Despite constant warnings that the blog is dying (Twitter, Flickr, Facebook Make Blogs Look So 2004) from such industry notables as Jason Calacanis and Robert Scoble , I feel that a well written informative blog is a great thing. Is it as rapid speed as twitter? No...a blog is a more thought out and coherent way of long form writing. In essence: it doesn't limit itself to just 140 characters.
Twitter rocks (despite my co-author Brian's sentiments). I am chronically addicted to it and love the conversations and randomness that it entails. However, it is not a blog. For every 20-25 Tweets I make only about 2-3 of those are of any value (in terms of educational/useful purposes). On the plus side, Twitter does allow me to make use of excessive ellipses, which unfortunately have become kind of a trademark of mine. Twitter is great for the one off, the ad-hoc and the quick quip. It's the headline in a newspaper: not the whole story.
A tweet can catch my attention and possibly spark a conversation, or inspire me to learn more about the person that wrote it. That's it. Twitter is a conversation starter...but eventually it has to move into the real world or another channel for that conversation to truly become meaningful.
Plus, The Lost Jacket serves as a base of operations for me: I link to: my twitter feed, linkedin resume, and social media consulting form all from my blog. It allows for people to more easily recognize who I am and what my experiences are and if I am worth interacting with.
Each person uses a different base based on their own individual needs.Facebook is trying to monopolize this concept (much to my chagrin...I want to link to my blog when I comment somewhere, not my Facebook profile) and is rapidly assimilating blog commenting software (like disqus ) all over the web.
After starting out on Digg and essentially being a digital nomad...scrounging for any kind of acceptance, it is nice to have a great place to centralize all my efforts and fully exert my writing, social media knowledge, and marketing nerdness. I hope to teach everyone a great deal while writing here and I guess I finally have found a place to call my home: The Lost Jacket.
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tagged as 140 chars, Blog, Brogan, Calacanis, Disqus, Dr. Strangelove, facebook, how I learned to stop worrying and love the blog, longform writing, Scoble, twitter
{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
I'm glad I came across this article. I was actually just talking to somebody about twitter and what it's all about. I don't quit understand it myself, and often feel as if I'm being talked at no to. That being said, I agree that it's a great place to get noticed and enhance entrance with a headline. I don't think there's anything else out there that can replace blogging and the detailed informatin they provide.
http://www.datexmedia.wordpress.com
Agreed Scott. Twitter is awesome for an introduction…but I have yet to find something that can truly replace the interaction and deep thought that takes place on a blog. Plus I like having a home!
I always refer to Twitter as the news headlines, and a blog as the full story. Twitter is great for the sort info burst and making new contacts, but a blog is where the relationship can really be fostered (no pun intended, Stuart) and grown over time. Readers come to trust a blog's author, and that king of trust isn't always maintained on Twitter.
Ha! Knew someone was eventually going to use my name in some sort of pun. Appreciate that it was you Danny. Anyways…totally on board with the whole newspaper headline analogy thing…I really like the comparison.
STUART,
I can tell already this is your post. (even though I don't see an author listed) I just know you are a twitter addict. Great post to spread around!
“It’s the headline in a newspaper: not the whole story.” I love that line! I am addicted to Twitter too, in fact I got here via your Tweet about a blog post. I'm sad the blog is dying but realistically, I don't have the patience/time/motivation to blog anymore. I Tumbl and I Twitter, and that's enough for me. I still read tons of blogs though, so I'm glad you stuck around!
— @bananza
great post
great post
great post
great post