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Would you blog?

Twitter Meta Moo! too far?
Image by Josh Russell via Flickr

Like many other bloggers that I consider to be colleagues, my blogging has tapered off quite a bit over the years, and while some of the fault lies in myself, I put most of the blame squarely on Twitter. Why take half an hour to write several paragraphs, hyperlink it up and find an appropriate image, when I can just spout off 140 characters and move on? It just makes sense, right? That’s why I’m rather looking forward to Flutter’s official launch.

I jest, but it does bring out an obvious reason why blogging is becoming less and less of a ‘hot topic’ and Twitter keeps getting the buzz. It’s quick, it’s easy, it’s accessible, and most of all it doesn’t require a significant commitment. While it’s very arguable whether that’s a good thing or not, it’s a reality.

It used to be the standard, just an assumption that everybody would have a blog. Join a PLN, create a blog, set up your aggregator, be a part of the club. But now…. Well, I’m spending less and less time even using my aggregator. If it’s important enough to read, more than likely someone will tweet about it. And if they don’t… well, there’s a lot of good things to read that I miss. I can live with that. The library is full of them.

So the question then becomes, with dozens of microblog options out there (and even nanoblogs!), would you recommend a newbie start a blog? If somebody who is just getting started with community building and personal learning networks wanted an avenue to share, would you even suggest that they start a blog or set up an aggregator? Or do you shuffle them straight to Twitter/Plurk and roll from there? Or a different option altogether?

And don’t worry, I’m not missing the irony of posting this on a blog. I’ll be tweeting it out as well!

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1/5/2010 16 Comments

  • Blogged: Would you blog? http://bit.ly/4R9eZj

    Steve Dembo

    1/5/2010

  • Smashing Magazine did a nice piece on this. They predict the rise of the blogazine where folks post less frequently but put more time and attention into individual entries. It is an approach to blogging that I’ve been considering.

    http://www.smashingmagazine.com/the-death-of-the-blog-post/

    Jason R

    1/5/2010

  • RT @teach42: Blogged: Would you blog? http://bit.ly/4R9eZj

    Lynn Reedy

    1/5/2010

  • [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Steve Dembo, Lynn Reedy. Lynn Reedy said: RT @teach42: Blogged: Would you blog? http://bit.ly/4R9eZj [...]

  • RT @teach42: Blogged: Would you blog? http://bit.ly/4R9eZj

    Alfred Thompson

    1/5/2010

  • RT @teach42: Would you blog? http://bit.ly/4R9eZj

    pamcarr

    1/6/2010

  • Would you blog? – by @teach42 http://bit.ly/51gUPU Purpose and audience are two factors as to where to start for a decision.

  • Social comments and analytics for this post…

    This post was mentioned on Twitter by teach42: Blogged: Would you blog? http://bit.ly/4R9eZj...

  • Steve,
    I agree the both Twitter and Plurk are the best for blasting out a quick link or fleeting thought… but I think the blog is a great place to keep everything organized.
    The one thing that I do not like about Twitter/Plurk is that it is difficult to go back very far and find older posts by one person… I like having the ablility to go to someones blog and research the archives to find older stuff…. I also like HAVING a blog to keep everything organized and to refer back to… my 2 cents

    Patti Duncan

    1/7/2010

  • I recently started a blog, and started using twitter around the same time, and I have to admit that I don’t understand twitter yet. I’m following 9 people, and about as many follow me. One guy posts links all day, many of which are interesting, and most of the others post little personal notes, which are fun to read. But. What do I get out of it? And when I tweet, “man, differentiation is hard,” or whatever, what do my followers get?

    Writing a blog post about my struggles with differentiation forces me to organize my thoughts and communicate them in a concise way. THIS ALONE makes the blog worth it. I suppose you could call 140 characters concise, but I’m tempted to call it insufficient at this point. Then, people who’d like to respond to my thought can do so on a single page. With twitter, it seems impossible to read all of the responses to a tweet.

    And “blog” is no treat to say out loud, but I feel like an idiot when I talk about “tweeting” to my friends. I am willing to call this a lack of comfort on my part and not a fundamental flaw. “Google” feels normal now, right? But “google” doesn’t have “twit” in it, lol.
    Riley´s last blog ..How to create a skills list My ComLuv Profile

    Riley

    1/11/2010

  • Steve, I think blog posts provide the reader with an opportunity for deeper thoughts. It also requires the blogger to think deeper as well. I put more thought into my blog posts, which take more time than a simple tweet, but that may also be a reason for the lack of posts coming from me.

    I do think a blog is a good thing. Reflection on a lesson or a thought is something educators need to continue doing.

    Chad Lehman

    1/12/2010

  • My personal attempt at blogging has always been to go slow… let things simmer, dig deep and develop. Twitter very quickly became the place to “think out loud” for me. The blog is typically a place where I seek to “put things together” for myself and potentially others.

    Is manning a personal blog as critical early on as it once was? No. I think you’re right on this. Get people immersed first. get them into the stream of information (and consciousness really). I would argue that although blogging is no longer perhaps a “first step” …it is certainly a really big later step for many.

    There is just no reflective comparison between micro-sharing (or micro-broadcasting for some) and being behind the wheel of your own personal and professional blog.
    Sean Nash´s last blog ..Is This a Sluggish Strategy? My ComLuv Profile

    Sean Nash

    1/21/2010

  • I prefer the blog over the tweet because there is less ‘noise.’ Give me a blog where the author expresses thoughts and feelings in a full sentence and paragraph. I think this is especially true in terms of education. The more we teach through tweeting, the more we promote expressions with grammatical errors and little to no support.

    Ryan

    1/21/2010

  • I had to laugh when I read your blog. I’m a student in the Teacher Education Program at Drexel University and I just got finished posting a blog about moving slowly with technology in the classroom (regarding blogs). And now you’re telling me that blogging is passé! Am I not giving my furure students the credit that they deserve?
    Monica´s last blog ..Curb Your E-nthusiasm My ComLuv Profile

    Monica

    1/25/2010

  • good post! i will said many thanks for you. its very helpfull for me, i will adiing feed your blog now

    belajar blogspot

    7/14/2010

  • this post its very helpful for me, i said many thabks, i will adding feed this blog now. keep update my friends

    blogspot

    7/16/2010

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