Ok friends - I need to hold myself to some sort of higher blogging standard here. Since Twitter became the new Scrabulous in my life, I have really slacked on the blogging front. In my defense, I know I'm not the only one this is happening to - I see a few tweets a week from respected marketing bloggers I follow saying that they are not only blogging less, but also reading their RSS feeds more infrequently.
(For you non losers out there, Twitter is a microblogging service, where you post updates of 140 characters or less. As I described in a previous post, the real value in this comes when you have a Twitter community of colleagues, industry peers or friends that you can follow. Still confused? For an even simpler overview, involving paper dolls, check this out.)
So why the slackage? For me, the value of reading blogs comes from getting into people's heads and understanding their thoughts on a certain subject. Twitter not only provides that, but does so in real time. Instead of reading a blog post by someone I respect on a topic that is potentially a day or two old I can log on to Twitter and see what they're thinking and doing NOW - and even interact with them around the thought, link or comment shared.
Twitter is like blogging, only more addictive. It's like blogging on crack. The social media junkie in me is SO into it. But, I'm not going to forget my gateway drug - The Catch Up Lady - so I'm renewing my commitment here today.
Yeah, most crack addicts are perfectly happy to go back to milder substances, right??? Now that you are hooked on Twitter, that gateway blog will never be the same. You might want to consider @Sass's Social Media Rehab (http://socialnetworkingrehab.blogspot.com/)
Posted by: Doug Meacham | April 22, 2008 at 04:03 PM
Twitter ate my blog too. Does this mean I need to be weened onto methadone?
Posted by: Joe | April 22, 2008 at 04:08 PM
I'm disagreeing in the fullest sense. Twitter can't wax on. Twitter doesn't read like an online magazine. I need more than blurbs and spurts. I have to write "pieces." Not satisfied to jot down brief abbreviated thoughts. As far as I'm concerned, Twitter can suck my blog.
Posted by: Jetpacks | April 23, 2008 at 08:54 PM
@Doug I'm sure I'll have no problem scaling back (ha.)
@Joe yes that's exactly what it means
@Jetpacks easy killer! I agree, it's a little fluffy, but in terms of finding something to do in my 2 seconds of free time here and there it's a great way to stay up with the same people around the same topics as I'd be seeking on their blog. Twitter can suck my blog - can you put that on a tshirt?
Posted by: Catch Up Lady | April 25, 2008 at 02:39 PM