There is a feature of paid accounts that I find to be really valuable; although I had a paid account before (like, before I moved my blog to WordPress) I had no idea of this feature. The feature is called 'Friends of Friends' and is reached by adding 'friends' to your friends page URL, like...

http://bxiie.livejournal.com/friendsfriends/

This displays the public journal entries in the journals that your (my) friends link to.

I have found some really interesting reading this way. I continue to be amazed at the wealth and diversity of content hosted by LiveJournal.