Microblogging

What is microblogging? A lot of people are active (or semi-active) microbloggers and don’t even know it. I think UrbanDictionary suitably defines the term:

“Microblogging is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them.”

Twitter and Jaiku are used as examples of microblogging sites/services. Even Facebook status updates, in a way, can be considered a type of microblog. The term “blog” is a portmanteau (a two or more word combo) of the words “web” and “log” (weblog), and was shortened to just “blog” because that’s one less syllable and sounds cooler. A blog is like a journal or a log of events/discussion online, so microblogging would be pretty much the same thing, only, as UrbanDictionary noted, usually within some 200 characters or less.

I personally use Twitter to microblog, posting everything from status updates (what am I doing right now?), to links to stuff I find newsworthy/interesting/entertaining, to general back-and-forth chatter with other Twitter users. Unfortunately, the downside of this fun and unique service—requiring posts of 140 characters or less—is: I do not make posts here (on my full-sized blog) quite as much as I’d like. That being said, if you want to hear more from/about me, you should (at your own risk) follow me on Twitter. Or, at least… you know… go check out my page (I added a new background, ooooh…).

I’m thinking about becoming redundant and reposting some of the same stuff here that I post on Twitter, but with additional commentary. The whole point of (and one of the things I love about) Twitter, though, is that you’re forced to keep things brief. I’m a person of few words (input over output), so short info-bytes suit me perfectly. I don’t need five paragraphs to tell you I’m excited about Ridley Scott’s latest project. However, my unwanted opinions may occasionally exceed a 140-character-limit. ;)