"Why did fans leave LiveJournal... ?"
Apr. 4th, 2018 12:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
vanillalimeWell, if you're reading this, you probably already know the answer. A better question might be, "Why are you still here?" Heh.
(My answer: Because I'm as stubburn as a mule and also lazy.)
Last week, Slate posted an article/interview about a study that analyzed the migration patterns of various fandom platforms over the last 20+ years:
Why did fans leave LiveJournal, and where will they go after Tumblr?
I found it fairly interesting, although I'm slightly skeptical about much of the study's methodology. (To me, 1,866 survey partipants recruited via Tumblr doesn't sound like a representative sample, and there's no apparent breakdown by age, which I think would have been extrememly insightful.)
(ETA: I now realize I typo'd "participants" into "partipants" but it made me LOL too much to correct it. :D)
Here's the bit I found most informative, a graph from the study that summarizes platform usage over time:
One of the main points they made was that the biggest exodus from LJ (in 2012) actually happened a few years AFTER they'd pissed everybody off (in 2008), in theory because LJ users didn't really have an alternate platform to go to at the time. (Unfortunately, there was no discussion of the notable, albeit not overwhelming, increase in Dreamwidth users.)
And so, that's their explanation for why Tumblr and AO3 took off, because they finally offered viable fandom alternatives (Tumblr for the social, AO3 for the archive). Which, duh.
Actually, I'm mostly surprised by the fact that LJ has stayed relatively steady since 2014, although the author says that can be attributed to differing interpretations by respondents for what could be considered "active" participation (which, IMO obviously should have been something that was standardized -- like I said, some of the methodology seems sloppy).
I did like the study's conclusion, which basically seems to be, "People are slowly realizing that Tumblr isn't all that it was cracked up to be." Which is what I've been saying for about 3 years now. But the fact that the biggest question, "Where will everyone go from here?" remains unanswered is scary. I've watched the Oz fandom get smaller and smaller with each passing year as its members don't seem to be going anywhere else, they just go. And I wonder if other fandoms will likewise experience not so much fragmentation (as bad as that is), but downright disappearance. :(
(My answer: Because I'm as stubburn as a mule and also lazy.)
Last week, Slate posted an article/interview about a study that analyzed the migration patterns of various fandom platforms over the last 20+ years:
Why did fans leave LiveJournal, and where will they go after Tumblr?
I found it fairly interesting, although I'm slightly skeptical about much of the study's methodology. (To me, 1,866 survey partipants recruited via Tumblr doesn't sound like a representative sample, and there's no apparent breakdown by age, which I think would have been extrememly insightful.)
(ETA: I now realize I typo'd "participants" into "partipants" but it made me LOL too much to correct it. :D)
Here's the bit I found most informative, a graph from the study that summarizes platform usage over time:
One of the main points they made was that the biggest exodus from LJ (in 2012) actually happened a few years AFTER they'd pissed everybody off (in 2008), in theory because LJ users didn't really have an alternate platform to go to at the time. (Unfortunately, there was no discussion of the notable, albeit not overwhelming, increase in Dreamwidth users.)
And so, that's their explanation for why Tumblr and AO3 took off, because they finally offered viable fandom alternatives (Tumblr for the social, AO3 for the archive). Which, duh.
Actually, I'm mostly surprised by the fact that LJ has stayed relatively steady since 2014, although the author says that can be attributed to differing interpretations by respondents for what could be considered "active" participation (which, IMO obviously should have been something that was standardized -- like I said, some of the methodology seems sloppy).
I did like the study's conclusion, which basically seems to be, "People are slowly realizing that Tumblr isn't all that it was cracked up to be." Which is what I've been saying for about 3 years now. But the fact that the biggest question, "Where will everyone go from here?" remains unanswered is scary. I've watched the Oz fandom get smaller and smaller with each passing year as its members don't seem to be going anywhere else, they just go. And I wonder if other fandoms will likewise experience not so much fragmentation (as bad as that is), but downright disappearance. :(
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(no subject)
Date: 2018-04-06 12:43 pm (UTC)Interesting article and I doubt I'd have spotted it without you. So thanks for the pointer.
I find tumblr weird and kinda unfriendly. My feed may be particularly odd though as it is 96% gay porn, 3% cute animal pictures, and 1% pics of dead musicians and actors. What I don't like most is that there doesn't seem to be able to find a way to talk to people or ask about posts. Where did it originate, why do you like it, that sort of thing.
Twitter is more fun as I can respond but it is not good (as far as I can see) for fic or gaining friendship in a community.
I would not be surprised if email lists made a comeback but I don't expect them to. I worry about censorship and also that folks in private lists might find themselves on a very different type of list. I fear authoritarian presidents and governments.
Back to work with me before I fall even further behind on things that actually pay my bills....
(no subject)
Date: 2018-04-06 05:38 pm (UTC)YES. Exactly. I've met some lovely new fandom friends on Tumblr, but we all ended up migrating to Twitter together so that we could "talk" to each other (even if it's in short 280-character increments). Tumblr's very visual, and it's great for that, but I just don't see it as a means for true social interaction.
My oldest fandom friends are active Tumblr users, though, so I still use it to keep up on what they're into these days. Unfortunately, none of it holds interest for me, but I don't want to lose that last bit of connection I have to them.
I fear authoritarian presidents and governments.
For very good reason, I'm afraid. I feel like people are trying to manipulate me no matter what social media platform I turn to. :(