When I first started the Securosis blog back in 2006 I didn’t really know what to expect. I already had access to a publishing platform (Gartner), and figured blogging would let me talk about the sorts of things that didn’t really fit my day job.
What I didn’t expect, what totally stunned me, was the incredible value of participating in a robust community holding intense debates, in the open, on the permanent record. Debates of the written word, which to be cogent in any meaningful way take at least a little time to cobble together and spell check. I realized that the true value of blogging isn’t that anyone could publish anything, but the inter-blog community that develops as we cross-link and cross comment.
It’s how Mike Rothman and I went from merely nodding acquaintances at various social functions, to full business partners. I met Chris Hoff when I blogged I was rolling through his home town, and he then took me out to dinner. Since then we’ve paired up for 2 years of top rated sessions at the RSA Conference, and become good friends. Martin McKeay went from some dude I’d never heard of to another close friend, with whom I now podcast on a weekly basis. And those three are just the tip of the list.
Blogging also opened my world in ways I could never have anticipated. This open dialog fundamentally changed opinions and positions by exposing me to a wider community. Gartner was great, but very insular. I talked with other Gartner analysts, Gartner customers, and vendors… all a self-selecting community. With blogging, I found myself talking with everyone from CEOs to high school students.
At least I used to, because I feel like that community, that experience, is gone.
The community of interlinked blogs that made such an impact on me seems to be missing. Sure, we have the Security Blogger’s Network and the Meetup at RSA, but as I go through my daily reading and writing, it’s clear that we aren’t interacting at nearly the level of even 2 years ago. Fewer big debates, fewer comments (generally), and fewer discussions on the open record.
I’m not the only one feeling the loss. Every Tuesday and Thursday we try to compile the best of the security web for the Securosis Incite and Friday Summary, and the pickings have been slim for a while now. There are only so many times we can link back to Gunnar, Bejtlich, or the New School. Heck, when we post the FireStarter on Monday, our goal isn’t to get comments on our site (although we like that), but to spur debate and discussion on everyone else’s sites.
As you can tell by the title, I think Twitter is a major factor. Our multi-post debates are now compressed into 140 characters. Not that I dislike Twitter – I love it (maybe too much), but while it can replace a post that merely links to a URL, it can’t replace the longer dialog or discussions of blogging. I’m too lazy to run the numbers, but I’ve noticed a definite reduction in comments on our blog and blogging in general as Twitter rises in popularity. I’ve had people flat-out tell me they’ve given up on blogging to focus on Twitter. Correlation isn’t causation, and the plural of anecdote isn’t data, but anyone who was on the scene a few years ago easily sees the change.
When I brought this up in our internal chat room, Chris Pepper said:
It’s a good point that if you have a complicated thought, it’s probably better to stew on it and build a post than to type whatever you can fit in 140 characters, hit
Return
, then sigh with relief that you don’t have to think about it any more.
Dear Bloggers,
Please come back. I miss you.
-me
Reader interactions
28 Replies to “Is Twitter Making Us Dumb? Bloggers, Please Come Back”
Ds,
I was an early Twitter advocate and still love it. Embracing it isn’t the problem. It just doesn’t work the same, and there is no way it can provide the same value. Even the people I’ve talked with who have left blogging for twitter agree.
Different tools for different jobs… People haven’t migrated because of the perceived value, from what I can tell.
Evolve or die…
I used to really love usenet, I read dozens of news groups each day, and actively participated in many of them. I don’t anymore. Usenet is dead. Its file sharing was replaced by P2P, its information sharing was replaced by blogging. I’m sure usenet killed something that came before it, just as the telegraph killed off the pony express.
The point is that if you focus on the venue and the reason that people are at the venue, then you miss the point. If the masses can get the same perceived benefit more easily from Twitter that they could from blogs, they will migrate. It is your challenge as a content creator to migrate ahead of, or at least with, the audience, or you will lapse to irrelevance.
You can’t long for the good old days when the world came to your prefered venue, that’s just not productive. Again, evolve or die.
I’ve noticed this myself. It seems to have accelerated in the last 6 months or so too. This was a contributing factor to me formally taking my Interesting Bits posts to a 3 times week format as opposed to every day. Well, that and my inability to keep to a daily schedule 🙂
Kevin
@Loner… link? Not that I don’t know your blog address, but not everyone here does…
A link fricken’ helps, yeah?
http://www.terminal23.net/2010/05/that_blogger_community_experie.html
Good post, and I agree. I’ve responded with my own blog post. 🙂
Oh, it’s not the same as a cross-blog debate, since I’m essentially agreeing, but still, it’s the thought that counts!
It would help if someday I disagree enough with something you guys say!
I do see them as being complementary platforms, but I feel like we’ve rolled too much towards Twitter at the expense of blogs. Also, Twitter is hard to follow if you aren’t on it all the time. With blogs you can catch up within days and the dialog still makes sense.
But without people writing content to put into Reader, what good is it?
@Dre – I think that Reader also forms an important piece of this puzzle, as I’ve definitely found myself eagerly awaiting yours and a few others’ shared items. But it’s a different edge of the “information addiction” puzzle. There used to be bbs, then irc and a few websites, then there was larger forums, then there was blogging, then twitter and now the sharing/commenting/social aspect of Reader.. I can only guess what will be next? Some sort of.. wavey type thing. Oh no, hang on, that happened.. and it kinda turned into a ripple, as far as I can tell.
Sorry I’m too busy on Google Reader to bother with Twitter or blogs as much anymore