Posted by joe, Tue Oct 02 08:49:00 UTC 2007

I came across this interesting anecdote of a bloggers's first 90 days on Twitter:

I “get” Twitter. I like the idea, I think there’s a lot of uses for the service, and I’m pretty happy with the feature set. I’ve found some people who are using Twitter in interesting ways, and two real-life friends also Twitter. When it’s good, Twitter can be a lot of fun.

On the other hand, using Twitter feels like shouting down a well most of the time. I can count on the fingers of one hand the people who’ve actually had any interaction with me on Twitter (including the friends). It’s hard to stay enthusiastic about something when you get so little feedback.

All in all, I’d give my first 90 days with Twitter a B. I’m not inclined to stop Twittering, but it’s in no danger of replacing my blog any time soon.

It's a reasonable assessment, though I have had better luck getting dialogue going.

But I don't know that Twitter is supposed to replace blogging, any more than IM is supposed to replace email or text-messaging is supposed to replace phone conversations.

Some things (e.g. a song recommendation) don't necessarily merit a blog post. Others (say, anything longer than 140 characters) don't fit into Twitter, literally or figuratively.

I believe these pairs of technologies complement each other. I've said before that everyone should have a blog, and I'll also say that everyone should have Twitter. Your thoughts, ideas and observations are interesting. Share them with others.

Filed Under: Blogs Culture | Tags: blogging newbies