The closing panel at the conference today focused on looking ahead, and the thing that struck me the most was filtered posting, i.e. being able to control exactly who sees which posts. I sincerely hope this is a prediction that comes true because while I love having my public blog, I desperately wish that there could be a logged in version that my real life friends could see. I’ve poked around for MT plug-ins that do this, but none seem to exist. (Then again, development on MT is pretty stagnant these days, sadly.)

Of course, LiveJournal has offered this option for years, which is why I use my LJ account. But very few of my real life friends are on LiveJournal. It’s just not a service used by many late-20 and 30-somethings, but DEAR GOD I wish it were. The ability to create custom filters is such a hugely powerful tool — I have custom filters for all sorts of topics. I love knowing that the stupid meme I post will only be seen by friends who appreciate silly things like that, and posts about my reproductive health are seen only by my un-squeamish lady-friends, and grumbly posts about work are seen only by people who don’t work with me, etc. etc. Filters are incredibly powerful when it comes to feeling safe about what you’re writing — and only LiveJournal uses them. VOX has filters for friends and family, but that’s only two. The sheer versatility of Live Journal’s customizable filters is unparalleled.

Then again, there’s that shortcoming: very few of my real life friends use LiveJournal. If they did? Then it would be a real party. But at 31, I’m already way, way outside the demographic for the site, and I don’t have much faith that I’ll be able to lure anyone over. So I can only hope that filtered posts catch on outside LiveJournal.