Soo...

[lithera]

There are more and more people on Facebook and Twitter.

My parents are on Facebook, it seems. Which alone might be worth giving it a shot but I don't know how many of these bloggy sorts of thigs I can actually manage to maintain with any sort of regularity without diluting everything or repeating myself all the time.

Hrm.

Comments

[theonlymegumegu.livejournal.com]

You can link your LJ to your Facebook, so that your posts here show up there. So you can just use Facebook for the connectivity, and continue your input here.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Good to know but there is that whole repetative thing...

[theonlymegumegu.livejournal.com]

Well, you might compare your LJ Flist to your (potential) FB Flist to determine how much more exposure you'll get (and if you want it). It's more likely to get people to interact with info if you send it to them than it is to get them to come access it of their own accord (basically comparing how much more dispersion you get by sending info to people who are on FB and not LJ vs trying to get the same people to access LJ). Ultimately it's gonna come down to its value to you, but maybe these thoughts will help you determine said value. For me, this was pretty much the determination. I just discovered I knew more people on FB than on LJ, so it was worth it to connect to that larger group of people via FB than to try and get them to connect with me on LJ. A lot of that was also finding even *more* people I know on FB after joining. I'm not trying to be like, "ZOMG, join t3h FBs," just trying to let you know what got me to adopt it after avoiding it for a long, long time myself.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

No, that's cool. I'm finding that there are a lot of people I know on FB and even though I'm sort of against it in general, it is slowly adding up.

[gamethyme.livejournal.com]

I'm on Twitter. It's useful for short "this is what I'm up to" posts that you can send as text messages.

I'm on Facebook. It's useful for helping your exes and former friends and HS bullies find you. Occasionally, they want to apologize. But not very often.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*ponders* I sort of hate it when people collect Twitters on LJ, which has made my opinion of it somewhat negative. And, really, I don't do much with my phone.

And that's sort of what I'd be on Facebook for, yeah.

[gothams3rdrobin.livejournal.com]

I find them both quite dissatisfying in comparison with LJ. The only advantage is that I can keep contact with people in my family or colleagues, without having them know about my LJ account.

Plus on Twitter I follow the ramblings of a few UK celebs I'm fond of :-)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Hrmmmm.

[frostedelves.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking about using RSS feeds to just update one place that spreads that one update to several sites, myself. While that's obviously not going to work to send your long updates to Twitter, Twitter can be used to send updates to LJ (and I think to some other places) via LoudTwitter (http://www.loudtwitter.com/), which collects all of a set timeperiod's Twitter messaes and makes a post for you at whatever interval you set.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

yeah. I have no desire to do that with Twitter. It bugs me when people do that. Maybe it is just me but if I wanted to read what people were Twittering, I would be reading it on Twitter....

[frostedelves.livejournal.com]

Perfectly valid choice.

[frostedelves.livejournal.com]

And now I see that LoudTwitter has already been mentioned, and you were aware anyway and dislike collected tweets, so nevermind. :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*chuckles*

That's okay, m'dear. Thank you for the information anyway. I do appreciate it.

[frostedelves.livejournal.com]

Thanks. :) I do think I understand what you mean about the worry of repetition, by the way-- with so many sites available and different groups of people listening on each one, many of which do overlap, you're put in a position of either repeating one thing everywhere with minimal effort (knowing that some people will get very tired of seeing that repetition), or choosing both how many splinters of yourself you want people to have to seek out to get all the pieces you put out there, and how many layers of privacy you want to keep up with.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*nods* Good thought, there. I don't want people to chase around to get the full story, either. It already bugs a little bit me when people don't keep updated with what I do post publically. I can't imagine what it would become like if I were posting different things on different platforms.

[of-the-woods.livejournal.com]

they're very different. LJ is more of a typical blog, whereas Facebook is more of an ephemeral "keep loose tabs on everything" kind of site. It's the sort of site you have up in the background and refresh occasionally to get a very surface-view of what's going on in other people's lives. LJ is more in depth.

So, I guess my answer is they serve different purposes, which isn't to say you necessarily need to go to the effort to manage or monitor both :)

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Good to know.

[theonlymegumegu.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I like how I heard things like FB and Twitter described as fostering "passive intimacy" with people (IIRC, that was an NPR spot not too long ago). You know, the same kind of bonding you get by being near someone frequently, but not necessarily constantly engaging them in deep interaction.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

*ponders*

There is an odd place that the internet fosters, how you keep up to date with someone's life without actually getting to know them in person. It is so freaking weird.

[apestyle.livejournal.com]

IAWTC.
LJ - deeper thoughts
FB - skipping rocks in the shallow end

[xnbach.livejournal.com]

what of_the_woods said.

LJ is an actual blog.

Facebook is more random updates and quicknotes. Plus an annoying amount of applications you can play or just ignore.

My problem is I have different groups of friends on different sites, so I ended up having to get LJ, MySpace, and Facebook acounts. I would have been happy with just LJ, but c'est la vie.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Good to know.

[apestyle.livejournal.com]

Eff Myspace.

[eggies-red-dres.livejournal.com]

F Myspace indeed.

[elsewhere7.livejournal.com]

I had to spend a good part of this weekend teaching my dad how to use Facebook.

Internet Privacy is a thing of the past.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

I never imagined I had any, really.

[seanb.livejournal.com]

Facebook plays nicely with RSS. I've added RSS feeds for "friend's status updates" and "Friend's notes" into Google Reader. Hardly ever actually log into FB.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Excellent to know!

[thezzyzx.livejournal.com]

Facebook is great for suddenly discovering how to contact that crush you had in 8th grade. I've reconnected with quite a few people I never thought I would. LJ is great to actually read thoughts.

[mizkit.livejournal.com]

As far as I can tell there's pretty much no point to Facebook. The only reason I'm on it is because fans kept looking for me there. (That sounds arrogant.)

And yet it's better than my impression of Twitter...

[lysistratah.livejournal.com]

Any kind of social network is only as good as the community you find there.

An advantage of Facebook is you only have to write 1 sentence at a time. It's a good way to keep very shallow touch with people you kinda want to keep in touch with but without putting a whole lot of time and energy into it.

Twitter...I have to use it as part of networking wtih the local Technorati here in town. Again, for people with a good community, I'm sure it's great, but in general, the people I know on Twitter are self important pricks with delusions of rabid superiority.

I suck at keeping up with LJ these days, but that's a symptom of my overall suckage at keeping up with *any* blogging while my lfie's up in the air. However, I can keep up with a sentence every day or two on Facebook. I don't think it'll get in the way of the community you have here. It's about breadth versus deapth.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

That's what I'm starting to gather from the over all comments. I'll likely make a facebook page if only for pics and videos of my nephew.

[lysistratah.livejournal.com]

Facebook is VERY low maintenence. I moved around a lot, which meant meeting and losing contact wtih a lot of people. I haven't had the stereotypical experience of people from elementary through high school looking me up. Instead, it's mostly been exes I always wanted to stay on good terms with, former coworkers, and people in SF clubs.

Now, the FUN part is putting together this seminar on cleaning up your online presence before graduation. You wouldn't believe the number of students who seem to think Facebook is 100% private and secure. I just want to pinch thier adorable little cheeks.

[lithera.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I moved around a ton too and there would be a lot of people I might want to catch up with, which is why it is tempting.

[lysistratah.livejournal.com]

Since I'm an officially designated enabler...

GIVE IN TO THE DARK SIDE!

It's quick. It's easy. And you'll be able to oogle lots of pictures of your nephew.

*ahem* Sadly, I can't say the same thing about Twitter.