Wednesday
Mar192008
Microblogging is killing my blogging
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 at 9:29AM After a trial period, I am now a full-fledged Twitter user. I'm not quite an addict...yet. But it is slowing down my already infrequent posting to this blog.
Generally, one line of thought often turns into a blog post. With Twitter, that one line of thought becomes a small post that speaks for itself, and it feels like old content once I release it into the Twittersphere.
So as I sort out my microblogging vs. blogging dilemma, feel free to begin following me on Twitter here. And if you are looking for others on Twitter, Jeremiah Owyang has a list of people who all want to follow and be followed.
tagged microblogging, twitter in blogging, microblogging, twitter
microblogging, twitter in blogging, microblogging, twitter 
Reader Comments (17)
In a word.. Yes! I find myself sending tweets and never finding time for composing more meaningful blog posts. I need more balance I thnk because blogging allows me to explore things on a much deeper level. But that's just me.
Yeah, I've definitely noticed this effect re: my personal blog Contentious.com. Hasn't hurt the blogs I run for clients, but the cobbler's children has no shoes :-)
Honestly, I generally find Twitter more personally useful and satisfying than blogging. Can't sum that one up in 140 characters, so I guess I'll have to blog it.
But at least now, while I'm wrangling with a heavy workload, Twitter gives me a way to vent some of my compulsion to converse and share with the people who seem to be the core audience of my blog anyway.
- Amy Gahran
I've just started blogging, rather reluctantly, because I know I need to have longer more in depth conversations but I share your sentiment... by the time it makes it to my blog it feels like old news.
I was pondering/complaining about this -- on Twitter -- a day or two ago. The expansion/contraction explanation is pretty much it. More "work" now to expand a single idea into several paragraphs. Plus the writing exercise/challenge of extreme brevity is more new and engaging (for now) than being articulate with no restrictions.
Additionally, as one of my contacts noted, he uses a lot of conversations started, ideas shared, etc. on Twitter to spark blog posts. Thing is, a lot of my contacts blog for their work/businesses, and my blog (at least one of them), is mostly personal, so that doesn't really translate all that well for me.
Ahh well, a new challenge, I guess. Finding the balance and sharing the inspirations...
Glad to see I'm not alone here. I sometimes sift through my past Twitters for inspiration on expanded posts. But, quite frankly, it's more fun to keep things simple. The old adage, "speak little, say much".
In an ideal world, the answer would be no, because Twitter often brings up a wealth of things I could, and should, be blogging about and expanding on.
In the real world, yes, simply because I have time to post 140 characters during a working day, whereas writing a fully-fledged blog post takes a larger time commitment - and one which is harder to justify with a new job, the end of the financial year, and a baby on the way. I'm determined to get back into a proper blogging regime soon, but it's going to take some organisation. And the irony of treating my blog with the same kind of organisation I applied to my work as a journalist, or my current role, isn't entirely lost on me.
Then again, if I wasn't slightly susceptible to the trappings of increasing my blogging audience, losing some posts in favour of Twitter might reduce quantity, but would probably increase quality, as only the real indepth stuff would be covered...
[...] Just a few minutes ago, Jeremiah Owyang posted to Twitter: “Is your blogging reducing due to Twitter usage? It has for Adam Stewart.” [...]
Had some more thoughts on this...
http://www.contentious.com/2008/03/19/twitter-up-blogging-down/
- Amy Gahran
I second that. With microblogging, we don't have to commit so much time to writing a post. Also, we get it out faster than traditional blogging.
This is nailing me too. Thanks to Amy Gahran to pointing me to this post. Microblogging is so easy, and I am thinking, why would I write a long post about this or that when I can just microblog a link to something and let people learn it for themselves. I think that's creating problems in itself because not everyone is piecing all of my microblogging thoughts together. just another thing to combat.
Definitely slowed the blogging process. But pointed out the opportunities to blog an issue deeper than I can do on twitter. Then tweet it, and invite the conversation over.
I think this may be the one of the more useful ways of using Twitter.
I actually went for Twitter to slow down my blogging but still be motivated to write. Years ago I used to blog everyday and then when I stopped, I often had thoughts just wanting to be shared or mentioned but I wanted to resist writing a new blog so often. My idea is to use twitter for the small thoughts that might be pointless but for reviews and thoughts that should be elaborated, use blogs. Sometimes, just to get it out there, you can even link your blog on twitter, which is nice if your whole blog is about how much gas prices stink and how to fight that.
Yup, it's killing blogging for me too.
So much easier to get digital interaction via tweets than blog posts / blog comments.
[...] Microblogging is killing my blogging « discobeta I totally agree with this: “Generally, one line of thought often turns into a blog post. With Twitter, that one line of thought becomes a small post that speaks for itself, and it feels like old content once I release it into the Twittersphere.” (tags: microblogging blogging processes) [...]
The character limit is freeing - nice spur to efficient communication. But ... you're speaking for the perspective of a writer. Think like a reader. Short is often good. But a 140-character thought that is explored with additional depth is often more satisfying. Sometimes - often - readers what the finished piece and not the random rough draft. It's the difference between, "Oh, I had a good idea" and "Here are some thoughts about a good idea I had."
That said, I just added you to the tweets I follow.
On the plus side, Twitter can drive blog traffic, and I always tend to look at the blog etc of anyone who is following me to find out more about them. For me Twitter is the debate, and my blog is where I record what comes out of it, alongside my other long form thoughts.
Completely agree on traffic -- Twitter drove about 80% of the traffic for this post alone.