lady_windermere | LJ News!

Snagged from

kunzite1

"a new community has popped up and i figured i'd put it out there.

who here would like to see LJ continue to thrive?
who here would like to see LJ continue to be a place that you can go and post your opinions about life?
who here would like to have productive discussion about where LJ is going?

if you're willing to be a level-headed participant in talking about the various aspects and changes to LJ, please request membership in the powerusers community."

I do have a couple of concerns regarding this new change in accounts

News from Russia
We made a commitment to keep you abreast of important LiveJournal developments and we want to honor that commitment and let you know about a new feature we are going to test in Russia: Paid Accounts Supported by Sponsors.

"The concept is simple, really. Essentially it’s a paid account, but someone else picks up the bill.

Here's how it works: Users will be offered paid accounts that are supported by sponsors. Users will be able to choose accounts from a range of brands supporting this program. Should the sponsor stop supporting this arrangement, the account will revert back to its previous type.

The accounts will have a specially designed journal style with modest branding from the sponsor; these will be designed by our creative department and approved by the sponsors. There will also be a banner in the profile page. The owners of paid/sponsored accounts will not see advertisements in other people's journals, while existing paid users will not see banners in a sponsored users' profiles. The branded styles will respect ?style=mine, which will allow paid users to avoid seeing branded styles if they wish to do so.

This new feature will soon be available for testing by Russian-speaking users. They will test the functionality of new accounts and provide us with feedback. Based on this feedback and agreements with global advertisers, we may eventually extend this new functionality to LJ users around the world."

My concern is, how will this effect the content of the journals? Would certain Journals not be suitable due to adult, political or other posts which the sponsors wouldn't want to be associated with. Would this become a way to censer people and how they use their lj?

I know that there are problems with going to a journal with adverts, and that some of your information is collected. It is not something that concerns me, as almost everywhere I go, I get adverts, and this information is probably everywhere already.

What worries me is that it could give others leverage to dictate what can be posted.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Huh. I hadn't thought of that possibility. The only thing I was disappointed about was the inability to have a customized style, which is normally one of the bonuses of having a paid account. What I'm thinking is...why not have banner ads like they used to have for sponsored plus accounts? Why? Because they took away the basic option and turned all free accounts into sponsored plus accounts. So...this is kinda sucky, other than giving those of us who are addicted to icons more icons.

But, as far as the censorship thing, that's never been a problem with the sponsored plus--now free--accounts. I'm not sure why that would change, now. I guess it's always a possibility, though, considering what Six Apart pulled last May.... *furrows brow* Damn. I was actually kind of excited about this development....

Sorry! I could just see someone wanting a sponsered account, and some being refused because the sponsers didn't like the content!

In theory, yes, I absolutely think that sponsors won't be interested in paying for your journal in certain cases, like hardcore porn, or politics, or promoting their rivals. In practice, no way is a company going to be able to afford to pay a team of people to sit there all day doing nothing but read people's LJs to make sure that everything they post is acceptable... nor, for that matter, would they want the negative publicity they would inevitably get if they start cracking down on individual posts. They'd only drop you if you fill your journal with nothing but pictures of yourself naked and engaging in sexual acts with their rivals' products...

Is this censorship? To me, it's a business deal between you and them. You agree to accept money from them in return for promoting them and being the sort of person they'd want to associate their brand with. If you don't like it, don't take their money. Simple as that.

I'm wasn't sure I could see many people being willing to do that... but then I thought a bit more. Suppose the BBC commercial division agreed to sponsor people's LJs, if in return they agreed to use their 'Torchwood' style with a high-quality exclusive photo banner of Barrowman and Marsters kissing, and a discreet BBC logo in one corner. Would many people consider that a hardship? ;-)

(Well, I would. But I think I'm in the minority in these parts...)

I guess it would depend on who you go sponsership from, and how well the fitted with your journal. I just wonder if fandom journals would be ones sponsers would like. If you got the BBC one for Torchwood, and posted a review every week for it, maybe. Then Torchwood seems to be a programme that lots of people have a love hate relationship with, and, even though they watch and post about it, also know its flaws.

Well it is being tested out in Russia at present, so I guess we will just need to wait and see how that goes. Just could see that problem, and some LJers being turned away.

I also think that will be an issue. I can't imagine that a company will want their ad sitting right next to someone's erotic vampire stories or erotic pictures of me together.

And I still think it's just a matter of time before they decide to either do away with permanent accounts or at the very least require more money to keep them ad-free. I could see them saying that perm accounts will still be perm, but they'll have ads on them or somthing.

Yes, if that is the way that LJ intends to make money, then the ad companies will have the power.

With the Perm Accounts, I have and so many advantages, I feel I have alread got my monies worth. Guess we will just have to wait and see what they do. Then I do not think my journal would be an ad-man's dream! Well unless they want to sell fandom stuff, maybe Amazon.

Oh My God.

I totally meant that as "erotic pictures of MEN together". Like in my icon!

Not "me".

God, I'm so embarrassed. Please tell me you knew I didn't mean erotic pictures of me.

I know you didn't mean erotic pictures of yourself! *hugs*

Oh good :)

Thanks!

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