March 21, 2006
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I woke up this morning to a few emails. People were asking me to be their friend. Xanga has started a new feature that is going to be the most popular feature yet. They have added a Friend Feature. It allows you to connect with your friends in a new way on xanga. This is different from subscribing to a person. Subscribing is a one-way street. You can subscribe to someone you want. But this new feature allows you to control who will be your friend.
It also has a chatboard and a memories section. Very quickly you will find yourself being able to reconnect with your friends from high school and college. For those of you in high school, you will be able to connect with your friends.
How do you join? All you have to do is go up to the “Your Profile” link in the top left hand corner of your site.
Once you click that link, the following page will come up:
Upgrade your Profile?
All you have to do is hit the “Upgrade Profile” button and you are part of a whole new xanga.
Now you will need to add friends. How do you add a friend? Pretend you want to add me as your friend. After you have signed up by hitting the “Upgrade Profile” button, you will then go back to your main screen on your site. You will see a new link that you can use to add friends. It will be in your upper left hand corner and will be called “Your Friends.” (This will only be on there after you sign up for the new feature). Go up and hit the link marked “Your Friends.” The following screen will come up.
Network Manager
Hit the button marked “Invite Friends.” Type in my user name which is thetheologianscafe and hit the button marked “Send Invites” at the bottom of the page. You now have your first friend. You can add other friends from xanga all at the same time. I am accepting friends at this time.
What do you think of the new xanga feature?
Comments (163)
I like it
reconnect w/ old friends? i believe it’s called friendster and i found a bunch of elementary school friends on it hehe
don’t like it
Oooo First (big deal…do I get a cookie?)
hhhhm, ill check it out
Definitely like it. Xanga’s attempt at winning back people who defected to MySpace. lol
~t~
Xanga is NOT MySpace
Xanga is NOT Friendster
Xanga is NOT FaceBook
so why are they trying to be like everybody else???
I feel like I would have less privacy. I’m wary.
Just got your invite. Thanks! On my way to check it out!
its ok i suposse. trying 2 get peaple 2 meet others is probly a good idea. since from whati see alot of other peaples xangas hardly get eny comments.
I’m a little confused but I have you on my friends list. Thanks dan.
Why do things have to get more difficult? I think I’ll just keep things the way they are… Yes, if it was up to me, I guess I would still be traveling by horse and buggy!
hi dan!!!
still although after looking at it,….i say no now. lol ^.^
Giving in to the MySpace trend! Ha, no seriously, it’s not bad. So long as they don’t take away from the blogging aspect by making the profile the focus. … will you be my friend?
It shows that xanga, like too many other websites, is now becoming a popularity contest. Who can get the most friends? Um…who cares?
I’m not really sure what I think of it yet…
Hahahaha…you are so smart Dan…and yes i am still talking about”Eight Below”today…hehe^^I love the movie and I love Husky too…By the way,thank you for inviting me to join your”friends club”THANKS…Have a nice day : )
I already have a Myspace…
I started receiving these emails this morning. Tonight when I get home I’m going to explore it. Thank you so much for explaining this feature – you’re so good at this stuff!
RYC: yeah, I saw it out my kitchen window and went outside to snap it. Used my pic phone.
I think it is interesting, although it reminds me alot of myspace…
That’s kind of cool but I didn’t mind the way that it was before
i think it’s a good way to keep in touch with ur xanga buddies hahaha and get to know more about them. but i’ll agree it’s like myspace & friendster
Looks like someone is trying desperately to compete with MySpace and Facebook.
Perhaps more Facebook than MySpace, but whatevah.
Interesting! I’m going to check it out! I didn’t know anything about it……no “friends” sought me out! I’m friendless, I guess! Bwa ha ha ha ha!
You got a few invites? I only got 2 =(
Xanga is trying to be like Myspace and Facebook.
Hurrah. *sarcastically*
But I’ll probably jump on the bandwagon.
*A*
reminds me of myspace
It does look a lot like MySpace. I shall see how I like it.
I kinda like it. I haven’t used it much yet and i didn’t send it to all of my subs…
im already thinking of funny things to say to them.
Ahhhhh!!!! VERY COOL!!!!! It actually shows up right in the left module with the rest of the “premium” features, such as comments, sub.s , etc!!! WHEEEE! I like it!!! And I DO have to friends!!!!! You and maggi65!!!! YAY MEEEEEEE!!!!!! i am not friendless!
All I’m hoping is Xanga won’t turn into another spamming area. I stay on xanga because I like the atomosphere of it. Myspace, friendster, facebook is too much of a hassle and politeness for me.
I don’t know what to think… I’m wondering why it would be necessary to have a xanga “friend” when we can just subscribe to each other…
It sounds excellent. Will you be my friend?
It’s very interesting. It’s a lot like Myspace now.
Xangas trying to bring its traffic back up to what it was before Myspace came a took away alot of the people that barely updated, but were on Xanga.
It’s totally myspace, and I can understand their need to compete but i dont like myspace BECAUSE of that friend feature. I do like how Xanga lets us choose whether or not we use it
It does seem a lot like Myspace but I do think it is a good idea. I have a Myspace (granted, I don’t do much on it) but this is one of the features that I liked about it. You can create your own little community – makes things a little more personal, I think. I would have never known about this if you wouldn’t have posted about it. After I read it, I wrote something small about it in my entry and I put a link in there to your site because you could explain it much better than I can. I hope you don’t mind.
Hope you have a great day!
Sara
Cool
Ooh, so that’s hat that was. Was dan u?
That’s great! That is a huge step in the right direction.
~G~
Thanks Dan. I acceppted your invite as a Friend. Since I’ve already accepted your invite, is it necessary to invite you also? I’m still not quite sure what the difference is between this and subscribing to each other. Can you explain that a little more.
Larry
Xanga stole this from facebook and it basically gives people more of an excuse to waste time. I think it’s stupid.
If I wanted MySpace and Friendster I’d join MySpace and Friendster. Oh well, it’s a harmless feature, might be fun to try.
hmmmmmm……I need friends! I shall have to look into this feature
Thanks for adding me Dan. I would have never realized this feature if I would not have read your entry!
I th ink it’s really cool. It is a MySpace copy, but who cares? It’s a neat idea.
Followed a link here from another site. I saw the update thing this morning and thought it was another thing xanga was charging for so I opted out. Thanks for the update. I’m gonna go back to my site and change that right now. Sounds cool!
i agree with many others…sounds like xanga is trying to get on the facebook/myspace bandwagon. for me, i’ll stick with the others…for those who aren’t on facebook or myspace, though, it might be kinda cool.
yea, sounds like Myspace. What is facebook?
ADDED IT BUT I’M LOST (I KNOW…NOT HARD, HUH?) ANYWAY…I GOT YOUR EMAIL BUT THE LINK IS BAD & WON’T LET ME GO TO THE INVITE!
HELP!
DEBBIE
I don’t know how it works yet, so I couldn’t tell you if I like it or not…
I have 1 friend though! Yay Dan!
Nicholas
Well, I haven’t signed-up for it yet, so I guess (a) I don’t see the point, and (b) it creeps me out for some reason. I picture a bunch of weird strangers wanting to be my friend. (Shivers.)
I think it’s way too personal for those of us who come here to get away and vent and be semi-anonymous. There’s noone from my highschool I’d want visiting my Xanga page.
“Xanga is NOT MySpace
Xanga is NOT Friendster
Xanga is NOT FaceBook”
It is now
the GREAT thing I like about xanga is, it’s NOT Myspace! I like just clicking on someone’s site and leaving a comment w/out having to be “approved”.
I say, don’t fix it if it aint broke!
…Myspace has this nifty lil feature that allows you to “protect” your teen’s site, which is pretty cool. In other words, you can’t even view the teens site unless you are approved…now that’s cool for teens, but as a “grown up”, I don’t want it nah, No thank you!
Nifty
It seems a bit pointless, doesn’t it? I mean, a person’s subscriptions module is assumedly their friends, right? Why would people need another seperate list of people? Bragging rights, I’m guessing. I mean, that’s all MySpace is anyway….. a contest to see who can get the most friends. Now Xanga is going to be just like that.
I personally like the exclusiveness of Xanga. Also, it doesn’t need to be everything.
Sounds interesting. I’ll have to check it out.
Add friends? Oh goodness. As if Xanga isn’t a whole popularity contest already!
Do you work for xanga Dan?
I’m just joking…
Ok – so I have friends now….
What is a nudge? (apparently, I can nudge someone….)
they are trying to become facebook or myspace..
Oh well..
I still love Xanga.
I agree with everyone who says its trying to be like MySpace, Friendster, Facebook, etc. I’m wary of it for now.
I like it. I don’t have a MySpace or FaceBook, so this is new and interesting to me. I am not as resistant to change as many others are, so I’m excited abot this new feature.
You were the first person to accept my invitation. Thank you.
sounds cool
ugh, this is getting too much like myspace! i like how xanga is blog centered. boo!
I don’t like it.
i’ve always loved xanga for what it was.
and I’ve always loved myspace for what it was.
and i’ve never liked the others.
so, i don’t like the changes.
hope you’re having a good day, mister dan!
hmm sounds like xanga is trying to catch up with myspace, that’s how you subscribe in myspace, you have to get permission from the blog owner.
I like it!
Does this new feature cost money, Dan? Does one have to have Xanga Premium?
It sounds as is xanga is trying to get back the users that are leaving to use facebook….
Its a little to “myspacey” to me..
Honestly and I am sure many others have said this but they seem to want to compete with myspace. Poor xanga. We love you too!
eek… a myspace/facebook hybrid… i like(d) xanga just the way it was… is (for some)
They’re making it like facebook and myspace. I already have both of those, I don’t need another, I use xanga because it’s got an easy blog format.
it’s ok. nothing spectacular…
(great….another feature to monitor)
So far, I like it.
Guess I dont have any friends. Boo hoo
thanks for stopping by I am formulating some ideas on what we can do
I got your request to be a friend (& Denise’s) but I don’t know what I think of it yet. Happy Day!!
i think it’s kinda silly…like a competition with myspace…
but thanks for being my friend! *grins*
*hugs*
Your #1 on xanga community.
http://www.xanga.com/FeaturedContent.aspx
Very smart move by Xanga…it was inevitable, since their user base was eroding alarmingly fast.
What this “friends list” does is brings back a sense of community and connectedness that xanga was sorely lacking. Livejournal, myspace, facebook all had better networking features than xanga…
When I go to use my Friends link, I’m getting a window that says ” server error”. Is anyone else getting that?
Do you work for xanga?
* If we don’t upgrade, will we still be able to view your site? If not, then of course, I will update!
I don’t know. I haven’t even seen it yet!
verdi
Hmmm I’m not sure yet.
Yay, that just means more junk mail for me! *hehe*
Gabriel
::You’re the only one who played roulette. Thank you! =D
I think it’s a myspace ripoff.
It’s all MySpace-ified. But better.
I just realized what a consistent poo color your site is.
I wish they would add a feature so you could make different protected lists.
Well, I’m a little confused on the friends part. What does this entail? Wait, no, I’m just plain confused. What is the point of inviting people onto this list?
Glad to see that xanga is more stalker friendly.
I don’t really like it. Too much of a hassle. =P
Sounds like its trying to battle facebook and myspace. Its a damn blog… there is a difference, but whateva.
I’m one of those people that doesn’t want to be found. At least with facebook, I can limit who finds my site, and who can see what. This seems dangerous — what if some weirdo stalks me down and starts e-mailing me or something? ewww creepy.
it’s too much….
I find it a bit disappointing I suppose because they are trying to be like everyone else…But I suppose they have to keep up with everyone else too.
I just don’t want Xanga to turn into Myspace where nooone writes and everyone is trying to pick someone up…
ah well.
RYC: gee.. you had to bring that up?? LOL ugh, I was trying to forget! My mind still thinks and acts 25, don’t remind it!!
Soooo myspace, but I like that
Hey Thanks for inviting me to be your friend! This looks like a very interesting aspect of Xanga that I plan to explore later… ’til the next
It’s okay – just similar to what is already out there.
This is what facebook is for.
EEWW!! ITS GOSH DARN MYSPACE AGAIN!!! F***!!! I HATE MYSPACE!!!
Noo. Xanga is going to turn into MySpace nowww!
Break out the child molestors.
I hate it.
Can you say “Hi! We’re trying to rip off myspace!” with me?
But I upgraded before I fully understood.
Crap.
it FUGGIN ROCKS! Xanga is steppin on up!
I don’t think it’ll really become that popular until it’s announced on the front page and done with Beta testing, but for now, it’s kewlio.
It’s interesting…if other people hadn’t asked me to be their friend I quite possibly would still be completely unaware of it. I’m not exactly sure what benefit it will be yet though…
Not sure yet–have received and given out many invites–how do we post to the chatboard though? The one message that came up for me today said “Hey there” and only gave the person’s IP address. I did respond, but never received a respons. 1. I had other windows over it 2. I don’t really like responding to an IP address (was that you?!)-is that what other people are getting? We’ll see how this goes; I know I like the OLD editor better than the new one-so who knows with this thing. How would I know if my Xanga is being hacked-I have my suspicions.
Maybe now I’ll be able to find that guy I really liked with whom I should’ve kept in touch with…
I actually think it’s good, though. There are many, many people on Xanga…I think the chances are better of finding old friends and such.
It’s Xanga meets Facebook. Not a bad idea, but I don’t know if people will keep up with 2 parts of the same site.
I like it!
its facebook with Journaling. I prolly wont use this new feature unless others use it first. Good idea, too late
I am fearful that Xanga-reading Terrorists might use it to destroy America.
looks pretty cool, actually, and thanks for the invite. it’s about time they got into the competition.
I agree it is trying to be like myspace. Yet it is a good feature to have.
Amanda
i couldnt keep up with all the jouranls online, i will stick to xanga, even though my son thinks im too old to have one,lol..
Mixed feeelings. I can’t have HTML or Javascript in my profile anymore, but Xanga won’t let me delete it either.
Sounds good so far.
L,r
I think it’s still supoosed to only be in beta, but it’s so gonna catch on like wildfire! It’s like xanga has added on a while myspace/friendster/facebook-ish side to itself. I think it is very cool.
Nah. Too.. MySpace-y.
its just like myspace.. LMFAO!!
i think it’s going to make people with no friends sadder
Just found it, think I like it but I’m not convinced.
What do you think of it?
I’m freaked out.
I’d say it’s a copy of myspace and facebook’s best features. i really don’t like the idea of being on two items that are so similar. Facebook lets me connect with people via college. i don’t need them looking at my posts on xanga as well…
Cheap ripoff of facebook. It’s pissing me off.
sounds cool and original (haven’t tried it), though not original.
er, cool and useful. sorry.
shrugs Sounds like another toy for the kiddies.
ill go with it, but i dropped friendster & myspace for a reason & now this? it kills the essence of xanga.
I think it’s nice, but a little confusing. I haven’t really used it yet.
That was what I liked about xanga, that it didn’t have to be a popularity contest, you could just write and read whatever. “Friends” are for Myspace and Friendster.
I don’t understand the point of the ‘friends’ selection. How is it different than subscribers? Hm.
appears to be an error on the page and won’t let me upgrade…interesting. Maybe its my internet settings. Is there another link to it?
I love it.
Good to remain anonymous, isn’t it??
Xanga isnt myspace
I need a friend to accpet me before I give any comment for this new feature. Just for guessing, it looks like “friendster”. I found friendster is not very useful at all, I hope they’re the same.
Too bad I don’t have any friends. Well, does it cost money??
Friends….i have always wondered what those were like…maybe with the help of xanga i can finally know.
The first part of it came up,but when I went to go to the second part it came up with an error message
i wonder if it will end up like myspace.com, where ppl compete to have the most friends but never do anything with/about them….
xanga’s new feature reminds me a little bit of myspace…i don’t have myspace, but it seems that from what i’ve heard you invite friends…and whatnot.
i like it
it’s rather frightening… STALKERS!!!!!!!!
I say it’s a cheap imitation of other sites. Xanga should try to maintain its originality.
i have myspace…i dont need this on here. i post of xanga to vent…not to have to deal with people i went to high schol with!
I don’t understand and too busy right now to look into it.
its trying to be myspace and facebook, and their’s are free. i dont like it.
IT’S GOOD
It’s not so exciting lol
Reminds me of Myspace.
x__Stephany
If it’s just another option, then I think I will pass. I already consider the folks I know on here as friends.
hi