Quit the Twit

There is a reason that people who blog are quitting Twitter. Those people include John Mayer, Paul Carr, and (sort of) Leo Laporte. In case you didn’t hit the links (and who has time for that with all the Information Overload and whatnot?) the reason is: Length of Life. Not the life of the people who author the tweets or blog posts, but the length of life of the tweet versus the blog post. Most tweets are retweeted or replied to within an hour. After that? Good luck. (Unless you’re famous enough for people to write blog posts about your tweets, which, when taken together, are about as long as a blog post would be anyway.) Blog posts, though? When well written they can draw comments for days (for a news blog) or continue to garner hits for months or years if the content is truly high quality (or if they have pictures of Kim Kardashian).

Think about books compared to tweets. People still read books that are hundreds (and in some cases thousands) of years old. Is anyone going to read even the most retweeted of all tweets in 100 years. My money’s on No.*

And so, I’m going to do what Leo did and rededicate myself to the blog that bears my name. As Laporte said:

I should have been posting it here all along. Had I been doing so I’d have something to show for it. A record of my life for the last few years at the very least. But I ignored my blog and ran off with the sexy, shiny microblogs. Well no more. I’m sorry for having neglected you Leoville. From now on when I post a picture of a particularly delicious sandwich I’m posting it here. When I complain that Sookie is back with Bill, you’ll hear it here first. And the show notes for my shows will go here, too.

* Full disclosure: my money is actually mostly in mutual funds. I avoid making investments, let alone bets, with a 100 year payout time since I probably won’t be around to collect.

Posted on September 30, 2010, in Blogging, Diatribes, Twitter and tagged , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 8 Comments.

  1. Reallyinformative and impressive write up, Thanks a lot for sharing thisinformative article here.

  2. Thanks a lot for sharing this useful and attractive information and I will be waiting for other interesting posts from you in the nearest future.keep it up.

  3. Really this is a new information for me. You have described very well. I like this article very much. Thanks for sharing.

  4. Well,its very interesting and informative blob,thanks for sharing this blog.

  1. Pingback: Tweets that mention Nels Wadycki : Quit the Twit -- Topsy.com

  2. Pingback: The lifespan and depth of tweets vs blog posts | cre8d design