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cellioA friend asked me about LJ last night. She commented that she's missing out on the grapevine by not reading it.
In thinking about it, though, I don't think that's really true. She said, for instance, that she wouldn't have known about the power surge taking out a bunch of our electronics if she hadn't been talking to an LJ friend, but that's not true. It's just that I hadn't seen her since then; I would have told her tonight if it hasn't come up otherwise, but this wasn't important enough to send email about.
Email is push technology. It's not as "push" as a phone call, but it's much more active than posting in an LJ, which is "pull". If you want to read it you do; if you don't; you don't have to. With email (I mean the personal sort, not mailing lists and spam), there is an expectation of a reply and perhaps a dialogue. Email says "you should read this"; LJ posts say "feel free to read this". It's a big difference.
There are some things that I'm posting on LJ that would have otherwise rated email. Some of my religious stuff would have gone out to select people in email (though written differently). Some of it still does, actually. I definitely would have sent out email to selected friends with the "where should I buy a computer?" question. There are probably others. The last joke I posted here I also sent via email to some people.
I do sometimes wish that my LJ friends wouldn't say "I saw that in your LJ" in front of non-LJ friends, because it probably makes them feel excluded. Oddly, saying "I saw your post on rec.arts.comics about X" doesn't cause quite the same reaction; I wonder if it's just that LJ doesn't have the penetration that Usenet has -- or had back when such a statement from me would have actually been accurate.
In thinking about it, though, I don't think that's really true. She said, for instance, that she wouldn't have known about the power surge taking out a bunch of our electronics if she hadn't been talking to an LJ friend, but that's not true. It's just that I hadn't seen her since then; I would have told her tonight if it hasn't come up otherwise, but this wasn't important enough to send email about.
Email is push technology. It's not as "push" as a phone call, but it's much more active than posting in an LJ, which is "pull". If you want to read it you do; if you don't; you don't have to. With email (I mean the personal sort, not mailing lists and spam), there is an expectation of a reply and perhaps a dialogue. Email says "you should read this"; LJ posts say "feel free to read this". It's a big difference.
There are some things that I'm posting on LJ that would have otherwise rated email. Some of my religious stuff would have gone out to select people in email (though written differently). Some of it still does, actually. I definitely would have sent out email to selected friends with the "where should I buy a computer?" question. There are probably others. The last joke I posted here I also sent via email to some people.
I do sometimes wish that my LJ friends wouldn't say "I saw that in your LJ" in front of non-LJ friends, because it probably makes them feel excluded. Oddly, saying "I saw your post on rec.arts.comics about X" doesn't cause quite the same reaction; I wonder if it's just that LJ doesn't have the penetration that Usenet has -- or had back when such a statement from me would have actually been accurate.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-11 11:20 am (UTC)Hm, did I trigger that one? I recall mentioning one of my own LJ posts but not making reference to yours; I considered it and then decided not, for much the reasons you state, and felt a little funny referring to my own. (And stuttering a bit over it. sigh)
I've been uncertain about LJ as a communication channel; I tend to consider non-restricted posts as "public" (LJ as the latest incarnation of the soapbox) but am aware that not everyone is aware of it, not everyone knows who uses it, or what their names are --- which does lend a certain "elitist" feel to it. Confusing.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-11 11:31 am (UTC)I don't think so. It wasn't a targetted comment; I was describing a trend I've seen from a number of sources over time, not any one incident.
I think you have LJ pegged about right. Anything posted here is not a secret. Restricted posts are similar to people telling you things in private, with the caveat that you have to pay more attention on LJ because when someone takes you aside to tell you a secret, it's really really obvious that it wasn't a public occurrence -- but you might not notice the little lock symbol if you're skimming.
I think of LJ as one of several intersecting social groups. Choir members don't have context for my synagogue social group, the D&D crowd doesn't have context for my coworker group, the Claritech gang doesn't have context for the SCA gang, and so on. Treat LJ as another one of these groups and I think all will work out. It's not that I don't talk about the SCA with the Claritech folks, for instance, but that I know I have to provide some explanations up front. Same with LJ.
(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-11 11:36 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-11 11:44 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2002-06-11 04:51 pm (UTC)