February 17, 2011
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Tumbling around tumblr
I have been spending a bit of time on tumblr lately. The templates are better than Xanga's. I found some ex Xangans over there. It was somewhat nostalgic reading their blogs. It reminded me of a more innocent time at Xanga and there seemed to be a bit more energy back then. I look at my list of subscriptions and about 100 of them are now inactive.
While I'm not planning to move right now, I wish there was someway we can recreate or re-energize Xanga. We all have different expectations of what makes Xanga great for us. It's been pretty good for a free service. Maybe this isn't the cool site anymore. What do you think Xanga needs to attract more bloggers and more traffic? They seem to have a limited technical staff. For a free service, it's been pretty good for me. I don't expect 5 9's availability. I think I've gotten accustomed to the new editor. I still don't like how photos are laid out. I continue to be puzzled by the Front Page. The blog rings seem to have outlived it's usefulness but I don't know if there is a logical replacement. The one thing I've enjoyed is the community of readers and subscribers here. I have trouble keeping my 2 worlds apart.
In the meantime, I'll continue to do bit more reading on the blogs at tumblr with one foot firmly planted in Xanga. Maybe the grass just looks to be greener on the other side.
Comments (35)
Xanga has been around for a while, so no surprise it has lost its magic like how Myspace is right now. Tumblr is great for microblogging, but for regular blogging I still feel Xanga is better in that aspect.
I too would move if it weren't for you guys.
@Roadlesstaken - I think Xanga needs an extra jolt of expresso or something similar.
@Senlin - yikes... if you do move, I hope you'll leave a "forwarding address".
@ElusiveWords - Attend a Xanga meet sometime. They really give you a good jolt!
@ElusiveWords - Of course! But I mean that I won't move so long as y'all are here
As Alex pointed out, I think Tumblr will be great for microblogging, even with a few photos. Maybe it'll be great for your "snippets"?
i like tumblr's modern and stylish look, but there are some things you can't do there, like reply to comments. it provides a really fast way of spreading neat ideas and entries, but it still has its limitations. for regular blogging i do prefer xanga, though i think its look is a bit dated...
Tumblr has been down a lot more then Xanga lately. Maybe a victim of their own success. Not enough server capacity to handle the load. You can reply to Tumblr posts now, but you have to do it from your dashboard, it has to be someone you are following and they have to enabled it. Also very limited number of characters, 120 or so IIRC.
I too have a tumblr account, which I sent a mass message a few months ago. But I do find in Xanga replying and commenting on posts are different. But as you said, somethings need to be changed in Xanga!
I agree with RLT and yeah I noticed a lot of Xangans jumping ship but I'm still good with Xanga.
I admit I have not heard of Tumblr. I will have to check it out and see what you are talking about.
I have a tumblr account and I'll admit, I've been thinking of switching but how do I leave behind 9 years worth of posts you know?
I think the problems with xanga as a community started with all the locks. I understand the need for privacy but friends lock and footprints lock killed it for me. What used to make xanga fun was to look at someone's post, see someone leave a comment that was interesting, and then you visit them. That was how the site worked and how people got subscribers, etc. Now every other link you click on is from some asshole who has friends lock or footprints lock on. Hey, I have an idea, if it's that important that you keep things private, get the fuck off the internet. (Sorry for the rant, it's been bugging me for a while.) I think the transition to closed sites like that should have been handled better. People who insist on footprints or friends lock should have been moved to a subsite, and their comments shouldn't be viewable to normal non paranoid people.
There's also no mobile app for xanga, but the mobile app for tumblr works well. The only thing that's keeping me from leaving though are the few people I still have reading and commenting on my site, and the fact that there is no commenting system in place for tumblr. Once they sort that out, I'm probably off.
I is good here.
To establish great connections with people here ... and possibly to meet them in real life.
fascinating.
initial thoughts: i LOVE that xanga is not cool, and i cringe at the thought of more traffic or more bloggers.
it is - as you note - a question of expectations. Xanga is little more than an online memory book for myself and G, and in that role, it serves us just fine.
besides, I'm a 'life' member and honour my commitments
Please don't move to Tumblr. I feel that Tumblr is just a place for hipsters to post their witty Twitter updates. The blogs on Xanga are much more stimulating to read.
I recently wrote a post about Tumblr vs. Xanga. Read it if you want!
I've been on xanga many years and I love it. I do miss a lot of the people that were on here. There are a few that have been here but then their are a lot of new people.
@supanamja - I'm posting this reply from the xanga mobile app
... hope to have a beta out there shortly!
I love Tumblr but it's not as personal as Xanga. Most of Tumblr is reblogging and nonsense.
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I like Xanga. If Xanga has changed over time, I think Tumblr will also change and people might want to come back to Xanga.
.....mini blog sounds interesting, for xanga, i still hv encountered problems whether posting a new blog or comments or even uploading pics........one of the reasons why I blog less these days.....
@CurryPuffy - I'm not sure. I might start an account there just to test out some of the features or to comment. But I'm not great at having multiple accounts.
@jace1982 - yeah, the commenting / responses reminds me of the old RYC in Xanga. I have no idea why there is so much reblogging as well.
@Toro69 - I guess Xanga is sort of like this reliable ol' Subaru and tumblr is like an Audi TT. The Audi looks very nice but reliability isn't that great. The Subaru looks old and boxy but the engines have a good reputation for being reliable.
@Mal_P - I think a refresh of some of the themes would be nice and simple. I'm glad they are testing some new features for mobile apps. Maybe that'll attract more users.
@oxyGENE_08 - good to hear that you're staying. I would hate to see more Xangans leave.
@Fatcat723 - it looks spiffy but some of the blogs can be a bit uhm.. juvenille.
@supanamja - I get annoyed at the friends lock as well. I subscribed to a few sites. Then they turned Friends Lock on. I still get the feed but I can't visit their site to comment. It's just bizzare.
I like the ol' days when you can just visit any site w/o worrying about locks, signin etc... That's why I don't enable any of those. It's sort of my way of paying back. I know they have been testing this mobile app. Maybe that'll help retain more bloggers.
@yang1815 - I'm glad to hear that.
@kachino - have you met other Xangans yet?
@AppsScraps - well, more members equals more traffic. More traffic (in theory) should attract more ad revenues and allow Xanga to sustain itself.
@manilajones - maybe most of the ones who have chosen to stay are the more serious bloggers? I do see some good writing in tumblr though.
@Randy7777 - yeah, I do miss some of those former Xangans. Some of their writing was very good and inspiring.
@marc - thanks for dropping by with an update. I hope you folks will find some time to update the Xanga Team blog more often. I suspect everyone is just heads down and plowing through their work though.
@trashcandiary - there is a lot of reblogging there. I'd rather just see the recommendation feature we have here in Xanga.
@carpe_diem99 - I hope you're right. It's a pretty decent and under rated platform I think.
@agmhkg - I have the odd problem here and there when uploading pics but most of the time it's been pretty stable.
@ElusiveWords - Yes, a guy name Solomon from NYC
.
I have both. I do feel that most people who write out full blogs on tumblr are not getting the proper response from the five-second attention spans of tumblr users who only lurk for inspirational pictures and the like.
Well, I'm a bit opposite. I'm new to Xanga. I admit that I'm a blog geek. I use Posterous.com to cross post to different blog platforms. Why? Welll I have some friends dedicated to wordpress.com, some to blogger, some to tumblr, some to livejournal.. so at posterous, you just blog in one spot and presto, all over the place. I saw this little icon on it, wanted to see what it was for, and found out it was Xanga... so here I am. As a relative noob I have no followers and I haven't really got into the flow of it. Tumblr is good, and you can have comments, most themes have disqus already enabled for comments, so a few more steps and you have commenting set up n/p. I love the Gabrielle Wee templates.
ANYhow, I became sick of the Facebook scene, and dont really frequent MySpace now that it's sorta died, and Xanga seems to kind of be what I've been looking for. Now if only I could convince some other blogger friends to come on over!
Yeah I am so tempted to move to tumbler but I've been an Xanga blogger for suchh a long time!
I have an account on Tumblr but so rarely go there. Microblogging doesn't do much for me. If I'm going to blog, I'll blog here. If I'm going to write a brief update, I'll change my status on Facebook.
As for re-energizing Xanga, I think it is a matter of using it. There are a lot of people at Xanga writing some really interesting things, with new people joining all the time. Bloggers are somewhat transient by nature so it is no surprise people become inactive over time. You've been writing a bit more recently; that certainly helps keep it going.
@Senlin - How have you been? Miss hearing from you! =D
@xiaoguaishou41 - There are always ways to make it personal. I guess what I don't like most of all is that visitors can only comment on certain types of entries - text entries, I think - and they have to be registered Tumblr users. That's the only con for me.
@ElusiveWords - The old Subaru analogy is on target. I'd say it is a lot like one of the late '70's Subarus whose styling was likened to a camel in heat by one automotive writer. Subaru has managed to produce some cars that, while far from stunningly beautiful, are a hell of an improvement over the camel in heat look. Wish Xanga could do the same.
Tumblr is the devil never leave us
I too have recently discovered Tumblr and was tempted to make some type of page there,
but to be honest, I'm having a hard enough time motivating myself to post here.
I need some type of muse again.... hopefully soon.
It's always a pleasure reading your posts here.
Be well,
*~matthew~*
@stupid_systemus - I think you may have a point. I've only seen a couple of decent blogs. The rest were mostly reblogging of sayings, pictures or videos. I did see a couple of traditional blogs but those are in the minority.
@godisinthewind - thanks for the comment and your perspective. I've heard of Posterous but never knew much about it. I'll have to check it out. I hope you can convince more friends to move over here.
@xXLovelyDreamerXx - yeah, I've been on Xanga for about 5 or 6 years now. But I know others who've been around longer. Thank you for visiting.
@christao408 - you probably saw this article on NYT http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/21/technology/internet/21blog.html?scp=2&sq=blogs&st=cse
Oh and I did see your tumblr blog too. I'm trying to write a bit more regularly but it's still a challenge.
@secade - hahaha.... you made me smile.
@bleuzeus - ah, there you are. I was wondering where you've been. I hope you're doing well.
Comments are closed.