Everyone complains, social-media edition

[drwex]

Here's the problem:

FB is read-only. I don't want anything of mine up there because I don't want FB-the-company getting its paws on it. Thing 1 recently got his own FB page (mostly so he can get in-game bonuses for clicking "Like" buttons) and we had to explain to him that whatever he puts up there does not belong to him, it belongs to that company. We talked about some of the things that company does with stuff people put there.

That said, I rarely ever read FB in about the same way I never get a hamburger at McDonald's. I could. It wouldn't kill me. I'd get something out of it (like knowing what the heck my brother is up to) but the concept is nauseating.

Google+ is write-only. I cannot bear to try reading there because they've made the UI so hostile to textual discussion, and made the reading stream so impossible to control. I find I'm not motivated to write there in part because I'm not reading and I have broadcast media available to me, like my blog and this LJ. I do get notifications sent to me when certain people post there, so I can try to have discussions with them but discussions don't seem to happen. Perhaps others feel hampered by the UI as well?

And then there's LJ, which everyone complains about being barren and uninteresting. People forget to post here, forget to read here, and the activity level spirals down. It's the easiest medium to write for (for me) and the one that gives me the most control over my reading. I'd like to be able to have discussions here but few people respond to my posts. So there's that.

Maybe I should try Pinstagrawhatever. Or just yell at those damned kids on my lawn some more.

Comments

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

I still read regularly, yet have not been writing/commenting nearly as much because of being a bear of very little sleep (and therefore very little brain). I've been trying to remedy this lately, though.

FB is easy to post to from my phone, and lends itself well to snarky one-liners, link sharing, and keeping family and friends updated on Xander. However, LJ is where I put deeper and more personal thoughts.

[drwex]

Your posts are often about family/kid-raising and I find myself sympathizing but not inclined to write much else as it can too easily tend into "telling other people how to parent their kids" which is Just Not Done, as best I can manage it.

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

Fair enough. :-}

And now, of course, I have opportunities to rant about the stupidity of the GOP, so you can always feel free to join in there. *smirk*