Tag: Xanga

Xanga blogs-messy, earnest, gif-heavy diaries of the early 2000s-are vanishing. This piece argues why they matter, how to rescue them, and the ethical lines we should draw while doing it.

A nostalgic, evidence-backed comparison of early-2000s blogging site Xanga and today's platforms (Instagram, TikTok). We examine user experience, formats, community dynamics, discoverability, moderation, and what was gained-and lost-when the internet swapped long-form diaries for scrollable dopamine loops.

Xanga wasn't just a blogging platform - it was an incubator of intimacy, small-scale civic rituals, and the idea that social software could be both personal and public. This essay examines what Xanga got right (and wrong) and extracts practical lessons for today’s platforms, from attention design to archival stewardship.