(With apologies to the Buggles). I have noticed that the upswing in Facebook and Twitter has really diminished my impulse to blog. In the past, I guess putting up a blog post was the most efficient way for me to get an idea out there and get some feed back, scratching whatever mental itch makes me want to bat around ideas with folks.
Now it seems that, more often than not, Facebook or Twitter is a faster way to do that. Funny how often 140 characters is enough for me to say, in broad terms, what I have on my mind. For instance, on this one, I could have just Twittered “Facebook is to Blogging as Video is to the Radio Star” or whatever. That would have propagated to my Facebook status bar, and then if that prompted ideas from my friends on either system, a discussion would ensue. For a blog entry, the interface (at least my WordPress based blog) is cludgier and the format seems to compel elaboration.
I still like my blog, and I still intend to maintain it. But I feel like it’s lost a bit of its vitality and, I might be projecting, but I feel like the blogosphere generally has dimmed a bit.
I started blogging because my FaceBook was too idea-heavy. My friends’n’family were posting “great bachelorette party tonite” or “guess what my daughter said about poop today?,” and I felt like an oafish party-pooper, if you’ll pardon the expression.
Just signed up for Twitter yesterday, and I’m trying to wrap my old mind around it. I’ll friend request you and see how you do it.
That is a feature, not a bug. I never would have followed you on Twitter, but the depth of this blog keeps me coming back for the discussion.
However, like “The Simpsons”, the star isn’t the best part. While everyone sees you (or Homer & Bart), it is the community of people that hang around here that helps make it stand out, just like the community of Springfield.
Besides, there is no way I could have linked your blog to a TV show in 140 letters.
Oh, please don’t let facebook and twitter take away from the blog. I like the depth and detail on a variety of issues the blog and commenters provide. I did sign up for facebook because my kids post photos of the grandchildren there, but I do not like it very well and do not intend to spend much time there. I think I have forgotten my password already. Nothing other than the aforementioned photos are in any way meaningful to me. It’s all virtual clutter and I have enough trouble with material clutter. Twitter – no, I don’t see that I want to be part of “sharing” the trivial type of stuff that is so often tweeted. None of it is important. Or if it is, twitter diminishes it by diluting it with junk. But, I love the blog!
Certainly it isn’t a replacement for blogging – each medium seems to have its own best function – but Twitter and Facebook provide me with what one blogger described as “ambient intimacy.” Mundane details make up most of our lives. The casual sharing of those things provides a connection we (or at least I) wouldn’t otherwise maintain.
Most of my days are spent at home and at work. I don’t have huge opportunities for connections outside of those places. The social network sites allow me to maintain some of those connections and reform some that have been lost. For example, when I’m aware of the minor details posted by a college buddy; when I do come into contact with him, it will be picking up the conversation instead of trying to become reacquainted with, basically, a stranger. He might post something like “I ran 5 miles today” – not a huge detail, but that might prompt me to give some encouragement (and get some encouragement when I’ve done some similar running) and then maybe we find that there is a race we can get together at.
Or, whatever. But certainly neither of us would have bothered to place a phone call or write a letter simply to mention the day’s run. But with the details flowing, you can pick up on some of the ones that interest you.
I’ve been waiting for you to post something like this, since you are the only person I personally know who blogs. In a sense, Facebook made it all so easy that we all became bloggers.
I end up on your blog anymore by clicking on the Facebook links.
I guess it depends on what you want to get out of blogging, Doug. If it’s just about getting things off your chest or starting a discussion about something you’re interested in, FB and Twitter probably are more conducive to that kind of interaction.
But if you’re doing it as a means to report news or information others aren’t (or arent’ reporting well) or if you’re doing it to further a cause or to engage in activism of some kind, then I think that blogging is alive and well and growing.
So, I think you were right when you said you were projecting a bit – it’s your perspective about why you’re blogging and the real motivations behind your blogging that are making you feel that way. You seem to want instant gratification – as in real-time feedback and discussion of the topic on your mind – for what you’re thinking and writing at the moment. A blog isn’t going to bring you the same kind of instant interaction as FB or Twitter.
FB and Twitter tend to be wide, but not too deep. Blogs tend to be deep, but not as wide.