Is it the fact that it’s free?
Is it the community?
Is it the privacy?
All three maybe?
See I’ve had my roxics.com blog for many years now. But it goes months without update. When I think about it, there are two reasons why.
1. I can’t be private about it. Everything I put up there is public or completely private (which is no fun). You all know I like to blog about some racy stuff here and there. I really can’t put that stuff up there without running the risk of my boss or co-workers seeing it.
2. It’s always nice to know you have readers. It’s like motivation to keep blogging. When you feel like you’re some little island out in the middle of nowhere that no one ever visits, it doesn’t leave you with a lot of motivation to visit yourself,
I have about 8 websites. With hosting costs and domain registration fees every year, I probably pay out about $128 a year combined. But the sad fact is, I put in so much more time and content into places like xanga and facebook even though I’m paying to have my websites online. It doesn’t make any sense. Hell just yesterday I put google ads up on roxics.com. Just a single banner ad that after so many clicks can return me some money. Yet here I am writing this entry on xanga. Why? Because of readers and privacy.
I am working on a solution to all of this. But it does amaze me how much of a trade off it all is. We trade our rights to own our own content and use our own websites and the ability to put up our own ads in exchange for visitors and privacy. When really we should have all those things in one.
When do you think SM will be up and running?
Xanga has a hoard of people that need to be informed about the wonders of Truth, Justice and the American Way.
@Da__Vinci – We’re pushing for a public beta by January of 2011. But we’re going to be bringing in a small group of people to start testing the alpha build in about a week or so. Those people will run the alpha test from now till beta.
So the timeline looks like this
September 2010 – Registration opens
Shortly after – private alpha testing begins – features added through the testing period of three months.
January 2011 (give or take) – public beta goes live. Site is open to everyone but may still have some bugs to be worked out.
@roxics – Let me know if I can help.
Not sure. I like(d) the format here better than most other places. Though back when I signed up here, in 03 I believe, it was my first blog site. Now whenever I try a new one out I just end up back here because it’s just easier to use.
All three (sort of).
1. I use it as a private journal nobody knows about (what is that facebook link for anyway? I don’t want my real world to read what I think out loud about on Xanga) .
2. I like to engage with others on some topics. (I can post a comment about the last episode of Mad Men on the Wall Street Journal’s website, but we’re all talking outloud as if on a street corner…here you can actually have a two-or-fifteen way conversation).
But, sometimes I don’t like the community, because meeting friends of friends of friends of subscribers can just get you in a mess of incompatibility.
3. It’s free. I believe this will change in the future, but right now internet everything is free, paid by internet advertising, which could possiblity be one of the fastest growing segments of the service economy. even the New York Times had to give up trying to charge people to view.
Why not just post them on Roxics.com and password protect it?
@brokenreel – Because then people need to sigh up to my site to read it or have a password to read it. It’s an extra step and often one extra step can be the make or break from people reading your stuff.
I had to sign up at one point to read your stuff here….
@roxics – Right. I understand what you’re saying. I mean anything private is going to have to require some kind of membership/login/password. But for instance if you were already a member of xanga, because you blogged here yourself or had multiple friends who blogged here that you read, you were already saved a step not having to register for each of your friends.
Plus, getting updates on when friends add new stuff. I’ll be honest Joe, please don’t get too upset, I love you brother, I do go to your blog, but only every once in a great while when I think about it. I like reading your stuff. So that’s not the problem. The problem is I just don’t usually think about it. Your site, like roxics.com is a small island out in the middle of the ocean. Whereas xanga is a continent and socialmore will be a continent with a string of islands off the coast connected by bridges. :)
I have several alias sites that I designate for different purposes. private racy blog that only a select few can “read”;) public blog where I’m anonymous and write about anything and everything without inhibition or talk shit about people but they’ll have no idea it is about them
private network site for friends only. public network that I’ll add just about everyone even if they have an obvious fake pic of edward cullen as their profile pic(fact that I did add someone with this pic) and even creepy people from foreign countries that send me love letters in broken english, I add them just the same, no discrimination on my friendly profile lol so I use my site for private personal connection, public networking amusement/interaction, racy alter-ego
and anonymous blogger, who uses words like a voodoo doll to spite the enemies
pretty much that’s why I blog.