I'm very new to LiveJournal myself, so the following may not reflect that of the community at large, but here's my take:
Friending someone basically lets them know that you're following their LiveJournal, and tells the system to include posts from that LJ on your "Friends" page (in GEnie terms, it's like MARking an author-topic, with the added twist that the topic-owner can see a list of everyone who's MARked it). Basically, it takes away your lurker's cloak of invisibility -- the LJ-owner knows that you're reading their journal.
I've run into few folk who seem to mind being "friended" in and of itself, -- but I do get the impression that folks like to know a bit about those who've friended them -- it's not unusual to see "if you've friended me, introduce yourself" journal posts by some of the more popular LJ-folk.
There is one additional wrinkle. Friending someone also has an effect when they're reading your journal. You can "friends-lock" journal entries so that only readers you've tagged as "friends" can see that entry; for other LJ users or anyone who's not logged in, friends-locked posts will be hidden, as if they didn't even exist. Depending on what you post in your journal, this may or may not be a useful power, but it's one that's wise to remember, and it's a good reason why someone might not "friend" you back -- if they're posting sensitive stuff, whether personal or professional, under "friends-lock", they may prefer to limit access to those posts.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2004-06-27 11:08 pm (UTC)Friending someone basically lets them know that you're following their LiveJournal, and tells the system to include posts from that LJ on your "Friends" page (in GEnie terms, it's like MARking an author-topic, with the added twist that the topic-owner can see a list of everyone who's MARked it). Basically, it takes away your lurker's cloak of invisibility -- the LJ-owner knows that you're reading their journal.
I've run into few folk who seem to mind being "friended" in and of itself, -- but I do get the impression that folks like to know a bit about those who've friended them -- it's not unusual to see "if you've friended me, introduce yourself" journal posts by some of the more popular LJ-folk.
There is one additional wrinkle. Friending someone also has an effect when they're reading your journal. You can "friends-lock" journal entries so that only readers you've tagged as "friends" can see that entry; for other LJ users or anyone who's not logged in, friends-locked posts will be hidden, as if they didn't even exist. Depending on what you post in your journal, this may or may not be a useful power, but it's one that's wise to remember, and it's a good reason why someone might not "friend" you back -- if they're posting sensitive stuff, whether personal or professional, under "friends-lock", they may prefer to limit access to those posts.