A good friend of mine once told me, “If you took the popular opinion there would be no reason to write.” He’s right. Writing gives us a voice. It allows for discussion, debate, and for our knowledge to grow as a result. In addition to learning, a debate can open doors to new relationships. That’s how Kasey and I became friends. I disagreed with a post he wrote and needed to understand where he was coming from. I approached him via direct message, which turned into a great discussion, resulting in a blog post for PRBC and a valued friendship. So today, Kasey and I would like to encourage the PRBC community to act as a contrarion. You’d be amazed at what you will learn. Continue reading
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Blogs are for Dialogue; Twitter is for Snippets
Blogging now, party of one
If you had come to me a month ago and asked about my blogging experience, I would have sheepishly admitted to merely reading blogs and been quick to point out that I did not comment on them, despite an often overwhelming temptation to do so.
Fast forward a month and I’m blogging for the #PRBC and for Co-Communications (http://cocommunications.wordpress.com/). So why the drastic change?
Some conversations cannot be restricted to 140 characters. While one could conceivably labor over dissecting their message into multiple 140 character tweets, it isn’t the same as a carefully drafted, thorough response. Blogging affords the opportunity to leverage media placements, visuals, multimedia and commentary in a cohesive message that is carefully packaged to best illustrate a point.
In part, this is why the #PRBC is blogging—because all of our perspectives, experiences and tips can’t be crammed into 140 characters . . . and because we know that some topics warrant an in-depth conversation.
Some points needn’t be explained . . . and so we call them tweets!
While it only takes seconds to craft a tweet, it can’t always carry an entire message. So we stick to the messages that can be effectively delivered in 140 characters. Examples of such include links to interesting articles with a couple of words stating your opinion on same, reactions to an event or experience, small talk, tips, and witty banter.
It doesn’t take a blog post, or blog comment, to communicate the basics or point others in the direction of valuable content. And in many instances, we just want to encourage others to look at something—form their own opinions—and pass the content along. All of which are effectively and succinctly communicated through tweets and retweets.
Point . . . Counterpoint
While Brown’s examples of #journchat (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23journchat) and #blogchat (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23blogchat) (and to which I will add the recent #prstudchat (http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23prstudchat)) have effectively sustained dialogues on Twitter, I firmly believe it’s the nature of the content that allows these forums to succeed on such a concise medium. With #journchat and #blogchat, it’s the strength of a question and answer format that allows them to thrive in a 140 character format. For #prstudchat, it’s the question and answer format coupled with the fact that most answers come in the form of tips.
Inversely, were #prstudchat to pose questions which asked for both tips/advice and illustrations of the importance of each, it would be better suited to a blog dialogue, where messages could be conveyed in comprehensive responses, not bound by a 140 character limit.
Speaking of points . . . .
So after all of those examples and comments, I must have a point, right? (At least we hope I do!)
Blog comments and tweets aren’t competitors. They are merely different models for delivering a message, each of which has its own merits. So what’s your next step? Comment on this post if you want to have a dialogue with me, or start what could become an in-depth debate. If you just want to say you read it or share a tip with your tweeps, package it inside a tweet.
After reading Danny Brown’s recent post ‘Is Twitter Killing Blog Comments’ I couldn’t resist answering the last question he posed – ‘What’s your take?’
While I could go on for paragraphs rallying in support of Twitter and defending its merits as my social media platform of choice, I’ll spare you the cheering and keep it simple: Blogs are for dialogues. Twitter is for snippets!
Blogging now, party of one
If you had come to me a month ago and asked about my blogging experience, I would have sheepishly admitted to merely reading blogs and been quick to point out that I did not comment on them, despite an often overwhelming temptation to do so.