July 25, 2002

  • John ponders: Is Xanga too addictive?  


    My response:


    Well, Xanga is no where near as addictive as it could be.  It's more like a clove cigarette than real tobaccy.  And even at that, many, many peeps just put the *clove cigarette* in their mouths and don't bother lighting it anymore. 


    Granted, in the short-term, the initial rush, the first puff, of being on Xanga can addictive-like.   But down the road, while it is very attractive to many, and mildly pseudo-addictive to some, it is probably crippling to a very few who would likely, in any case, substitute some other addiction if blogging failed to fix their craving.


    Granted, the eProp has its *Golden Calf* enthusiasts, especially visible with the latest fad of "propz me till I drop" Featured Content posts.  They claim they will hold themselves hostage and not post again until a certain number of eProps are awarded--LOL.  So the eProp, clearly, has served, for some, as more than just a symbol of good will.  It has attained, for these, the status of the ultimate icon: an accumulating possession, a material reification of popularity, a count building towards some nebulous critical mass.  Yes, "counts" can be somewhat addictive to certain personality types.  Especially when the counts are comparative and thus potentially competitive and a susceptible-type finds him/herself in the running. (So thanks for dispensing with the "accumulative total eProps count"--it was driving me crazy. LMAO)  So, in my opinion, anything to hype-up the eProp would definitely make Xanga "more addictive" for some .


    Another feature that I bet would make Xanga more addictive to some, in conjunction with your current Premium music sponsoring, would be to provide "music radio" to a site so that a blogger could keep returning to their and others' sites to find out what the "latest tune" is that's playing on them.  This would clearly drive some music freaks nuts with constant fascination.


    Yet another ploy to make Xanga more addictive would be to turn it into a "lottery" where random sequenced posts (Premium only ?!) throughout the day could win token merchandise.  So if the 10th post after 3 AM wins a Xanga T-shirt, hell, I'd be there!  Or if the first post after midnight wins an assortment of press-on eProp tattoos--cool!


    As you may know, I've done some experimenting with chatrooms, cams, and live audio over Xanga.  In my opinion, a sponsored incorporation of any of these would make Xanga significantly more attractive to many, more pseudo-addictive to some, and cripplingly addictive for the very few (who would otherwise probably be doing something else more harmful!)  Of course, there is currently the *bandwidth issue* in considering any of these.  But with the fairly recent innovation of Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) potentially increasing the previous estimated throughput of the internet backbone's fiber optics 1000-fold, down the road, nearly unlimited bandwidth should become dirt cheap (providing that real supply/demand, and not oligopoly, is allowed to set the price).


    You want addictive ?  I'd give you more addictive... but I don't have the time: I need to get to work NOW and I won't let Xanga make me late AGAIN! 

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