short posts

[lobelia321]

The new kids on the block, such as Facebook and Twitter, encourage very, very, very short posts. Shorter than txts.

What does the LJ etiquette say? If the post is to be short, do we rather not bother? Do you even bother to click 'comment'? Do you like it because, yawn, all that prose to read through? Or do you like it because we are all so twitterised now, we get confused by anything longer than 15 characters?

And the lj-cut? Make a pretend short post and then morph it, magically, into a tome of wondrous wafflitude behind the cut?



Haha, not really. Just a few more characters.

I hate the shortness of the new kids on the block. It frustrates the heck out of me. I want to rant and ramble! I want to muse and waffle! And while txt-fic is all very well and fun in its place, how on earth do people squeeze fics onto Facebook? Answer: they don't.

So what's the point? Why blog if yer can't fic?

Comments

[dangermousie.livejournal.com]

I like LJ precisely because of being able to write and read long posts. Twitter rather makes no sense to me...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

I had one peek at Twitter and it was like reading DOS. So I'm with you there. But sometimes I wonder: am I an old codger, set in my longwinded way? Do I need to get hip to the telegraphic beat?

[msilverstar]

Twitter I use for stuff that seems pointless for LJ

Facebook I use for finding old classmates and people I've met at conventions

LJ I use for fandom and fic.

Works for me ;-)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Aha! What kind of stuff seems pointless for LJ?

Aha.

Aha.

This all makes sense. The compartmentalisation of the online life! I am new to this and find it slightly scary. The scary thing is that Facebook knows me under my real name. I am not used to such out-there-ishness!

[msilverstar]

pointless for LJ:

"kidlet has decisively rejected ballet class. they will give us our money back. "

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*Perse mums are poncy toffs*

This is pointless for LJ but it was fun to vent. As no Perse mums will ever read this.

I HOPE.

[blithesea.livejournal.com]

Though brevity is the soul of lingerie, I prefer longer entries. One sentence statements make me feel like I'm missing something.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*snickers at the lingerie* The one-sentence-statements are also nearly always just about doing something. There is no space for reflection and musing.

[ithiliana.livejournal.com]

I sneer at the shortness of text allowed on those silly sites and cling to my LJ (I wish they'd let us making longer COMMENTS).

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Yes! Longer! All this chopping into Part One and Part Two and counting characters!

I am so with you. (Academics like to ramble. Oh yes, we do.)

[cupiscent.livejournal.com]

I don't Twitter. I barely Facebook. And I must admit I don't bother to read the banks of twitters that people have feeding to their LJ. If it's not a developed thought, I guess I'm not really interested. Total intellectual snob, me? *G*

Why blog if yer can't fic?
Hear hear!

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

*laughs* Also, I need a zone where words retain all their letters (where you is you and not u!) and where punctuation exists and secondary clauses abound!

[minavox.livejournal.com]

Well, if I want to do too short, I send a sms... :)
Totally with you re: the search for even shorter.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

How short cn one go w/out lsng cohernce?

[viva-gloria.livejournal.com]

I tend to Twitter brief updates that mostly relate to real-life events. Am still bemused as to why I would want to 'follow' anyone. As for Facebook, I mostly used it to have a presentable front for ex-colleagues, and to play Scrabble ... good for networking Real Life People, my fannish self doesn't play.

I will make a very short LJ post if it's something I want to start discussing (or want sympathy / constructive support about!)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

The 'following' seems Twitter's strange attempt at Friending. Yes, I must know what someone is doing every second of the day! Scrabble, eh? You can play Scrabble on Facebook? My mother plays online Scrabble!!

Sometimes short LJ posts elicit the longest or the most comments. 'tis weird. I once posted a punctuation mark (was it a semi-colon?) and got loads of punctuation marks in response.

&!

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

Well, a) Facebook is not a blog and was never intended as one. There's no point trying to use it as one when you've already got the wonder of LJ. I know lots of people who don't want a blog because they don't particularly like writing, but want to use the interwebs to keep up with people. Facebook works well for them, they get to share photos, get in touch with old friends, have this backfire on them, play silly games, occasionally tell the world they've just eaten a chocolate orange. It's easy, undemanding, and makes you feel connected.

b) Er, there is no b. I don't know why I felt the need to start with an a)

I'm not hugely fond of Facebook but it allows me to keep up with real life friends and distracts me and so on. I like Twitter for when I just want to say something short without thinking about it much (I do sometimes). It's brief and chatty and I find it fun. It has the immediacy of chat without the pressure. And I like LJ for stuff I want to put more effort into. Depends what mood I'm in really. I've never really seen the point of having all your tweets show up on LJ - the two things don't mix as far as I'm concerned. They're not meant to.

Also, I am far too addicted to all these things and need to spend less time on the internet. But that's just me... ;)

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Aha. Facebook is not a blog. *repeats to self: Facebook is not a blog* Okay, now that I've finally understood that bit of it... Such things only take me several months or years but this is because I don't always have a wise neighbourhood duck to explain them!

There is no b???? *wails, weeps and tears out hair*

This seems to be more or less msilverstar's line: the compartmentalisation of the online life. What confuses me is that my real name shows up on Facebook, and that my fingers automatically start typing LJ'ish type-things and then they have to remember: oh no! Colleagues can read this!!

Flylady twitters.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

There is no b????

I'm sorry. ;(

What you see above is a winking sadface. It implies that my sorrow is perhaps not 100% sincere. I made it up. [ETA: I made up the winking sadface, not the sorrow. A percentage of that was real]

the compartmentalisation of the online life.

Yes, it can be confusing. But I've never yet found myself trying to post slash to Facebook, which is good.

There is an official Barack Obama Twitter stream. It doesn't do much now, but it does send you an email saying 'Barack Obama is following you on Twitter.' Which is cool. Not as good as 'Stephen Fry is following you on Twitter' though, because I know he clicked that 'follow' button himself, with his own hand. He said so on his blog.

Er. I do follow some people who aren't famous as well.

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

Is 'follow' like 'stalking'?

I love ;(!!!!!

It's so hard to type. And it makes my face contort in sympathy. And it has such a lot of character!

Aw, I love you, little guy! ;(

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

It's like stalking people who have invited you to stalk them.

;(

Aw, he is rather sweet, isn't he?

[bunnysquee.livejournal.com]

the lovely sheldrake got me the rss feed for stephen fry's twitter thing and i had to unfriend it after a day because it was a mass of one-liners i didn't care about, though i did glean the link to that letter of complaint i posted in my lj. not for me, i don't think ...

[lobelia321.livejournal.com]

That letter of complaint was extraordinary!! I told t'entire family about it. It haunts me! Those pictures!! *shudders*

Much better to eat a sea cucumber (or gherkin), *g*.

[sheldrake.livejournal.com]

I loved that letter of complaint!