Who ever thought that blogging would now be thought of as "long form" writing? Thanks for making us bloggers feel all grown up Twitter, we all owe you a big thanks. Plus, you have siphoned off the diary bloggers who can now Tweet about their breakfast without the need for a web browser. Not that I have anything against Twitter or blogging about breakfast for that matter. I have been the "single link" poster boy here for awhile now as well, so there ya go.
But the difference between these two are what is interesting to me. Twitter is a mobile app in that it is made to be written and read on cell phones and the like. Blogging to me is like being in the Library. I want to roam and find new stuff and generally wander. As a young lad I spent many a afternoon in the Public Library wandering the aisles looking for poetry and art books. The nature of the internet constantly reminds me of this and the good blogs being a signpost to more interesting stuff.
Twitter on the other hand is direct personal updates often with no connection to anything else. Often of a very personal twist. A blog can link to other articles to numerate on a point and all sorts of other goodness. The nature of a Tweet is just that, "TWEET!" and gone. Which is great, not my thing mind you, but I think it's great.
Of course the pink elephant about this discussion is Iran and what has happened there. The very mobile nature of Twitter and the tie into phone communications makes it impossible to just shut off. This has proven it as a great documentary medium for current events that would otherwise be lost. It has also been key in organizing protests and the like. This has proven Twitter transformative without a doubt and defines it as something "New That No One Expected".
See this Onion piece for example (and lulz):
"SAN FRANCISCO—Creator Jack Dorsey was shocked and saddened this week after learning that his social networking device, Twitter, was being used to disseminate pertinent and timely information during the recent civil unrest in Iran."
Which is all amazing and insane and people much smarter then me need to parse this information and tell us what it all means. But getting back to the Twitter versus Blogging point here, I think it could possibly be the application that makes using the internet "Old Fashioned".
"And then, oh mah gawd, he like, sat down at a desk and opened a browser?! I mean who does that?!"
Is the computer desk / laptop the nostalgic "Dad at the table with breakfast and a newspaper" for the early internet folk?
Of course, 95 percent of blogs are essentially abandoned and 10 percent of the Twitters users account for more than 90 percent of tweets. So this is all hot air anyways and I am going to make a egg sandwich.
I'll post pics on my Photolog after I get done updating my Facebook profile.
