Writings and All That Social Media Mess

[fivecats]

Thoughtful Bear
Tennessee, October 2014

A few weeks ago toddpage was kind enough to give me an invite code to Ello. As a blogging platform it's pretty sparse -- there's no easy way to find people you know, there aren't any good editing applications yet... and yet I've found myself posting photographs and a brief line or two to it on a daily basis.

I find all of the social media choices overwhelming. Between Facebook, Twitter, LJ, Blogger, RSS Feeds, Google+, Ello, and all of the others I don't even have accounts for, it seems to me that keeping up to date on all of them would be a part-time job in and of itself. And I have neither the time nor, frankly, the interest in doing so.

LJ has always been my long-form essay place. I would write here to keep my writing chops from getting overly rusty. Over the past few years, however, I've found I have less and less to say. There are days when I think about posting a specific observation (the first day the weather is warm enough to not need a coat in the spring; the first day the fluorescent yellow-green pollen covers the black hood of my car, starting to play the mandolin) but the effort to write a full entry just seems so heavy.

That, and my Nikon D50 finally died. I'm now left with my iPhone for a camera. (When I first started carrying an iPhone I took hundreds and hundreds of photographs with it. I've become frustrated by the iPhone's limitations, however, and haven't been doing much with photography lately, either)

Writing time, now, is supposed to be time spent with The Book. That means more (seemingly endless) revision time -- something I don't have much enthusiasm for these days. (It's getting done, albeit more slowly than I wish)

Posting to Ello makes me feel like I should be doing the same here. I miss the community that was here in the past.

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Comments

[myrhiann.livejournal.com]

It's nice to see you back again. Your observations about keeping up with social media being like a part-time (or full-time) job are pretty spot on. I'm finding Facebook is the killer, but since I keep up with family and friends there I don't want to give it up. LJ is my first love. I'm very sorry to hear about the demise of your Nikon. I felt like I had lost an arm, until I was able to afford to buy a new camera.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

FB is the great Time-Killer. I'm self-limiting the times I check it throughout the day because I'm finding it to be too consuming for very little real return.

It's interesting to me that FB was started as a platform for college students to keep in touch with each other but since the floodgates were opened to anyone, kids have been leaving FB in favor of other social media.

We went on a rare vacation earlier this month -- camping in the Great Smoky Mountains. It was difficult just having an iPhone to take photographs with.

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[basefinder.livejournal.com]

Welcome back to the community. :-)

Glad you guys had a vacation, I look forward to photos (even iPhone photos).

Also glad to hear you are still revising.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

What few photos I took and liked are up on Flickr; Bonn has posted many more on FB.

I wish I was long done with the revising. My greatest fear is after I turn this revision in I'm going to be told, again, that's better but still needs work.

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[smileyfish.livejournal.com]

Very sad about the loss of your camera, and I do miss reading you, and everyone else who used to post here. I try, but even y LJ is barely limping along these days. It was so much better than facebook, but post-Peru I've found myself using FB more and more due to it being the majority choice for Peruvians and most folk back home too.

Good luck with the book, as always!

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

Posting to LJ means having images to post along with the entry. (One of my self-imposed rules) This means using some sort of camera more often. I'll figure it out.

The book is... the constant weight of guilt on my shoulders these days. It's always with me. I want this revision over, but I'm afraid that once I finish it I'll get the same reaction -- "It's better, but it still needs work."

I need to set a deadline for myself for completing this revision.

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[vaysha.livejournal.com]

me too.
I take breaks in the summer months from lj but I am still mostly here.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

I'm going to make an effort to post more at LJ. Are you on Ello as well?

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[vaysha.livejournal.com]

I am on Ello as Sabine Grames but it doesn't seem to have a friends page I think you have to check each person individually

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

If you click the black Ello icon on the left it will show you a page with all of your friends' entries as well as your own. (Similar to how LJ does)

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[vaysha.livejournal.com]

thank you! that helps immensely. How do you like the platform so far?

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

I'm undecided on Ello thus far. I like the ease with which I can create a quick post, but I'd like to see some formatting options available for easy use. I'm also very frustrated that I cannot search for people.

I'd also like to see the ability to skin pages. The black & white with Courier font is a bit too sparse for my liking.

What do you think about it so far?

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[vaysha.livejournal.com]

I liked it initially and was excited but because it's about networking the difficulty in finding people has me mostly here and fb as you stated.
:)
I am grateful that they are coming up with other options though - something will catch- this might be it. I think perhaps they might have put it out too quickly? It's a thought.

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

They keep stressing that 'Ello is in ßeta, but it seems a bit pre-ßeta to me. I think you're "put it out too quickly" suggestion is spot-on.

It seems they're also somewhat overwhelmed by the number of people who have signed up for 'Ello. I don't think they were expecting quite the surge in membership that they've had. I only hope those numbers don't fall off once they see how limited the platform is. The one thing FB truly needs is some serious competition.

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ello

[abendstille.livejournal.com]

I joined ello about a week ago and I love the creative spirit and especially that there are not only visual artists, but also quite a group of writers and poets. Since the search function isn´t really usable just yet, it might be hard to get around and find the people you are looking for. My name on ello is: mia_am_fenster, https://ello.co/mia_am_fenster, if you would like to connect.

Re: ello

[fivecats.livejournal.com]

You've been "Friends"ed on Ello. : )

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