Wednesday, February 6, 2008

Blogger vs. Livejournal

On my first forays into the world of blogging, during my senior year of college, I was a stauch Livejournal fan. Livejournal does offer a lot of features that I like, and that I miss with Blogger. But now, I feel Blogger has more to offer me than Livejournal.
Here's my breakdown comparison.

Benefits of Livejournal:
  • Livejournal features community blogs, which are missing on Blogger.
  • Livejournal also allows bloggers to have a "Friends" page on their blog, linked to other LJ blogs they enjoy reading. No such feature seems to be available on Blogger.
  • Livejournal's personalizations options include user pics, which can be highly customized. Different pictures can be used for different entries--a kind of visual tagging.
Benefits of Blogger:
  • Blogger has a much more professional reputation, it seems. Livejournal is a lot more social and informal, while I feel I could use Blogger for a blended professional/personal library blog.
  • Blogger's layout menu, while more limited than LJ's in terms of skins, allows more customization options for "page elements," which can be as numerous and varied as the blogger desires.
The biggest reason I'm sold on Blogger for library blogging is that it looks and feels more professional to me. Livejournal, on the other hand, is much more social--like a MySpace for bloggers.

2 comments:

Gihan ElDeghaidy said...

You're right about blogger. For librarians starting to tread the technology waters, blogger is a lot easier to use.

Anonymous said...

I also compared LiveJournal with Blogger... but unlike you I'm a total amateur in the blogging realm. This is probably part of the reason I like Blogger a lot more than LiveJournal... as gihan m says, it is easier for for someone starting out. We also agree on the point that Blogger has a more professional feel, while LiveJournal is more informal and social.