LiveJournal vs. Blogger

I've been using LiveJournal since 2001, I think? Maybe 2002... And I've been using Blogger since 2007. I've made 105 posts in LiveJournal (almost all memes) and 157 posts in Blogger (almost all actual posts), so I guess my preference is clear. Here's my bulleted comparison:

• The number one reason I prefer Blogger to LiveJournal is that I access it through my Google account, so, with one login and password I'm able to access my e-mail, my blogs, my iGoogle page with widgets selected by and useful to me, and my Google Reader page.
• The number two reason I prefer Blogger is also related to the fact that it's a Google product: I love the Google look. The clean, white space. Love it.
• Because I needed to use Blogger help today, one thing I noticed that the services have in common is the community help centers. A lot of the tech support is provided by fellow users. Does that not just epitomize 2.0 technologies? I love it. A lot of time help pages are written by the designers to go along with how they envisioned their product being used. We all know that what a designer intends and what a user actually does often differ.
• One thing in LiveJournal's favor is the ability to create a number of icons (the exact number depends on the status of your account: paid, unpaid, etc.) or avatars. With Blogger, you've got just the one. Obviously, you could just insert a new picture every time, but I like how LJ allows you to frame a post with the "mood" link, an individual icon, and even what music you are listening to.
• Another thing I like about LiveJournal, and the reason I keep using it, is that it's so easy to set varying privacy levels to posts; of course, a drawback is that users must be on LiveJournal to have access to private posts.
• A final plus in the LiveJournal column that also keeps me coming back is the LiveJournal community concept. You can create or join a LiveJournal community around just about any interest you can imagine and anyone who is a member can post, comment, etc. It's really neat.

I know I pointed out more plusses for LiveJournal, but the fact of the matter is I prefer the look and the ease of use of Blogger for my blog.

Thing 5: Flickr

Here's a photo I found on Flickr when I searched "Pflugerville." (from: http://flickr.com/photos/txkimmers/3157796/) The whole "love written in grass" thing is a little contrived for me, but I like the style of the photograph and I love the bright orange flip-flops near the bright green grass on the concrete gray background.

I took a couple of pictures of the Pflugerville Community Library, but opted not to sign up for Flickr after all. I already share photos through Shutterfly (for sharing with family because it's what some of them were already using); Kodak (for sharing with friends for the same reason); and Facebook. I'm also wary of signing up for anything else online. Just for the heck of it, I recently made a list of all of the online tools I use and my username for each one (don't worry--I shredded it!). There were around 60 things and just while typing this paragraph I've thought of two more I forgot! I've got an Amazon account, a Facebook page, three e-mail addresses, a LiveJournal, etc. and so on and so forth. It's becoming unmanageable and I am a bit concerned about security.

Extra Credit: Compare Picasa and Flickr

Picasa and Flickr seem to have a lot of the same features: photo editing, sharing, organizing functions, etc. Flickr seems more user friendly and yet, if I were to use either, it would probably be Picasa because I already have a Google account and I wouldn't have to add anything to my list of usernames!