Twitter Killed the Blog Star
Are micro-blogs and micro-communities making traditional blogs obsolete? I think the fact that “traditional” can be used to describe the blogs of yore (by which I only mean 2007)—those sites with lengthy (by which I only mean three paragraphs) articles about topical news and/or events maintained on a regular basis—is an indication of the change taking place. And according to a recent TechCrunch blog about Technorati’s Authority Index (defined as the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months; the higher the number, the greater the level of authority), blogs overall are losing their power as authoritative sources. Instead, users are turning to Twitter and other rapid content providers for info and links within these communities are stealing authority.
I love Twitter—it’s a great way to interact with people in the industry and get timely information without having to trudge through a million sites. And if I’m not interested in a tweet, it’s simple enough to dismiss—it only takes up two lines of text and it will be pushed down my feed in a few moments anyway. However, as a self-professed bibliophile who spent more hours in the stacks at Penn State’s library than at the bars (okay, that may be an exaggeration; it was probably even), I am often frustrated and embarrassed by people’s short attention spans and inability to read more than a few paragraphs. And I fear for future generations.
Seemingly contrary to those last few sentences, I am a big fan of blogs—they give a voice to people that otherwise might not be heard. Granted, some bloggers probably don’t deserve the microphone, but again, they’re easy to dismiss. There are many advantages to blogs: they cover just about every topic you can imagine (see ICanHasCheezburger or Mustaches of the 19th Century); they aren’t confined to expensive glossy pages or hard covers; and they somewhat resemble the penny press of early 19th century—rather than (pretend to be) unbiased like today’s media, most blogs candidly state their affiliation, writing with an obvious slant and using passion to inspire and motivate.
I still prefer the weighty feel of an actual book. I like writing in the margins, highlighting text and dog-earring pages. I believe tattered pages and a cracked spine show that a book has been loved. Needless to say, I will never, never purchase a Kindle. And although I will admit I’m a bit of a literary romantic, I also have adopted many blogs and online sources as part of my daily reading routine and find them very useful and informative.
I hope that blogs do not go out of style any time soon. I rather enjoy reading them and love writing them. And as more and more newspapers become defunct (see Rocky Mountain News), I think we need insightful sources with quality content of more than two lines total. Besides, where would we all link to and how would we gauge authority? Read more about it here.
Now that I’ve ranted and raved, it’s your turn. Obviously you are reading this blog, so you haven’t written them off yet. Do you think blogs will become obsolete in the near future? Would you prefer to use Twitter as your one source of news and information? Am I just a silly, old school literary romantic who needs to pull her head out of the clouds?
~Angie
on March 10th, 2009 at 9:59 am
I guess I still feel and see the difference between the need for blogging vs Twittering. Yes, people are finding astounding ways to fit large volumes of content into those small 140 characters (tiny URLs, Hashtags, IMing acronyms), but I feel like blogs still allow for a depth that Twitter lacks. I do however see the natural pairing of both mediums growing together, as long as we live in a world of constant self-promotion.
on March 10th, 2009 at 10:50 am
I definitely see blogs as sticking around for a long time, mostly because of people’s inherent need to express themselves in detail about the issues they personally care about. However, you bring up a good point in your post about the effect Twitter and other rapid-fire social media will have on blogging in general, and this will be a trend to watch closely.
I think the first blogs that ever appeared will also be the longest blogs we will ever see on the internet, and the whole Twitter/IM/texting culture in general is going to continue to reduce information down to bite-size, manageable chunks. Blogs will get simpler, shorter, and louder. Kind of like MySpace! Except with less animated penguin .gifs. (hopefully)
on March 11th, 2009 at 7:26 am
Great work Angie. I don’t think blogs are going anywhere, anytime soon. Blogs serve as a voice of the people (as you mentioned) and as more companies move into the groundswell, then reading what individuals have to say will become paramount. I think we need to look at these new social media as a compliment to older social media instead of a competitor. Many great blog posts are spawned from those 140 characters of Twitter. It is a need to elaborate that will not kill the blogosphere – sometimes 140 just isn’t enough! It is definitely going to be interesting to see where we go and how fast we get there.
on March 11th, 2009 at 11:21 am
Excellent blog, and I couldn’t agree with you more. I meet so many people that make it a point of pride that they neither read nor write, never have, and are doing “just fine”. They are also the loudest complainers when their children accomplish nothing in school, other than texting. On the other side of the coin are the increasingly strident bloggers who are only in it for wealth and fame and will say and do anything to get recommended or get some kind of endorsement/book contract. Including rumors, rascism, dirt politics and any aspect of simulated sex they can get away with. All dependent on less facts, less critical thinking and the sadly uninformed, increasingly shortened attention span of much of digital America. I’m a fan of social media, especially Twitter, but to say that the low end of the pool is crude, limited and shallow is being kind. So love your books, and savor the experiences, because to the non-reader, and heavy screen sampler, they are too difficult, too long, too dated and either a waste of time and resources or fit only for firewood.
on March 11th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Thanks for your encouraging words, Kurt! There is surely a thin line between creating worthwhile content and making money. I would think the latter would follow the former, but maybe I’m just being naive. Or maybe I am just assuming the same rules that apply to the literary world apply to the online content world. There again, I’m being too generous; I know all too many authors that churn out book after driveling book with the same boring subject-verb-noun sentence structure running through every chapter. I remain hopeful that there are others out there with your disposition and that more people find a way to assimilate quality content online.
on March 12th, 2009 at 7:42 am
I think you bring up an excellent point here – when did people lose the ability to read something for more than five minutes? When did a 250 word blog article become too much info? I like Twitter as well, but to me its a frightening signal that children of the future will be sugar laced, bee-like creatures who flit from one topic to another without actually learning or retaining anything. Or.. maybe “fun sized” information is a good thing. Maybe future generations will be connected and informed on a myriad of topics instantaneously. Either way, I think we will continue to see the disappearance of dinosaurs like the newspaper before the ‘blogosphere’ goes bust. In fact – you mention Rocky Mountain News, didn’t they go under largely due to the fact that they didn’t cater to the online consumer?