Why I Loathe the Word ‘Microblogging’
June 9, 2008
Twitter is often referred to as ‘microblogging.’ I’ve never liked this word that has been created around the format, and I finally realized how to put this distaste down on {virtual} paper. This is a misrepresentation at the service for several reasons:
1) A twitter is really nothing like a small blog post. Blog posts are often very pre-meditated. Twitter posts are most frequently off-the-top-of-your-head blurbs.
2) Twitter has a greater impact on your person as a whole. While blogs were and are a revolutionary medium that allows people to write and be read, as mentioned in my last post Twitter actually changes the way you interact with others around you on a day-to-day basis. I’m more connected with those around me, as well as it providing a window into the lives of people who are geographically distant.
Evaluating these concepts and others similar one thing becomes clear …
Twitter IS NOT SMALL BLOGGING!
They both provide a mechanism to broadcast text on the web. So does IRC.
June 9, 2008 at 8:22 pm
WADR, twitter is exactly small blogging. Twitter is a way to put your small thoughts out to other people. pre-meditation doesn’t really enter into it. Just as blogs are a way to broadcast your bigger (short essay form) thoughts, microblogging services like twitter allow people to easily broadcast smaller thoughts. Because of ease-of-use, it becomes a way for people to keep up with people distant, but that’s not negating the "bloggy" aspect of services like twitter. Oh, and IRC is *not* a way to broadcast your thoughts, as it gets automatically drowned out by other people’s small thoughts.
June 9, 2008 at 8:22 pm
Thanks for your thoughts Matt. There are similarities, to be sure. The original weblog was similar to the Finger of old. But it coined a new name. Its basic definition is publishing a log to the web.
In turn, Twitters are similar to Fingers or Blogs, but there is enough of a distinction that the concept deserves its own distinct name.
December 3, 2008 at 4:08 pm
Paraphrasing something Clay Shirky has said, technologies are always defined by what came before them. Horseless carriages, electronic mail, etc. In your world maybe we should call it unchanneled-asynchronous-chatting. But that’s more about terminology than the qualities you’ve pointed out.
To point number 1, I would include LiveJournal into a broadly defined idea of “blogging,” which tends to be closer in tone to the informal off-the-top-of-your-head quality you see in Twitter. But Twitter is also used in more premeditated contexts. See: @jennyholzer or @jayrosen_nyu or any of the fake celebrity accounts. These aren’t *typical* uses, for sure, but neither is the “what are you doing” premise enforced by the community.
Point number 2 is only true to the extent you use the service in a particular way. For those with dozens of followers, whose “social proximity” is close, this is more the case. For those with thousands of followers of mostly strangers it’s probably less true. In my experience the option to selectively receive updates via SMS (and the proliferation of mobile internet access) does more to set it apart in the way you’re talking about.
The main difference I see, which places Twitter closer to IRC, is that you can see who your audience is. With blogging you only get a sense that people are there when you enable comments. Even then there’s still some question about who the lurkers are.
Sorry for the wordy comment
December 16, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Sorry to bother you here but can’t get through to Twitter…
How do I get my picture into my Twitter profile?
Thanks.
I used to live in Noe Valley…miss is too much.
January 5, 2009 at 10:35 pm
What is happening with Twitter? I cannot access to my account since this morning and I cannot reset my password because I do not receive any email from Twitter for the reset operation even if I asked several times!! Any help possible?
Twitter nick name is Luciano63
Thanks!
February 10, 2009 at 1:17 am
hmmm, I think, you are right, twits, are not mini blogs, they are blurbs. Microblurbing really doesn’t sound very cool though does it, and its kind of redundant.
I think the word ‘microblogging’ is going to stick, you might have to just get over it……
February 15, 2009 at 1:21 pm
Very well said. I enjoyed this. And I think you’re right on target.
March 29, 2009 at 1:50 am
Whatever happened to words and their actual meanings and the organization of these items?
Sentences: Subject + action.
Paragraph: 2-3 and more sentences per each paragraph. (Can be construed as a microblog as it is a small part of a larger structured piece.)
Unless you’re, perhaps, Julius Caesar and can get straight to the point (I came. I saw. I conquered. – Yes. Three sentences = one paragraph) I wouldn’t call Twitter a microblog either. Most people still don’t get it either way.
April 10, 2009 at 8:39 pm
I came to this page, and found that Dan Phiffer just put the words down I wanted to say:
from @cshirky: “technologies are always defined by what came before them”. That would be a mistake (for designers) to prevent users to define the use of the tool you created. WikiWiki never meant to be a Wikipedia, Blogger never meant to create “anti-government activism tool” etc.. I highly recommend “Here Comes Everybody” by Clay Shirky, many good examples of this.
Also, saying “Most people still don’t get it either way” is the thing a designer should never say.. that might not be the thing you designed for, but the rule of thumb is; what humans understand out of something, is what that is.
April 10, 2009 at 8:43 pm
Also note that there is a huge difference between tweeting “going to bathroom..” and “found an interesting article on Twitter and Japanese Design; http://….”. There are many different other uses too. So it should be hard for anyone to categorize how ‘twitter’ is being used. Some microblog, some blurb, some micromarket, etc..
August 9, 2009 at 7:13 am
I often refer to twitter as social commenting. Is this wrong too?