May 29, 2009
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Xanga
…is awesome.
I have never been to a better blogging site. All the other ones seem so impersonal. I have never encountered a blogging site which is able to maintain a professional feel while also being able to successfully link every blog to every other blog. Recs, commenting, etc., is all done so much better than the other blogs, at least IMO.
The problem with Xanga is that it came about at a bad time. 6-10 years ago, Xanga was the thing. It was the Myspace of the early 2000′s. Every 14 year old had one. So I think that serious blogging got a bad rep on Xanga. Especially since the ability to customize layouts in ways that you can’t(at least I don’t think you can) do on places like blogspot or Livejournal, tends to give people the Myspace impression.
Xanga really came along at a bad time for the internet. Every time I hear Xanga mentioned in the ‘real world,’ it’s in a lis of ‘Oh yea…I used to have a Xanga…then I moved to Myspace…now I’m on Facebook.’ It’s got that nostalgic feel to it of, ‘Oh yea, that was fun, but I’ve moved on now.’ It was Myspace, until Myspace became popular.
Which sucks. Because we really do have some brilliant people here. I’m just amazed that the brilliant people here have decided to stick with it, instead of going elswhere. But then I guess that there’s a difference between being popular here, and just abruptly leaving and going to a new site…most people really aren’t going to follow you over to the new site.
But even popular/semi-popular and respected bloggers like Dan (http://thetheologianscafe.xanga.com/) or Dave(http://vanedave.xanga.com/) or Krissy(http://krissy-cole.xanga.com/ – one of my faves) only get a hundred or so comments on a good day. Dan might get upwards of 200 or even 300 if he posts something especially controversial. Maybe 1000 or 1500 views. Of the top 5 ‘Top Blogs’ on the front page(of which three are about Dan and one is by Dan, LOL), only 2 have over a thousand views. The only reason being that both are fairly controversial.
I don’t really know what my point is here. But I do think it’s a shame that some of these very talented bloggers and posts are going relatively unnoticed. I just think Xanga came about at the wrong time in history. It should have come about when the Myspace thing wasn’t a fad…then I think it would have become more respected, instead of being considered Myspace-lite.
Comments (13)
i don’t think Xanga’s target audience reads grown ups.
Few thoughts:
1. In terms of online communities, I think Xanga is far superior to Myspace and Facebook which makes it even more of a shame to me that it doesn’t have quite as many users.
2. The users Xanga does have, by and large, are wonderful to read. And, you are right, far too few of them get noticed.
3. Thanks for the nod. I appreciate it. I will never understand how I made your faves list, but I am grateful to be there! (And I don’t get nearly the number of comments Dan and Dave do…not even close!)
@TheBigShowAtUD - Hadn’t thought of that. Interesting. Is the teeny bopper girl their target audience? Or is that who they have acquired? I would like to know that…has anyone asked John? Or is it printed anywhere? Now, I am thinking…
@Krissy_Cole - yup, that’s the audience. read the frontpage, now, and it makes some sense… sometimes. eh.
@TheBigShowAtUD - I think you’re probably right.
@Krissy_Cole - Well, you SHOULD get the number of comments they do.
@TheBigShowAtUD - Hm. That would make us officially “ancient” then, huh? Oh well. I refuse to be considered past my prime!
@TheJoyfulCynic - Well, thank you.
@TheJoyfulCynic - yeah… i’m not sure why they’d want a fickle audience, like that. maybe it just happened.
@Krissy_Cole - i’m ENTERING my prime.
I’ve enjoyed Live Journal, but the problem there is that you don’t just meet random people. You meet them through intereacting. The flip side of this is that the bonds are stronger. The thing I really like about LJ is the threaded comments. As the discussion continues, you can see who’s replying to what so you can follow the progression. That is much harder to do on Xanga.
Regardless the platform, controversial posts can be quite well trafficked if they are presented correctly.
I wholly agree. Every time people realize that my blog is a actually Xanga (there’s a huge difference, ya know), they say “Oh.” and subtley roll their eyes. Though, as an ancient one, I have been here for 7 years.
There’s always going to be a new site that’s “the thing to have”. Xanga. Myspace. Youtube and Facebook. WordPress. Twitter. Who knows what’s next? If we’re lucky, Xanga will make a comeback.
I said “if”.
@Dare2BDiferentt - Yay! You chose that picture. I love it!
Xanga unfortunately is not that big anymore. Watching myspace dying makes me think that if you are part of a trend you are doomed. The blogging sites like wordpress are doing very well, but in many ways xanga has them beat. But xanga is that old pre myspace social network and is not taken serusly by “real bloggers”.
@trunthepaige - I really liked your meta-blog you posted today. I think you’re right. Being a part of a trend is a bad thing.