Twitter isn’t micro-blogging

It’s past noon here in the UK, so it’s safe to publish a serious blog post

The usual description of Twitter is as a micro-blogging tool. As I find my blog posts dwindling, maybe I should be agreeing rather than challenging the – can I call it a cliche?

I love Twitter. In fact, I love it so much, I have two accounts. Look, there’s seocopyandstrat running down the left-hand side of my screen and davidrosam running down the right. Please, no cracks about it being solid evidence of schizophrenia on my part.

But it’s not a tiny version of what I do on any of my blogs. It’s just another demand on my time. That’s why Twitter is displacing blogging.

Tweeting is fun, undemanding and immediate. Successful blog entries are demanding in terms of thought and writing. So I find myself Tweeting well having fun rather than doing the difficult stuff.

I don’t believe Twitter will be giving blogs the elbow, as some people have claimed. For a start, I know why I’m writing about this on a blog rather than on Twitter. But being on Twitter clarified the differences (although maybe there’s something circular going on here).

For me, Twitter isn’t micro-blogging. It’s something more fundamental and exciting, a new type of communication channel, the first since Instant Messaging. Social networking without the straitjacket of any of the obvious online networks.

So I’m just going to have to wean myself off the opium of the online masses and get writing some more considered material – if not mega blogging, at least regular-sized blogging.