Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?
Brian Kelly, UK Web Focus, December 9, 2009.

One of the things I do - and I do it very deliberately - is to separate the streams of my content. So I have this newsletter, in web, email and RSS format, in Daily and Weekly, along with various other blogs and websites. Tweetmeme doesn't really work for me because there's no one thing that is 'my blog' for Tweetmeme to count. Because, for me, it's not about amassing an audience but rather forming connections. So, my blog could 'survive' without Twitter because there is no particular entity that needs to 'survive' (it's sort of like asking me, "could your email survive without Twitter?" - which is, on the face of it, a meaningless question). People who focus on size of audience, impact via Tweetmeme, or similarly mass-based metrics, are working with an old-media paradigm, which is about broadcast rather that network. They see their influence as measured by echo or repetition - things like retweets, for example - rather than through participation in things that are genuinely larger (and more important) than themselves. Related: Rethinking blogging. (Hits Today: 2 Total: 661) [Direct Link] [Tags: Twitter, Web Logs, Networks, RSS, Paradigm Shift, Newsletters]

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Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

BrianKelly, December 10, 2009

Hi Stephen. Thanks for the comment. ALthough I would agree that in many cases blogs are about facilitating a conversation across one's network, without visitors one can't have the cpnversation.

It's interest to note, BTW, that links from your blog no longer bring those connection to the extent it t used to - yesterday there were fours visits from your blog and another 7 today. And yesterday there were 382 visitors to my blog, with Google Reader driving the most traffic - but only 10 visits! It is clear that Twitter is now key in establishing the connections. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

Stephen Downes, December 10, 2009

Interesting observation. It now puts to test my longstanding claim that I blog for my own purposes, and not to create and drive an audience. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

mguhlin, December 11, 2009

I have to agree with Brian. I do blog for my own purposes (consider the range of blog posts...I follow my interests). Just yesterday during a presentation, I was able to answer questions by googling "mguhlin keyword" where keyword was the topic related to the question being asked. It's great to be able to pull up information...my brain is now searchable! (laugh)

As to Twitter, I set it up and forgot it. When I blog something, it's shared on social networks like whereever I Ning, Tweet automatically. After all, my motto is "Share More!" and that involves going where the conversation is. Obviously, my writing about what I want doesn't stop me from having a conversation about what I'm writing...and sometimes, other people's ideas/comments influence my own interests.

I'm ravenously curious and want to keep learning. It's a darn addiction.

I encourage you to reconsider using Friendfeed or similar technology (ones you design) to cast your bread upon the waters.

Warm regards,
Miguel Guhlin
Around the Corner-MGuhlin.org [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

BrianKelly, December 11, 2009

Ho Stephen
When you say "I blog for my own purposes, and not to create and drive an audience" you're saying this from a position of already having a large audience, which can help make the connections.
It's not so easy to make this statement if you are part of a smaller blog community.

Brian Kelly, ukwebfocus.wordpress.com [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

Stephen Downes, December 11, 2009

Well - if what you say is correct, I no longer have a wide audience (or, at least, have a significantly smaller audience than I had). Does this mean I stop blogging and focus on something else (like, say, Twitter)? Yes, if the audience is the focus. No, if the blog serves its own purpose independently of audience. [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

Stephen Downes, December 11, 2009

Miguel - I have considered writing 'autopost' or 'autotweet' functions into my script. The question is, how much effort is this worth? Do people want tweets containing links to OLDaily posts? [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

Kerry Johnson, December 11, 2009

I know for some people, Twitter has replaced RSS. For others, autoscripts that feed posts into Twitter are little more than spam.

One option might be to set up a Twitter stream specifically for auto-posting, saving your already established Twitter account for personal/professional discussions. That way, people would have a choice and know what they're getting and you wouldn't feel compromised. The disadvantage would be that you'd have to keep an eye on that stream in case people posted replies to your posts in it, but it's easy enough to do this via a column in Tweetdeck.

Cheers

KerryJ
http://kerryj.com [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

Re: Can Your Blog Survive Without Twitter?

Stephen Downes, December 11, 2009

Ah, well, I was watching a presentation this morning so while that was going on I coded an automatic Twitter feed from OLDaily. http://www.downes.ca/post/50995 [Comment] [Permalink] [Previous][Next]

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