blog

[lobelia321]

I just figured it out.

For years this has puzzled me: what is a blog, and what is LJ, and how do the twain overlap?

Is a blog just a kind of LiveJournal but with comments permanently disabled?

Comments

[rossywar.livejournal.com]

Blogs can and do have comments - a livejournal is a blog. The main difference between livejournal and other blogs is the social component of the friends lists. Most other blogs (except Greatestjournal, Journalfen, etc.) don't have friends lists and therefore you don't necessarily build up social networks or communities like you can on lj; so I guess it can feel like writing into the void sometimes on a "regular" blog.

[abbylee]

Just dittoing.

Basically, I'd say that LiveJournal is a social community (or something) and one of its primary features is blog.

A blog (web log) is pretty much is any page/site with information presented/updated in a dated order.

[eve-took.livejournal.com]

On a completely unrelated note, I went to the small store that sells Bollywood movies and asked the Indian owner if THEY HAVE THAT ONE MOVIE WITH SHAH RUKH KHAN IN DRAG. He was very amused, looked for the movie and asked me which other ones I'd have seen. *grin*

The movie is awesome, so funny :)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

;-D

That is a hoot of a story.

I am now all swoony over Amir Khan in Fanaa. Oh, and Kajol.

[ios-pillow-book.livejournal.com]

But a blog with comments permanently disabled is NO FUN at all ...

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

Ditto the the above--but will also note that LJ allows for the locking down of posts to friends, or custom groups, or private, and I'm not sure most blogs do that.

The threaded discussions are also way better to read (I now do read some blogs via RSS feed, some feminist, some writerly, some both, and have even posted a time or two, but it's not like LJ).

LJ far superior to blogs IMHO!

My two cents

[annezo.livejournal.com]

Livejournal is a kind of blog. It has some features that other kinds of blogs don't. Other kinds of blogs have features that LJ doesn't.

For instance, LJ offers a "friends" page where I can glance at what people I have "friended" have written.

On my blog, I use Bloglines. I subscribe to RSS feeds for all of my "friends" and go to my Bloglines account to see what my "friends" have posted. The Bloglines offers features that LJ doesn't.

For fandom, which is a "community" sort of hobby for me, LJ works nicely, but it's not what I'd use for other kinds of posting (which is why I have two blogs in addition to the LJ).

Re: My two cents

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

for other kinds of posting

What other kinds of posting are there, then?

Re: My two cents

[annezo.livejournal.com]

On my personal blog, I tell stories, lies, rants, and raves about work and my everyday life. On the other blog (which is largely dormant now), I talked exclusively about political stuff.

There are a ton of different kinds of posting.

Some people are looking for a short-term public form. They post almost exclusively on some single topic like the progress of a pregnancy or a house they're building.

Some people use their blog for a trip journal, creating a diary for themselves (uploading photos as they go) and also letting friends and/or family follow the journey. Depending on the software you use, many "blog" formats are more download friendly than LJ, so you can print out a nice copy of your trip journal when you get home.

People track the progress of political issues and/or campaigns, talk about the computer game they're designing, or use a single blog as a spot for a small group to brainstorm a project. A blog might be a single-forum outlet for a college class, allowing students to discuss lectures or ask questions of the professor.

These are all the kinds of things people talk about on LJ but many of these topics are not enough in themselves to really need a whole "community" support framework. Among the media fandom community, most of us came together because of fandom. We've formed friendships that go outside that and thus we share both personal and fannish stuff with each other. Other people are looking for more limited exchanges.

Or, you know, some people find LJ too limiting. Because of "tags" and "friends lists" and stuff, LJ can feel cliquey. (I know. Not a word.) For people discussing topics of really wide interest, they prefer a more wide-open forum, not a clustering of small groups. They like the energy of a pool of people who have tangential discussions going on.

Other people, like "foodies" tend to stick to blogs because they have more style control and aren't limited as to how many pictures they can upload.

Sorry. I just realized this is far more than you probably wanted to know - and that I've clearly spent way too much time thinking about all this.

[sonicbookmark.livejournal.com]

A blog is a one night stand, but LJ is for life.

[pippinspeach.livejournal.com]

I hate blogs that don't have "next entry" buttons/links and usually refuse to read them unless I have a really good reason to.