I'm still brand spankin' new at LJ, but I think Sparky covered it excellently. All
I've done so far is make a few posts to communities, as it's fun to share certain stories with others who share the same interest, or at least empathize with you. And then it's fun watching and waiting for people to leave comments about your post. Comments are the way to make friends. It is fun to read a lot of the stuff too, but most of them you can still read without joining. I think LJ is most popular for blogging/journal entries, both posting and reading. You can upload pictures, but it's not a big feature I don't think. The pictures are mostly just so you can have an assortment of avatars to choose from depending on your mood at the moment (and you can use a different one for each post you make, which is kind of cool). LJ has two free memberships, the first has a tight limit on pretty much everything (only for those who don't plan on using it much), the second is better but has a lot of advertising (I have the second, advertising isn't really any worse than pretty much anywhere else you go), and then there's paid membership, with which you get more access to stuff and fewer limits. I'm sure if one wants to pay for it, they'll want to be more serious and active there.
I'm technically still new to MySpace too, having been there only a few months. But I think I know my way around pretty well, and MySpace is loads different. It's more personal, as you can customize your page however under the sun you'd like with the help of sights like "PimpMyProfile.com" and others, many of which are advertised on sight so they're easy to find. It's fun looking for new things to add, and designing your own layout. It not only has a photo feature, but it's set up very similar to many online photo albums. You can post blogs, include pictures/videos in them, include pictures/videos, music and tables on your profile, and really make it all your very own. Someone could learn a lot about you just by looking at your profile- how you set it up, what you included in it, what you say in it, etc. Unless someone has their profile set to private, you can view people's profiles without having your own account. But I think to view all blogs and pictures in albums, you need to be signed in. It's also cool that there are a lot of actors/actress', artists/singers, comedians, and other celebrities, and also some movie and show production crews have their own pages. Most are run by fans for other fans, but a few are owned and operated by the personality(ies) themselves. I've already learned MySpace can have its downside though. Accounts are easily hacked into for some reason, and people are needing to change their passwords every few months or so (my sister says she's been hacked three times in the last two years, and her profile is set at "private"). So far I've only seen one of my friends hacked although all that happened was spam messages sent out to all her friends. Once alerted, she changed her password and it stopped. It can also be addicting, seeing how many "friends" you can add to your friend list, even if you have no idea who they are, and trying to get as many people to leave comments on your profile as you can. It can all become quite competitive. I've already decided I'm not there for competition, but it can be easy to get sucked into it if you're not careful. My bro was once very active there and had a great page, but he deleted his page because he said it was getting too competitive, and he was "ashamed of it".
I wish the dork was still there though. He never calls me, and it'd be the only way to keep in touch.
Eh hem... Anyway, that's my input on LJ and MySpace. I'm enjoying both places personally. If I think of anything else, I'll add it later.
