Why I like LJ, and possibly also why this place is so quiet now

[ironphoenix]

Here are a couple of experimental results from FaceBook: one person Liked(tm) everything for 2 days; another person didn't Like(tm) anything for 2 weeks.

LJ doesn't have a Like(tm), +1(tm), or other such general-purpose one-click response option, so we have to, brace yourself, use our words here. This is rather likelier to involve thought, but it takes more effort--effort which people hooked on FB/G+/etc. are unused to putting in. As a result, we get less feedback here than we get on other shiny social media (even though the feedback there is ultimately less genuinely connected), so we post less here.

It's frustrating. The marketers are winning, because we are, more than we like to admit, creatures of reflex and habit, and those things are very manipulable. The only defense is mindfulness: awareness of ourselves, our instincts, reflexes, and habits, and claiming our power of choice.

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

Facebook has made an (externally obvious) turn away from a platform for person-to-person engagement, and into a platform for person-to-product engagement.

The Like button isn't so much a signal to others, as it is a signal to Facebook. As is true for MOST of Facebook's interactions.

I've read some really neat analysis of that: it's a little frightening.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

I also like LJ because it shows me EVERYTHING that my "friends" post. Not some filtered guess as to what it thinks I should see. Ok, I can filter LJ down if I want, but that is my control, not its control.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Ayup.

As a stopgap I put polls on most of my entries, to reduce the effort of engaging with / responding to the content. Because people often don't know what to say or feel trite saying the same 2/3 things...but polls ask you to do that, and provide the answers! Words still available for those with energy/resources, of course.