Is Microblogging Killing Blogs?

[mneylon]

Are microblogging services like twitter, jaiku, pownce etc., killing blogging?

 

[Forbairt]

I'm going to have to say no. What they do is add an extra level of interaction between users. (and the ability to link to your blog handily enough as well)

Has sms killed phone calls ?

 

[n3tFl0w]

I'm going to have to say no. What they do is add an extra level of interaction between users. (and the ability to link to your blog handily enough as well)

Has sms killed phone calls ?

Agree with Forbairt 100% on this.

Twitter for example - 160 chrs? not many people are saying very much in 160 chrs. But what they can do is say something short and point to a link. Very handy.

 

[nevf]

Agree with Forbairt 100% on this.

Twitter for example - 160 chrs? not many people are saying very much in 160 chrs. But what they can do is say something short and point to a link. Very handy.

Twitter is twitter no more(ever since they halted SMS messaging). It's still useful though, and I think microblogging is enhancing blogs. The short and sweet messages can be put on twitter but for power bloggers, they can use the real blogs.

 

[Gavin]

I've also voted no as its used as an extra tool rather than a replacement.

 

[shaneod]

Is twitter any use at all really?

Whenever I look at someone's twitter it's all fairly meaningless - pointless messages.

Give me a full on blog any day!

Maybe I'm missing something?

 

[Forbairt]

why do people send sms messages ? ... a way of keeping in contact without talking to the person ... I see twitter in much the same light ... keep in contact with people ... ask a question ... post about a blog post and so on ... its more interactive...

Its an extra way of communicating though

 

[shaneod]

I'd have thought instant messaging would be more like txt messaging

Seriously though, I asked because other then a cursory look at it, it's something that's passed me by mostly.

So you just twitter back and forth having mini conversations, but that anyone can read but others can subscribe to? That's the main use? If so I wouldn't imagine it's really a threat to a full on blog.

 

[mneylon]

Some of the more vocal twitter users are posting useful links and maintaining reasonably interesting conversations, though trying to make sense of any of it with the Twitter web interface is nigh on impossible!

 

[shaneod]

That's a bit of a mixed review!

Any big Twitter fans here able to sell it's uses much better?

 

[Forbairt]

1: I subscribe to some of the more noted webdevelopers in the world
2: I subscribe to tech crunch
3: I subscribe to TUTS sites
4: I subscribe to BKSolutions
5: I subscribe to the various web developers on here (means I can shout out a anyone available for a quick bit of feedback) or I can say anyone got a way of doing an XML sitemap via php and a cronjob as I did yesterday and I'd a response in a few minutes.

6: I tell people boring stuff like morning all... it builds up some level of social networking with people

7: It can be confusing it can be fun it can be silly. Its really what you make of it I'm subbed to 100 people and have about 150 following me. You can DM people via twitter as well.

 

[shaneod]

Oh okay then, sounds like it might have a bit more of a use then i'd imagined, I'll give it a proper try so!



Thanks for that!

 

[Forbairt]

np ...

its only as useful as you make it really.

like a blog its going to require a bit of work ... or maybe you're just happy to follow people and see what they twit about

I don't really use RSS readers that much ... too much info ... this gives me very quick 1 line info (I mean 148 ? characters is a handy enough chunk to read and if I want I can go on to the main blog post they've linked to.

For example today I found out I shouldn't upgrade to Plesk 9.0 on the Blacknight VPS cus I was following them on twitter.

 

[shaneod]

np ...
... or maybe you're just happy to follow people and see what they twit about

Thats exactly what I'm trying to avoid!!!

Is there a way when you blog to have it automatically update yer twitter? Maybe just put the title of the blog into twitter with a link back to the blog? ... just wouldnt be all that interested in updating two things all the time...

 

[elchefe]

I agree with most that microblogging isn't killing blogging. Microblogging isn't the same thing as blogging. You can't really convey what you think or make a point by microblogging.

 

[josefzh]

I dont think they are. Problogger, Darren rowse (tecnorati top 100) published an article recently and he said that twitter come third as a referrer of traffic. I think what sites like twitter do is just brings everyone together and creates buzz.

 

[Spiralli]

I've been tweeting for a few weeks now, as somebody who looked into it before and just did not get it. While there is value out there, from some of the experts (an example being the article links on boaglinks), there is also so much rubbish. My own tweets are unlikely to set the web dev world on fire, and I'm less than interested in a CSS visionary's thoughts on the latest episode of Desperate Housewives.

I don't think microblogging is killing blogs - I'm preparing a quote for somebody who just approached me because something in my blog caught their eye. I fear that microblogging may be killing productivity though

 

[jmcc]

I find that the immediacy of Twitter is having an effect on blogs. Twitter is essentially at the point blogs were at around 2005 and where e-mail was at in the early 1990s. It is a useful tool for direct communications. Blogs tend to have an asymmetrical timeline (publish, wait for comments, reply, wait for more comments). Twitter is more like a conversation in near-real time. I don't blog as much any more but then my blog articles were never really the kind of mass-market text that everyone wants to read. I think that "micro-blogging" might well be misnamed as it is more akin to IRC or Instant Messenger that blogs.

Regards...jmcc

 

[link8r]

It certainly kills time

But who voted yes?

I voted no and nearly didn't understand why the question was asked but I have been thinking.

With Twitter, I don't read new blogs as much - I wait for twitter users to share links for me or RT them. Does this mean I'm spending less time browsing (grazing) from one blog to another? Does this mean fewer visits to blogs? Perhaps. So indirectly, it could be contributing to less visits, therefore less demand. Not sure!

Good question.

 

[n3tFl0w]

I don't think its killing blogs either. In fact if anything - Its an addition. I kind of treat twitter like a more personal RSS feed. I literally can't count the number of sites that I've bookmarked after being directed to them from the very super people that I follow.

Even on my tiny blog, its my third largest source of traffic, after here and google. And I rarely link to my own blog in my tweets, as when I do, I feel slightly dirty!