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More communities coming soon.
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What is Livejournal.com?
Livejournal is a database of content created by it's users; a cross between a diary, self-publication, and group emailing. It's part of a new breed of online communities called "web logs," or "blogs," for short.
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Why is Livejournal different?
Blogs have been integrated into to the personal websites of people from a wide range of backgrounds and interests. It is a community hosted in databases on the Livejournal servers. Common elements tie the different blogs together in the way that other systems can't.
There are Livejournal specific code tags like <lj user> and <lj-cut> that are parsed by the system. User icons are stored in the database and can be customized and uploaded by the user. People can upload multiple pics and choose between them to convey different moods or social posturing.
Users can create lists of "friends" which allows them to set varying security levels for different journal entries. So, instead of publishing to the entire web, a post could be available to only a group of your friends. Or, you could choose to make the entry "visible" to only yourself, making it private. Other users, and, in some cases, any random websurfer, can make comments to entries if you allow it.
How do people use Livejournal?
Users post just about anything: links, online test results, stories about their everyday lives (called "cheese sandwiches" in the blogger jargon), jokes, academic research, party announcements, philosophical ramblings, personal melodrama, and just about anything else that can be fit into an html format.
The best way I've been able to describe the way users in the Livejournal community interact is as a form of asynchronous banter. In many ways, it seems more like a verbal conversation than written correspondance, but, on the other hand, it has a different feel to it than chat rooms or text messaging. It's a mixture of monologue and multi-logue that allows people to express long or complex thoughts without the interruptions that typically occur in the course of face-to-face interaction.
What's the Author's User Name?
I'm not telling, but, if you can figure it out, I just might add you to my friend's list.
Livejournal in the News:
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