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It's August, and we're winding toward autumn; there was almost a feeling of it in the air this morning. And the light is starting to have that slanted quality, and while the leaves aren't turning yet, they're closing on it.
There's a post in the works about the trip to Tallinn, but it's at home in Semagic, and it'll be late this evening, if not tomorrow, before it sees posting. Meantime, I was thinking over some things while I was more offline than usual in Finland.
Posting to livejournal is not like a mailing list. It's not shared like a mailing list is; it's your journal and you decide what goes in it, and people do post anything they want to. It's not like private email, either - even if you filter it to one person only, it's still appearing to them like any other post. It's certainly not like writing a letter longhand, and it's not like a paper journal or diary either. Most likely, it's its own thing, but I can't help reaching for a metaphor. It's most like a column in a small-town local newspaper.
This is because it's got about the same readership level - if a column in a local paper is any further in than the fourth page, you can bet there are only about thirty people who will read it. And they're all local. And further, they're all going to have their own opinions on the matter, especially if you're writing about something local. The localities may be virtual on livejournal, but they're localities nonetheless.
With that in mind, would you publish what you do in your livejournal in a local newspaper?
There's a post in the works about the trip to Tallinn, but it's at home in Semagic, and it'll be late this evening, if not tomorrow, before it sees posting. Meantime, I was thinking over some things while I was more offline than usual in Finland.
Posting to livejournal is not like a mailing list. It's not shared like a mailing list is; it's your journal and you decide what goes in it, and people do post anything they want to. It's not like private email, either - even if you filter it to one person only, it's still appearing to them like any other post. It's certainly not like writing a letter longhand, and it's not like a paper journal or diary either. Most likely, it's its own thing, but I can't help reaching for a metaphor. It's most like a column in a small-town local newspaper.
This is because it's got about the same readership level - if a column in a local paper is any further in than the fourth page, you can bet there are only about thirty people who will read it. And they're all local. And further, they're all going to have their own opinions on the matter, especially if you're writing about something local. The localities may be virtual on livejournal, but they're localities nonetheless.
With that in mind, would you publish what you do in your livejournal in a local newspaper?
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I remember a small-town paper in a rural village where I taught back in the '80s. There would be pages about what the townspeople were doing, including who visited whom when, what food was served, etc. Downright nosy stuff. :)
However, I like to think my LJ entries are spelled and punctuated better than that paper was. ;)
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No, because if I was running a newspaper my first consideration would be "Will people pay to read this?". Blog publishing is more like holding forth in the local pub, or getting on a soapbox at Speaker's Corner - you don't have to read it, and frankly I don't care if nobody does; it's as much for myself as for anything else that I write what I write.
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Firstly, even though I do not mention such things as the name of the company I work for, if this was a local newspaper too many epople might read it who recognise stuff- yes they might come across my LJ by accident too, but people who read LJ are still a more specific sub-set of the worldwide community than people who read a local newspaper- the target audience is totally different.
Secondly, as was mentioned, in a local newspaper, I would write for the audience- here, I write for me, and while I might appreciate the audience, especially when I need support, I do not primarily write for them. The focus is completely different.
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Stuff that's friends-only or filtered somehow - no. That's either too personal or meant for certain eyes only.
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Unlike most here, I'd say 'sure, why not?' I think that's because my local paper is, after all, the New York Times, and the food section is actually quite similar to my journal.:)
Also, I rarely use my journal to do more than mention the day to day, but rather as a 'scractchpad' of sorts for whatever I'm musingover at the time. Entering those musings and ideas into a larger dialogue, while scary, seems like something I could get a lot out of.
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well me i dont think any of my ramblings would be of intrest to anyone anyways. i dont much care what peole to with my posting and well i dont tink it merits beeing put into the local paper.
now my more privat stuff well i keep that in a diffrent LJ account and all be it i dont have it as a privat journal at all and any one can read it. it is there for if someone comes accross it well they come accross it. what i post in LJ is going to be read at some point.
the way i see it is if you post something somewere or write it down you subconsly what someone to read it. i see it as a way to relase ones anger and thoughts and if someone reads it then the read something you wrote in anger/sadness/or just as a creative thing.
so all in all i wouldnt care what people have been reading of mine and everyone has there owne opion on the matters. no way of avoiding it.
BB
Yrth
:)
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Although the more that I think about it, I should really swap them around, seeing as LJ posts can be private or restricted. Meh. Might transfer the blog over here at some point...
An interesting thought just struck me. There's huge interest in the personal letters and journals of dead famous people - you always hear about them being donated to museums and such (the letters, not the dead people!). In the future, will there be an online museum, containing the blogs of dead famous people? Where you can go read and say "Jesus, so and so might have been a brilliant actor/author/humanitarian, but they sure wrote some drivel on blogger!"
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no, i probably wouldn't, because the readership of the average local paper is pretty different from that of livejournal. now if it were an -alternative- local paper or zine... maybe.