What are interests?

Interests are keywords you list under "Interests" on your Profile Page as a way to find others on Dreamwidth who are interested in the same things you are. Listing an interest not only makes it appear on your Profile Page, it also lets others find your journal when they do a search using one of your interests as their search term. That's why instead of just listing "music" as your interest, you might list something less generic, such as "Italian Opera" or "New Wave Punk" or "Wagner" or "Metallica". The more specific terms you use, the more likely it is that other people who share your interests will be able to find you.

Each interest can only be 50 characters long. Interests can contain as many words as will fit in that 50 characters. Free accounts can have up to 150 interests, Paid Accounts can have up to 200 interests, and Premium Paid Accounts can have up to 250 interests.

Interests are always saved and displayed in all-lowercase letters, to avoid case sensitivity issues when searching.

You can search for journals or communities by interest, or edit your interests based on someone else's interest list, by going to the Interests page.

You might also like to take a look at the most popular interests other people have listed on Dreamwidth.

If you change your mind about what you've listed as your interests, it's easy to add or remove interests on your profile by editing your profile. "Edit Profile" is also available as a pull-down selection from the "Create" Menu on any of the site-skinned pages.