It's been years, but I'm remembering the first time I read the Xanga of someone struggling with eating and body image. I was shocked, not knowing anything about such things before that, but I was also intrigued. I think there's a natural tendency to want to know more about whatever it is that is causing so much turmoil and angst. Also, I may or may not be the most curious, nosy person on earth, and if someone else is, I want to find out more about them. Heh.

But after so many years on the Web, I have another request. Bore me, please. I feel like lately, I've heard so many crazy stories, read so many crazy blogs, that I long for normalcy. I can understand that sometimes bad things happen to us and we need to write about them. And I can understand that Xanga has helped a lot of you recover from addictions and struggles because you realize you are not alone.

But sometimes, I just want to see photos of your pets and hear funny stories about your coworker. Bore me with half-interested musings about the guy in class that you sort of like. Tell me about the silly thing your kid did this morning, or how you were obsessed with some silly movie or show when you were fifteen. I don't read your blog just for breathless updates about your crazy love life. Well, except for you, wink wink, but you get what I'm saying. Right? Normalcy can be lovely. Think about it.

So every week or two we have people writing blogs (@Cakalusa wrote one) about how those dastardly quotes people might be cheating to get the #1 blog spot. After all, they are getting thousands of views while others only get hundreds. They must be doing something wrong.
However, I'm not so sure that this is true. For one, type "Xanga" into any search engine of your choice. What do you get as the auto-suggest? Take a look:

The typical Xanga user used to be a teenage or college-aged woman. That's changed a little over time, but there are still many of them on here. And they tend to like quotes, photos, and reblogging. That's what they search for, and that's what they look for. If you think teen women don't influence results and visits, who do you think determines who wins American Idol? As much as it hurts my competitive heart...their views may be legitimate, and they are more popular than me. I'll go cry into my coffee now.

Also, the real way to get lots of views is not to get comments and Xanga friends. I used to run a blog elsewhere that would get 3000/6000 views on an entry and 0 comments--because all the views were from Google search or link from other sites. If you want more views, learn Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and how to use proper titles, tags, and links to get more people to find your stuff. Write about current events in unusual ways. There are a lot of easy ways to get hits if that's what you want.

Anyway, I just want to say, there are some explanations as to why the quotes sites are so popular. I intentionally decided to get to know some people who ran quotes and survey sites (waves at Katie and Kayla) and they were both very friendly and pleasant. So go meet some of the quotes and survey people already: they use this site too. I hope this won't become a giant us vs. them debate.

I wanted to start a conversation on ideas for how Xanga can improve itself. TheXangaTeam has already started this, but here are some thoughts I've had lately. About 3 years ago, I wrote a post titled "Could Xanga have Retained its Popularity?" on what Xanga could do to improve itself. Given that Xanga is once again working on self-improvement, and that Vanedave did a post on this recently, I thought it was a good time to do such a post again.

Lifestyle Blogging, Not Topic Blogging: I was very much in favor of the -ish sites 3 years ago, because I thought there was still room on the web to grow such sites. Now, however, seems like special interest areas are flooded with blogs. So I'm wondering, is it time to shift focus? Less blogging about things, more about personalities?
I am wondering what Xanga can do to create blogging stars that people outside Xanga would want to follow, in much the same way Youtube has accomplished this. There are certainly several people on here who have a cult following. But to be honest, most of the time the people who are popular on here work hard for it and wouldn't be appealing to a broader audience. What I'm saying is, find people who are doing interesting things like going to another country for 6 months, doing a fashion internship in NYC, or creating art. Bloggers like @rvexpeditions or the late beloved @jstickmann might be perfect for such a site.
*What if Xanga would create a blog section called "Collegetown" and choose 6 students to blog throughout the school year about their ups and downs? This might encourage other students to blog.
*What if Xanga created a blog that collected the work of such guy bloggers as @ItIsAllGravy, @Cakalusa, @GodlessLiberal, @Vanedave, and @Paul_Partisan ? All have rather edgy humor, similar ages, etc., and if collected in one blog, updates would be more frequent.
*Is it worth it to take out a Google or Facebook ad to promote some of the better Xangans and attract some visitors?

Branding: The word "Xanga" should mean something positive when people hear it. The challenge Xanga faces is to either aim for a different brand image or to work at reaching people who want what the brand offers. I think that no matter how may new features Xanga adds, it won't matter if the brand image doesn't improve. This should be a high priority. An additional problem is that because most Xangans write only about themselves instead of about hot topics, Xanga is not as visible as it should be on search engines. Isn't that right, George Clooney Hot Sandwiches Butter Jessica Biel With Obama Crazy Fun?
*Could Xanga better target the youth market? Xanga suffers from an identity crisis: its -ish sites and reputation skews young, but many of the top bloggers are older. I think Xanga needs to find a way to better feature younger writers.
*Could Xanga actually change its name altogether? Luring people back to a site they think they know everything about can be difficult. I wonder if the time has come to completely rebrand.

Tastemaking: Steve Jobs once said that great products were a triumph of taste, of “trying to expose yourself to the best things humans have done and then trying to bring those things into what you are doing." At its best, Xanga was great at finding creative work that Xangans were doing and putting it on the front page. I understand that was difficult work, and takes a lot of time. And I don't wish to ignite the old argument over "Most Views, or Selected Content" on the front page. All I'll say is, Xanga needs to do more curating and make sure that good content produced on the network is found and emphasized. It's not just about providing the tools, it's about also sorting through content. And many people who have left mentioned that Xanga did not seem tasteful enough anymore.
*What about using Paper.li to create a "Best of Xanga Writing" daily paper?

Contests and SEO: One of the best ways to lure outsiders into a site is to have contests. Xanga has a lot of contests already, but even more would help. There's a lot of research on gamification and how creating contests and making everything into a game can be rewarding. I am not suggesting Xanga go the way of myspace and tagged and focus solely on games. But I am saying that some contests, especially if they are geared in such a way to help Xanga's search engine rankings, could be good. Featured questions were good, but perhaps could be re-organized to better get people's attention. People could vote on their favorite entry, perhaps. This can also help to perhaps have people write more content that could attract search engine traffic by focusing on a hot topic.
* But what about a "Contest of the Week" feature that in some way can bring in outsiders to try to compete?
* What about having a "Theme of the Week" on a writing topic?

Community: Yes, we all whine about the community on occasion, but it's still one of the best features Xanga has going for it. When people return, they usually say that they missed not having the same community on other blogging sites. Used properly, it can still be a strength for Xanga. Features such as@MyHomeIsWriting, @confessionsandsecrets, @seedsower's Sunday feature, and @Featured_Grownups help by drawing on the resources of the community. I do think Xanga can strengthen its community by taking a more aggressive stance against trolls whose sole purpose is to disrupt the community and by protecting its top bloggers against the inevitable hating and envy. (Although don't ask me what to do about top bloggers who are trolls, heh). Otherwise, I can't think of more ways to fix this.

Cool Analytics: It amazes me how obsessed Xangans became over earning "True" status. They started analyzing their total posts and doing whatever they could to game the numbers so they could get that badge. Why not go further and offer a full range of statistics? I want to know what my most viewed and least viewed posts were, most popular times, most visited days. All this is already stored in our blogs, so why not write some quick code and make this more available to us? Numbers have a way of making people want to post more. Please, @TheXangaTeam?
*Why not create a module on each page displaying our most read and most recommended posts?

When I first came to Xanga, I was amazed to find out how many of my fellow citizens were truly struggling with fierce burdens. Blogger after blogger was confessing to eating disorders, being sexually assaulted, depression, and other major struggles. It amazed me how many normal-seeming people were hiding huge problems, and it was quite honestly a wonderful way for me to have more sympathy and caring for my fellow humans.

However, over time, I've started wondering. Does your average Xanga user, say the woman in college who writes about her day and life story and gets about 2 comments a post, represent the average person? Sometimes, given how dark a picture people paint, I really hope not. This place can be depressing, and on bad days, I don't come here, because I only become more depressed. If we're all really that messed up and broken, we're in bad shape. Or maybe, if we're all that messed up and broken, it is refreshing to realize that we all need each other and no one is perfect. I'm not sure.

Xanga, I have to ask, do you think your fellow Xangans are normal?* And no, don't think of weirdo attention-starved Top Bloggers, ha, think average Xangan.

*I admit this post sounds a lot like comment bait. I deliberately didn't use Xanga in the title to avoid full comment baitness, though. I haven't sold out (completely) yet!
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Overall, blogging has been a nice source of entertainment and thoughtfulness in my life. But at times, it can also become a source of temptation. Here's a few examples of the types of sins that blogging encourages:
1. Lack of Self-Control. Blogging is often about sharing things that are hard to talk about and easy to write about. This is great when it's healthy expression of feelings...but then one gets carried away and talks about things that are better left unsaid. Or, one starts being that open in everyday life, and you end up offending people for the wrong reasons.
2. Pride. Yes, I went there, ha. After I've written a good blog and get comments telling me how great I am, it's easy to start to strut a little. Eventually a line is crossed between "Thanks for saying I write well" and "SACRIFICE TO ME YOUR FATTED COWS. I PREFER MEDIUM-WELL." Whenver I start talking about what I expect or deserve, I know it's probably time to shut the browser and walk away.
3. Time-wasting. Yes, it can be a sin to time-waste, if you're putting off important things like your family and close friends to blog. Priorities can quickly get blurred because of blogging.
4. Verbal slander and seduction. The more we write, the better we get at using words. Words can be used to encourage, educate, and edify. They also can be used to make people cry or to make people lust. As blogging makes our word usage more powerful, it also adds to the responsibility not to encourage cruel behavior.
5. Your own thoughts?

First, I'd like to congratulate good Xanga friend Grampa_David on being Featured! He wrote a wonderful story recalling his experiences in a concentration camp in China during World War II, when he was a boy. Please read it

Next, I just wanted to gently remind you all that you can submit posts to Xanga that you think should be featured. I know some of you have been complaining that Xanga hasn't been changing the Front Page posts as often. But part of the problem is that people aren't submitting stories to them anymore! I went and looked, and few of you vote or submit anymore.

Remember, you can submit posts you want to be featured to Xanga via http://www.xanga.com/submit-post?user=xanga, and read some of Xanga's best content (and vote!) at http://www.xanga.com/cms/voting.aspx?user=xanga .

Also, please don't forget to recommend good posts! I read a lot of you saying that some of your friends are gone, and you don't have as much to read anymore. Well, sorry to blow my trumpet here, but I try to recommend new and interesting writers all the time, and I wish more of you would do the same. Don't just recommend stars--that's not the point of the feature. Go recommend the people with 2-3 comments per posts who no one knows about! I take great pride in doing that.

Ok, if you read this far, then I wanted to tell you, I'm going to start matching my readers together. So many of you seem a little lonely, or could use more Xanga friends. So I am going to start suggesting to different people who they might want to get to know on Xanga. I will probably NOT be matchmaking, ha--it's easier to match same gender friends. If you want to participate, let me know, and I will match you to someone who you may enjoy reading!

I read this fascinating Washington Post article as to how social networking web-sites rise and fall over time. Included was some information about Xanga. The typical Xanga user used to spend 100 minutes a month on the site in 2002, a number that has since fallen to about 1/10th of that. The article made me think; since so many sites rise and fall, was there anything Xanga could have done to remain popular? The article suggests that new and innovative features encourage people to join new sites. What else could Xanga have done a few years ago? Here are some ideas. By the way, I want to make it clear that I think the site idea was visionary, and that John and the team deserve a lot of credit. I'm posting this because I really like the site, not because I want to snipe at Xanga leadership or something.

1. Xanga failed to market the popular bloggers it was creating and celebrities that were using the site. When I first got on Xanga, I started checking out the Featured page. There were some very talented grown-ups on there; TheBigShowatUD, a talented and witty man in law school; Model4Christ, which was the very honest blog for Shannon Stewart, runner-up on America's Next Top Model; Emprise34, who is singer David Crowder; and YellowSparkler13, who played for Michael W. Smith and wrote an excellent blog for women. But I don't think many people on Xanga ever knew about them, and that's a shame. Compare this to Myspace, which created dubious celebrities like Tila and Dane (I don't even want to type their last names, heh). I don't think that Xanga should favor certain people all the time, but I do think that Xanga staff should work hard to find such talented people and make sure they are featured at least once. Why not update featured once every 8 hours or 4 hours, instead of what seems to be the current once-a-day schedule?

2. Xanga couldn't make up its mind if it was a social networking site or a blogging site. Xanga is the best site out there to combine blogging and social networking, ok? But the problem is, it's not seen as a great blog site; in fact, some of my blogging friends elsewhere refuse to consider Xanga as a real blog site. Tumblr, Blogger, and WordPress are the blog sites that people know...and yet I use Blogger and vastly prefer Xanga. On the other hand, it can be hard to find similarly-minded people on Xanga, because (1) no Metro Search (perhaps it could be set up for over 18, if we don't want to make teens searchable?) and (2) people don't use blog-rings as much. I've seen way too many decent Xanga blogs die because the poor folk never realized how to get other people to read them (comment on other people's sites, of course). Anyway, I wish Xanga had gone in one direction or the other; social networking or blogging. Which brings me to

3. Xanga had  no easily definable mission. Myspace is a place for friends, and Facebook is where you meet your classmates or workmates...but what is Xanga's mission? Could you describe what the site does in a sentence, or in a motto? I like the undefinability of Xanga, but I think it scares some people off, because they don't know what they are doing.

4. Xanga stayed with propreitary content too long. Xanga began by making money off their membership, which had users pay for the rights to use photos and videos. However, when the marketing model switched and Xanga could make money from google text ads, it seemed to take Xanga a little too long to open up the photo/video floodgates. But when they did, Xanga had some of the easiest to use photo/video storage options on the 'Net. I still think people under-rate this feature on Xanga--very few sites make it so easy to have photo, video, pulse, and blog on the same site. But also, I've usually had problems adding photo and video from other sites into my Xanga--why isn't it easier to embed Youtube videos or other content? Tumblr has made that possible, and they are reaping the benefits. Couldn't Xanga make it easier too? Also, I'm upset at how difficult it is to search through my archive, link to my Xanga content, and otherwise make my content portable. This still is a problem to this day.

5. Xanga couldn't make up its mind if it were high-end or low-end. On the one hand, Xanga is filled with smart people who blog well and have smart things to say. So it seems like it should promote itself as a high-end site with standards, and feature those talented people (see 1). But on the other hand, from about 2004 to 2006, the Xanga featured blog sometimes was very low-end. There were several times when porn (yes, porn) was available directly from the Xanga home page of xanga.com via someone's featured post in the sidebar. You know how disturbing that is when one is at work? Also, there were a lot of role-playing and ana sites featured. I'm not arguing censorship; people have a right to post what they want. My argument is about promotion--by having those sites featured so prominently, Xanga made itself look sleazy, when it wasn't. This scared off some parents--I had to argue with one of the deacons of my church that I wasn't a sinner for having a Xanga and Myspace. And it was a long argument as well! Now, Xanga has done a good job cleaning up the site. Mature content is mostly hidden, although occasionally something minor will slip through here or there. But I definitely think this hurt Xanga back in the day.

6. Xanga had no central gathering places for users to meet. If you were a new user on Xanga, where would you go? There was no newbie forum board or obvious directions as to what a new Xangan should do. Now we have featured questions and a lot more guidance, but that wasn't the case a few years ago. So when your friends got bored of the site, you were left with no one.

7. Xanga failed to market its exceptionally high proportion of female users and well-educated users. Here on Xanga, I would estimate that 80% of my readers and commenters are female. That's a great ratio, especially considering I did not meet many of them before I got on this site. Can't Xanga find a way to use this for marketing? Maybe they can have more female-oriented features, or more female writers. But on the other hand, when I look at featured, too often I see male Xangans. Perhaps the ladies aren't as good at relentless self-promotion (cough, cough) as their male counterparts, but I'd like to see more of them featured.

8. Xanga never hired any of its own bloggers to write content to bring people in. I don't know how much cash Xanga still has on hand. But why not hire some college kids, pay them a stipend of $5,000 for the school year, and have them write "Xanga Sports" or "Xanga Fashion" entries 5 days a week? It's not hard, and it would create a natural gathering place for Xanga readers. AOL Teens did something similar to that, but their sites were poorly designed to allow for communication; but that's not a problem for Xanga! Similarly, blogs could be started for Xanga Fashion, Xanga Tech, etc. This could help bump up web traffic and give people something to talk about. Gawker.com is one example of a network of blogs that has done this. Or maybe Xanga can make some people partners the way Youtube has--give them a share of ad money coming from their page.

9. Xanga failed to make a push for the 20- and 30-something crowd. The post-college presence was never that strong around here--and I subscribed to several of those groups, so I should know. I keep thinking that if only Xanga could have hooked that audience, they could have weathered the departure of some of their younger members. Xanga was a good fit for that crowd--the subscription service is natural, it's easy to get started writing if you've been on the Web before, and you can protect some posts while making others public. Also, those people have money, so they would have paid for more Lifetime memberships.

10. I'm out of good reasons. Why don't you tell me the 10th reason? I think a major factor in Xanga's future is, can they come up with something completely new? Xanga's new features lately have been better than most competitors, but not truly original. If Xanga can come up with something original, or rebrand itself, I think it can still get some traffic back.

For the record, here are two ways in which Xanga did not fail in my opinion

1. Xanga did not get dominated by the Asian or teenager demographic. Some people will try to tell you that the Xanga name was too foreign-sounding, or that Xanga had too many Asians and/or teenagers. That's ridiculous, because unlike Myspace, you aren't bombarded with comments and friend requests from strangers. And this was never a problem when the site was more popular and plenty of other races/ages were using it. Sorry, that's no excuse, and some who use it teeter on the edge of bigotry in doing so.

2. Xanga did not fail by restricting content and placing some parental controls on material. I know that some of the R-rated bloggers want to go back to the old days, where their racy content could be featured. But trust me, the site didn't lose so much traffic just because your f-bombs or homemade smut are not on featured anymore. It's not as if Myspace or Facebook allows much of that content, either, so your reasoning is not logical. Start your own web-site already, if you feel that passionate about your freedom of expression, and maybe charge readers or make money off ads. And send me 50% of the proceeds already for giving you the idea, ha.