MrQwest

The talented Chris Shiflett wrote a quick post on his blog earlier today called the Ideas of March and it’s a step towards a blogging revival. Chris raises some good points, and to be honest, he mirrors my views too (you may have noticed I’ve written more recently).

With the rise of twitter over the past couple of years, it has become so easy for anyone to get their thoughts out and amongst their friends. Twitter is great for that type of conversation, but sometimes 140 characters just isn’t enough.

I hate sending multiple tweets to say what I want to say. I also hate mssng out lttrs to try and fit everything into one tweet.

Blogging is an ideal platform for this very requirement.

So to jump start, Chris has written a post and outlined several things that he’d like us all to do.

• Write a post called Ideas of March.
• List some of the reasons you like blogs.
• Pledge to blog more the rest of the month.
• Share your thoughts on Twitter with the #ideasofmarch hashtag.

Why I Like Blogs

• There’s more room than 140 characters
• You’re not splitting tweets and losing context between multiple tweets
• You’re not bastardising the English language by removing letters or grammar.
• Posts can be easily addressable (with customisable URL’s)
• They can be more interesting than “I’ve got peanut butter sandwiches today”
• Comments & discussions are there, in context
• You own your posts. If twitter closes tomorrow, what happens to your tweets?

Why I Don’t Like Blogs

There’s always a flipside

• Discussion isn’t always prevelant. If you read a post, write a comment and then navigate away to another site, there’s no (simple) way of being informed of a reply after yours, or if anyone is starting a discussion with you in the comments.
• It’s easy to tap out a reply to a tweet. With a blog comment, there’s more to it – more requirements & ultimately, more hassle!

Conclusion

I do enjoy blogs. There’s a lot more discussion & learning to be had from a blog post. The one thing that lets blogs down though (in my opinion) is the comments, or to be more specific; the hassle involved with commenting & lack of reply notification. That’s where twitter trumps with it’s @replies.