The perils of Live Journal, My Space, etc.
a cautionary tale by aisling d'art ©2004
Some people build an audience quickly at LiveJournal and other blog-type websites.
Others are there for years and their numbers remain low. There's no "sure fire formula" for popularity, and I'm not sure that popularity is the same thing as good PR.
Here are a few tips, and they apply to any blog or online journal:
Being interesting is important. But, never overestimate what other people consider "interesting."
Sometimes a one-liner will generate the most enthusiastic responses. A long, juicy, illustrated explanation of a really amazing day can leave you wondering if anyone read it.
Attention isn't the same as popularity
When I post a rant, or someone says unkind things about me, the numbers soar. I find this very troubling, sometimes.
At Live Journal, My Space, and other popular online journaling/blog websites, people get hooked on attention. To keep in the public eye, they will lie. They will jeopardize and even trash offline friendships, to maintain what they think is popularity.
Here's an example:
Someone criticized me at Live Journal, and--although she'd made up her story--because she'd met me offline, people took her seriously. Worse, she'd posted "Friends Only," without telling people that I was on her Friends list. They were fooled into a false sense of privacy.
When people made "me too" comments, agreeing with her criticisms, she didn't tell them that I could read everything that they said.
Generally, these were people I'd never met in real life. Would they have said the same things if they'd known I was reading it? I doubt it. They were pawns in a very unhealthy game.
That experience was surreal, and showed an ugly side of human nature. And, I'm embarrassed by how difficult it was to stop reading those comments, and not respond.
She got tired of taunting me, and soon found someone else who did give her a free-for-all flame war.
Unfortunately, this story isn't unusual. Attention goes to people's heads. They do and say unfortunate things, confusing fleeting attention with popularity or admiration.
Never forget this. If your blog is supposed to help you professionally, be sure to keep your entries professional. Avoid responding to criticism in others' blogs. Generally, they will have the last word anyway.
Writing for popularity..?
I'm not sure that we should be writing personal, online journals to be popular, anyway. I think that has to come from deep inside.
Personally, as I explained when I removed a bunch of my art journal pages from my website, I'm feeling more private with my life now. So, I may phase out my personal online journaling altogether. I'm not sure.
On one hand, a lot of my career success is based on my willingness to live "out loud" as Zola said. But... life changes.
Why is your journal online, anyway...?
Mostly, I think that someone should start a personal blog or an LJ for the same reason that we create art: Because you can't NOT do it.
If your personal life is online for any other reason, it can be a significant mistake to try LJ or any similar blog site. It can suck you right in--sensational stories, cliques, flame wars, and all. It can provide an adrenaline high, vicariously. It is very dangerous stuff.
In my opinion, it's not necessarily what you do each day that makes an LJ "interesting," but how you write it.
Keeping a daily journal can improve your writing skills. The constant feedback of an online journal can help you understand how others "hear" what you write.
But, if your goal is to use your blog to boost your career, be sure to keep the focus on your career.
A picture is worth a thousand words...
How do you use a blog to build your business? Here are a few blogs that serve as very good examples. Most of them make few references to the their personal lives, except as backstory to what they're doing professionally. None of them originate at Live Journal or My Space.