

Why I'm Leaving Twitter and Returning to Blogging - astartupaday
http://astartupaday.wordpress.com/2009/10/29/sorry-twitter-its-not-you-its-me

======
cb33
i didn't know twittering and blogging were mutually exclusive.

~~~
RyanMcGreal
Opportunity cost.

~~~
cb33
the way i see it, twittering lends itself to blogging and vice-versa. you
hammer out a blog post then use twitter to get eyes on your post. plus, how
much time could twitter possibly take from blogging? you can't get very much
across in 140. symbiosis is the key

~~~
netcan
Twitter kind of acts like rss

~~~
dkersten
Good point, I think I'll automate my twittering by converting my rss feed to
tweets.

------
fjabre
Thanks.. The article was thought provoking.

For me, thinking about tweeting something new every hour tires my brain.. yet
I like to blog.. You can blog once a week or even once a month and still be
considered an 'active' blogger.. but who could say the same about tweeting.. I
also feel so much more productive when blogging.

I will have to give in someday I'm sure but for now I'm resisting the twitter
borg.. Everyone is so social in this brave new world. Doesn't anyone want to
be alone with their thoughts anymore?

------
jrockway
I don't think anyone would read my blog if it were the same content as my
twitter. An endless stream of 140-character tidbits is different, to readers,
than 140-word rants about the same things.

There are many times when I want to write more than 140 characters about
something... but if I did that, nobody would read them.

(Twitter used to let you submit the form with more than 140 characters... now
it rejects those posts server-side. Fucking Twitter...)

------
kuldeep_kap
I think both with continue to co-exist and will also see a trend of
centralizing our posting at one place. In fact, we are already seeing it with
Posterous and Tumblr. It allows much more freedom to users.

I also think twitter is paving way for mainstream blogging, as it attracted so
many mainstream users requiring so low commitment from users to engage and got
people into habit of opening-up and sharing more and more of their thoughts.
Eventually they will sure long for more freedom and blogging is the answer.

------
diN0bot
> "Idea: OneClick – Mobile app, allows users to perform commonly-used, very
> specific actions in a single click.(i.e. get directions to address)"

143 characters

my version: "OneClick: Mobile app, users perform common, specific actions in
single click; eg, get directions."

98 characters. i agree with his sentiment, but i didn't find his example too
compelling...maybe he has room to grow for twitter communication...although an
extra 45 characters still might not be sufficient.

~~~
protomyth
The weird thing about twitter is that I see a lot of people who e-mail (longer
form writing) me after doing a tweet and their e-mail is a lot tighter even if
it is over 140 characters.

------
NathanKP
I agree with the article as it perfectly explains why I never joined Twitter
in the first place. I can't see wasting my time and that of other people by
spamming them with 140 character tidbits.

Twitter is useful for sending small bits of information and telling people
about simple things, but it isn't designed for complex ideas. It is more
designed for applications such as sharing interesting links that you have
found.

~~~
mreid
You're not the only one to have expressed this attitude but I find it strange.
How long does it take you to write 140 characters or less? Also, unless people
are actively following you you are not "spamming" them.

Your summary of what Twitter is good for is accurate as far as it goes but
what you are missing is that, when they are timely and from interesting
people, those small bits of information can be valuable.

I follow around 200 low-volume people on Twitter with similar interests to my
own (machine learning, maths, stats, Clojure, ambient music). The number of
times I have got useful advice and heads-up on recent articles, events and
releases makes Twitter worthwhile the small attentional overhead I give it. On
top of that, there is a nice sense of community that has built up over time.

Dismissing something based on its functionality alone without having used it
means you won't experience the myriad ways people make use of that
functionality. Emergent behaviour is powerful and difficult to predict.

"Computers? Sure, they're useful for quickly processing numbers represented in
binary but it's not like they are designed for doing really complex things."

~~~
rimantas
> _How long does it take you to write 140 characters or less?_

The proper question would be "how much does the context switching costs?", and
the answer would be "a lot". Some estimate it can take 30 minutes to get back
into working mode.

~~~
mreid
So don't do it while you are working.

