it being used. On most non-LJ blogs, an abbreviation like that would be explained in each post it's used in, but on LJ, how long do you go before filling your new readers in?

barmaidblog is a well-done hybrid: she writes in LJ style, but with a "typical" blog audience in mind. One of her adaptations for that audience is that every reference to a person or event she expects her readers to be familiar with, is a link the first time it appears in a post. Links lead back to earlier posts so new readers can drill back as far as they need to build up as much context as they want at the time.

( ... and then there's the classic case of "breakup via LJ" - I've seen a few of those ...)

What are some ways people you read use LiveJournal that don't quite work? Or that do work, in LJ-specific and interesting ways?

Comments

[ayalanya.livejournal.com]

for the record, "BPAL" was probably abbreviated before people started posting about it on livejournal. but "black phoenix alchemy lab" isn't going to be terribly helpful either, unless you already know it's a small company that makes non-chemical mostly-hypoallergenic perfume oils.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

One weird way it does work:

Both my roommates became my roommates via LJ (although we knew each other beforehand). The three of us still communicate vital stuff to each other ("My family's coming to visit." "My concert is this weekend." "My grandmother died.") by posting in, and reading, each other's LJs rather than, you know, walking 6 steps down the hallway to each other's rooms, knocking on the door and telling each other.

[vito-excalibur.livejournal.com]

I've discovered that inviting people to things via LJ never, ever, ever works. I don't know why. If I actually want anyone to come I have to send out email.

[ravenword.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think the email invite makes people feel more singled out, like, even if I am your LJ friend, that doesn't necessarily mean I'm your real friend who should feel welcome to come to a party that's mentioned in a friends-only post. Unless you specifically tell me personally, by using my email address, that I am invited, I will be less likely to feel welcome.

Similarly, when I post on LJ all "Anyone want to _____ on Saturday?" I rarely get a reply, but if I ask three friends individually they'll probably be up for it.

[madcaptenor.livejournal.com]

For one thing, I use LJ to get advice about things that are happening in my life. I couldn't do this if I were using a more typical blog, for two reasons:

1. usually my "I want advice" posts are friends-only, or even filtered to some subset of my friends, because there are certain people I don't want to know I'm asking whatever question I'm asking. I couldn't do this with a blog. (I could, perhaps, do it by e-mail, but often the subset of my friends I filter to might be thirty to fifty people, which seems too large for e-mail).
2. in a more typical blog, as you say, I wouldn't be able to assume the context that I can assume on LJ.
https://webmail.sas.upenn.edu/horde/imp/message.php?index=649
Social invitations via LJ are tricky because the volume of my friends list is a bit too high; at times when I'm procrastinating I read every post, but there are probably days when I only read ten percent or less of the posts on my friends list and I might miss things that people think are important.

also, breakups and LJ just don't go well together. (I have recent personal experience, as you may have heard.)

[tafkats.livejournal.com]

Another downside to posting vital things, party invitations, etc., on LiveJournal: I rarely read people's journals through any other medium than my own friends list, and I find sometimes that I've missed a lot of posts because, for whatever reason, one person's time stamp is several hours earlier than mine and/or most of the other people I read. So I'll read through the friends list until I encounter something I recognize and then stop, but I'll miss somebody's post because even though they wrote it after the last time I checked, the time stamp is earlier so it ends up behind posts I've already read.

[fidgetmonster.livejournal.com]

the party invite-via-lj thing doesn't work so well, but it's useful in tandem with email. i'd post about a party in LJ as more of an announcement, or to reach a wider audience than people I have email addresses for.

the other way in which LJ 'doesn't work' is through the use of filters: I've seen a lot of "oops, some of you weren't meant to see that" or "that was meant to be private". or worse, complete lack of context about some juicy bit of information because the poster has used their filters inconsistently. if the latter isn't a case of filter misuse, then it could be just random posting, which seems unblog-like. LJ can be a place for venting and brain dumping, or inside jokes. I imagine a blog writer wouldn't want to risk alienating their readership like that.

ways in which LJ IS working: I know a lot more about the daily lives of many of my friends, even the ones i see less than once a year. this gives me warm fuzzies because i know without some easy/popular online medium we'd fall out of touch over time. i've gotten *closer* to people because LJ allowed us to interact more.

[ommango.livejournal.com]

It sounds like you are going to do that panel at Arisia.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

(I could, perhaps, do it by e-mail, but often the subset of my friends I filter to might be thirty to fifty people, which seems too large for e-mail)

Indeed. And the advantage of LJ over email is that people can peruse the comments already left and not repeat advice. Of course with email people can still "reply all" but this forces it into the inbox of all 50 people, wheras with LJ the ~10 people who are actually interested can continue to read follow-up comments and the 40 people who don't have time or useful advice can ignore it after it scrolls off their friendspage.

[cos]

... or unless it's a link :)

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

Unless you specifically tell me personally, by using my email address, that I am invited, I will be less likely to feel welcome.

That's one reason that invites in my LJ almost always say "if you can read this you are invited" and I use filters for them (usually they're just geography-based filters - if there's someone on my friendslist that I don't feel comfortable inviting into my house this generally causes me to rethink having them on my friendslist at all). And I have had people who I had met a week before and added to my LJ friendslist show up to parties of mine on that much notice.

[cos]

Heh. Yes, an LJ community for a house is a nifty thing, and I've seen a number of them. Do you have a community or is it just posts in each other's LJs?

mzrowan announced a party on her LJ and I saw the post before she mentioned it to me, even though I live in her house, but she was kinda embarrassed about that :) (and it was a fun party)

[cos]

*nod* LJ is a good way to pull in unexpected random people you'd like to see but don't expect would be interested. Sometimes, inviting them individually feels weird, or, you might not think of inviting them specifically.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

...but with a "typical" blog audience in mind. One of her adaptations for that audience is that every reference to a person or event she expects her readers to be familiar with, is a link the first time it appears in a post...

DailyKos is something I think of as a "typical blog" and even they don't do that very often.

[greenlily.livejournal.com]

Nope, not a community, we just read each other's LJs.

Back in my Brandeis days, I do remember when l.db would devolve into discussions among housemates, or suitemates, and people would comment saying "Don't you people live together? Why aren't you having this conversation in your kitchen instead of in our newsgroup?" :)

[cos]

Yup. But it's the other way 'round: I've had this post ideal milling around in my head since the time that friend asked me if I were coming to her party, and it's the reason I suggested that panel to Arisia. Though I'd written a note to myself after last year's Arisia to ask about LJ panels for this one, so I might've done it anyway, it was that thought that prodded me to do it and that affected the panel suggestions I wrote. Though I suppose knowing that panel is coming up this weekend is what prodded me to finally post this post that I might've posted anytime in the past half-year or so, so I guess it goes both ways.

[cos]

True. But dailykos is writing in more typical themed-blog style: they expect their readers to be familiar with the general topic (US Democratic-leaning politics and government) but each post is written as a standalone post. They're not doing LJ style blogging, where they update you on new developments in lives you're already following but nobody else is.

barmaidblog is writing LJ-style, so for example she'll mention the guy she's dating by name and refer to something he said that has a lot of meaning for people following her story, but will be enigmatic to others or just whoosh by them. But, she'll make his name a link to her post about their most recent date, so you can follow that and read about it, and in that post, his name might be a link to her post about their first date, etc. And the "something he said" portion might include a link to a post about a related conversation last week, that makes its portent clearer.

[cos]

inconsistent filters: How do you feel about posters making clear to their readers how filtered the post they're reading is, and who's on it? What are circumstances when that's important, vs. when that's just distracting or not useful?

getting closer: Have you ever met anyone new because of LJ? How'd it happen?

[moominmolly.livejournal.com]

Wow, am I the only person in the world who's roughly satisfied with the party-invitation-via-LJ thing? Email seems more thorough and polite, and if it's a *big* party, I'll do that, but for "hey! I'm bored! Come hang out in my backyard!", LJ seems to work just fine.

[sadisticseraph.livejournal.com]

breakup via LJ? Finally! Something worse than break up via text message!

[lightcastle.livejournal.com]

It was bound to happen.

I think the order goes (from best to worst)
- in person
- by phone
- by letter
- by email
- by text
- by LJ

Not sure if letter is in the right place, though.

[japlady.livejournal.com]

I sort of assume there are folks out there with lives. Some friends are good about reading my last 3 pages of LJ before picking up the phone to give me a call and "catch up" others can't be bothered, to whom I'll say, "well if you only read my LJ"

But invitations? Yes I'll put the general one out there, but I back it up with emails to the folks whose presesce I care most about.

[lightcastle.livejournal.com]

Ditto. There's always both.

Break-up by LJ

[yeshivaboy.livejournal.com]

Has this really happened? How? I'm curious...

[feuervogel]

I have, but it hasn't led to too many IRL encounters.