Sean Connery retired from acting – does that mean cinema is dead?
by asi
Probably both and neither.
I’m talking of course about the most recent Twittersphere common mantra, i.e. is twitter killing blogging?
Please allow me to make some random observations as well
1. Recent social-technological developments and trends prove time and again that we are suckers for dense, ambient, immediate communication. The instant the reply/feedback the better. The most common twitter behaviour/usage bears striking resemblance to both SMS and IM communications. Compare a bunch of 12-18 years old using their mobile phones and IM platforms with heavy twitterers and you’ll notice arresting similarity. We all want to be one click away from human contact and social feedback is universally gratifying (as well as highly addictive).
2. Whenever we are presented with the opportunity to achieve more, or the same, with less effort we fully embrace the technology. IMHO twitter both increases efficiency of communication AND killing depth at the same time. Sometimes 140 characters IS really just enough to communicate an idea or send a link around. Yet that negative feedback whereby both reading and writing blog posts decreases demotivates clever people from writing insightful posts that require more explication. To be honest, this is probably a good thing – the less pressure on my RSS reader, the better and there’s still plenty to read and write about. Blogging is not dead, it’s simply maturing. Some people find it appropriate whereas some prefer lamenting the mainstreamisation of the tool. Jason Calacanis retired from blogging – so freegin’ what? Sean Connery retired from acting – does that mean cinema is dead?
3. Our content stream is still in beta. We are still learning how to apply the right tool to the right job in a way that feels organic, contextual and doesn’t impede the flow of data. In the near future we will develop more platform efficiency – publishing the right content on the right platform in a way that is not only easy and intuitive but will also optimise context and relevancy through cusomised aggregation. Friendfeed is a good step forward in this direction but it’s far from the perfect solution.
4. Finally, excessive blogging about blogging, facebooking about facebook and constantly twittering about twitter is the perfect formula to over-hype and therefore kill the platform. It’s a bit like those people who like to get high and the only thing that comes out of their mouth over and over again is “duuuude i’m sooooo high”…. 
Jason Calacanis retired from blogging – so freegin’ what? Sean Connery retired from acting – does that mean cinema is dead?
Love it.
Totally agree. Many bloggers in my reader could publish less and save posts for when they actually have something to say. If more immediate platforms can cut down Meta-blogging and reblogging we’ll all benefit.
You, Uri, are the best example for high quality slow-blogging. Although sometimes it’s indeed too slow…
I’m almost embarrassed to leave another comment since I just left two, but I can’t help it. we see this same ol’ story all the time. video kills the radio star, blogging kills journalism, twitter kills blogging, and soon something will be killing twitter. blah.
“Blogging is not dead, it’s simply maturing.”
as with radio and journalism, whatever was ‘killing’ them inspired them to mature, i.e. provoked us to re-negotiate our relationships with them. we’re still negotiating blog vs. twitter – when to use one vs. the other? the introduction of twitter will actually help refine blogging’s place in our lives.
but ultimately, we’re developing a more diverse portfolio of media of communication. awesome.