Of Streams and Stopping Points

Twitter is a “quick fix”. It’s a great one-to-many communication tool. If you want the information about what’s happening RIGHT NOW, it’s on twitter. If you want answers to your questions RIGHT NOW, twitter can get that for you. The “trap” is that as quickly as you get the information, that’s how quickly it evaporates. Basically, Twitter is short-term memory and blogging is long-term memory.

Which one to use, or how to use each really comes down to what YOU have to say to people. If your conversation is social banter, twitter’s the way to go. Get it out there, whomever sees it sees it and the moment is gone. If you’re discussing things that you want to see ever again in the future, or that you want people to be able to find at a later date, think about and post comments about, blogging is the way to go.

Of course, Tumblr’s the way to go if you want to do both at the same time. My style is to blog the important stuff and then let people know it’s there via Twitter. Most people show up to my site from google searches anyway, so Twitter’s really more of a “Grand Opening” announcement, not what I rely upon for people to read my material.

Chris….great analogy this puts it all in it’s proper light now.

Thanks

An email update,
Like a postcard of scenic overviews:
Streams and stopping points:
You can drink the water, catch a fish, sit and breath deeply….
Then remember,
“life often happens out of view of the stream.”

Thanks, Chris.

An email update,
Like a postcard of scenic overviews:
Streams and stopping points:
You can drink the water, catch a fish, sit and breath deeply….
Then remember,
“life often happens out of view of the stream.”

Thanks, Chris.

Great post. I am going to have to think about this for a while – whole new concept – but good one.

These are great thoughts.

I think an important related point is the dysfunction of people who maintain a Twitter page simply to redirect you to their blog, podcast, etc. If this is — for all intents and purposes — the sole purpose of your Twitter, then you are nothing but a series of exit ramps in someone else’s stream (to stretch your metaphor a bit).

I have come to mildly resent those who have no actual value added content on Twitter itself but instead always point me elsewhere.

Although Twitter should never replace the Weblog, it should also be more than a series of Burma Shave billboards pointing toward one.

These are great thoughts.

I think an important related point is the dysfunction of people who maintain a Twitter page simply to redirect you to their blog, podcast, etc. If this is — for all intents and purposes — the sole purpose of your Twitter, then you are nothing but a series of exit ramps in someone else’s stream (to stretch your metaphor a bit).

I have come to mildly resent those who have no actual value added content on Twitter itself but instead always point me elsewhere.

Although Twitter should never replace the Weblog, it should also be more than a series of Burma Shave billboards pointing toward one.

Ok–but how do you get all the streams to flow into the ocean. I’m not sure I understand, but if what you are saying is that it is important to have everything end up in one place (blog, maybe) how do you manage that information so that it moves towards that one place? For me one of the biggest challenges of being introduced to so many “streams” is managing and organizing that information effectively. When it comes to stream management….I feel like I am swimming upstream.

Your blog and your twitter account are two very different animals. Your blog is can be your business. And your blog is something you hold ownership in and can grow. Twitter on the other hand is one of the tools you can use to grow your blog and in turn your business.

While I would agree you should share your ideas on twitter, it is not the place to store them so they can be indexed and retrieved. That is for your blog or some other more lasting location.

I find it rather discouraging when I see so many of those using twitter now who are not blogging as they did before. While I appreciate the sharing they do, I wonder what will happen when we try to go back in time to retrieve what they may have said. Twitter and other social media tools are in no way a replacement for blogging. And if anyone is trying to replace blogging with twitter and other social media tools, I fear what they are saying and sharing may soon be lost.

Your blog and your twitter account are two very different animals. Your blog is can be your business. And your blog is something you hold ownership in and can grow. Twitter on the other hand is one of the tools you can use to grow your blog and in turn your business.

While I would agree you should share your ideas on twitter, it is not the place to store them so they can be indexed and retrieved. That is for your blog or some other more lasting location.

I find it rather discouraging when I see so many of those using twitter now who are not blogging as they did before. While I appreciate the sharing they do, I wonder what will happen when we try to go back in time to retrieve what they may have said. Twitter and other social media tools are in no way a replacement for blogging. And if anyone is trying to replace blogging with twitter and other social media tools, I fear what they are saying and sharing may soon be lost.

Again, you verbalize (well write about) something that is likely on the mids of many. I’ve learned that depending on the time of day, my twitter audience varies greatly. Heck, it probably varies hourly because we all consume twitter based on many different schedules. I can’t say that I know exactly how to distribute my content but I’m experimenting with numerous ways. If you view it all as complementary then it’s easier to have a large overview which I think is necessary as opposed to a micro- view. I suppose this is why we see so many re-tweets. Personally, I’ve found it a bit disheartening of late to read so many bloggers indicating that microblogging is the new blogging. I will miss a lot if my favorite bloggers go that route. It will make me find new voices more actively. And I have to say this now. To all of the bloggers who don’t post for weeks and then apologize in their next post indicating that they’ve been too busy, please stop. We understand that you can’t do it every day but I find those posts to be pretty lame. Okay, off my soapbox.

This is an excellent. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your post. Your snow pictures are fun! Stay warm :) Happy holidays to you and your family. Lori

This is an excellent. Thanks for sharing your thoughts on your post. Your snow pictures are fun! Stay warm :) Happy holidays to you and your family. Lori

Chris,

As a newbie to Twitter and less of a newbie to blogging, your posts are confirming a lot of answers for me. More importantly, they are helping me to figure out how to use the Twitter, Facebook, and Blogs.

Based upon your analogy, I need to examine and validate my information flows: Blog1>Twitter>Facebook status. Blog2>Facebook note. Twitter>Blog2. Blog3(rss feed)>webpage-x. Blog2(rss feed)>webpage-y.

Thanks.

Nice introspective post for a weekend!

This is the sort of heady stuff that most people probably never think about: the underlying significance of what we’re doing.

Many tweets are people sharing links or resources – trying to put stops into the stream. While services like twitturly are an attempt to gather information on all those stops, it is certainly easy to miss many of them. Depending on your goals, that may or may not be ok. Does it make good sense to let your best thoughts and discussions float away?

I love that you extended the “how best to use twitter” argument into the blog space. (Because it’s not about the specific medium, but rather how it’s used). Certainly, some posts may be time-sensitive and only worthy of being viewed for a period of time. But particularly in the social media realm, there are new folks jumping in the stream all the time. How do you ensure they are able to access older quality content?

It seems like it’s primarily the SEO folks that are concerned with “driving deep traffic” and deep-links to older content. Yet it’s not just a matter of rankings-it’s about relevance. Thankfully more folks seem to be aware of the need to highlight “top posts” or “popular subjects”. With the high volume of blog posts, it’s easy to get lost in the river. If we are able to consciously recognize what’s quality content that should not be lost (and no, not everything falls in this category), we can help ourselves and others in learning and sharing most effectively.

Nice introspective post for a weekend!

This is the sort of heady stuff that most people probably never think about: the underlying significance of what we’re doing.

Many tweets are people sharing links or resources – trying to put stops into the stream. While services like twitturly are an attempt to gather information on all those stops, it is certainly easy to miss many of them. Depending on your goals, that may or may not be ok. Does it make good sense to let your best thoughts and discussions float away?

I love that you extended the “how best to use twitter” argument into the blog space. (Because it’s not about the specific medium, but rather how it’s used). Certainly, some posts may be time-sensitive and only worthy of being viewed for a period of time. But particularly in the social media realm, there are new folks jumping in the stream all the time. How do you ensure they are able to access older quality content?

It seems like it’s primarily the SEO folks that are concerned with “driving deep traffic” and deep-links to older content. Yet it’s not just a matter of rankings-it’s about relevance. Thankfully more folks seem to be aware of the need to highlight “top posts” or “popular subjects”. With the high volume of blog posts, it’s easy to get lost in the river. If we are able to consciously recognize what’s quality content that should not be lost (and no, not everything falls in this category), we can help ourselves and others in learning and sharing most effectively.

wow- your mind is amazing. LOL- I shake my head as far as how you see things. Shopping points I got- and streams- I got- but to combine them in this manner- genius dude. Twitter is one of our main tools as well as FB and LinkedIn. But to take it in a whole new thinking direction–Wow- I gotta take a break- and think about this one. Brilliant. Out of the box- shoot- you HAVE no box when it comes to Social media. If God picked a social media agent- your name would be on the scroll. Rocking Hot post!

I have thought about this as well. In both cases (streams and stopping points) the information becomes much more accessible when we have tools to go back and sift through it. Blogs have a temporal aspect as well, right? Depending on how often the writer posts articles the content gets buried by fresh posts. It is through the power of google search and other tools cropping up (Backtype, Disqus, etc) that pull us back to that content even when we miss it.

Twitter is truly a “micro” version of this. The difference is primarily the content that is shared. Rather than an entire article I might share a link to that article to start a ripple of sharing (on Twitter). On Facebook it’s all about leveraging the power of passive sharing. Since Facebook does such a great job at pulling in my activity from all the other social networks I participate in (same with Friendfeed for the most part) it enables me to enter a few settings initially in my feed and it does the rest based on my daily activity on and off the site. Whenever I favorite something on Facebook or save a link to Delicious all my Facebook friends get to see it and partake in my multiple streams coming together as one.

Thanks for the article as usual Chris.

Adam Helweh
@secretsushi

I have thought about this as well. In both cases (streams and stopping points) the information becomes much more accessible when we have tools to go back and sift through it. Blogs have a temporal aspect as well, right? Depending on how often the writer posts articles the content gets buried by fresh posts. It is through the power of google search and other tools cropping up (Backtype, Disqus, etc) that pull us back to that content even when we miss it.

Twitter is truly a “micro” version of this. The difference is primarily the content that is shared. Rather than an entire article I might share a link to that article to start a ripple of sharing (on Twitter). On Facebook it’s all about leveraging the power of passive sharing. Since Facebook does such a great job at pulling in my activity from all the other social networks I participate in (same with Friendfeed for the most part) it enables me to enter a few settings initially in my feed and it does the rest based on my daily activity on and off the site. Whenever I favorite something on Facebook or save a link to Delicious all my Facebook friends get to see it and partake in my multiple streams coming together as one.

Thanks for the article as usual Chris.

Adam Helweh
@secretsushi

Great post. I agree with you and a lot of the comments here. I use twitter to “keep in touch” and also to help drive traffic to blog and website. I think Twitter is a good companion to the blog but should not replace it. Your analogies of streams and stopping points will help me as I continue to try to figure out how to use both!

Thanks Chris. This really helped me think through the issue of what is transitory and what could have some lasting value when it comes to blog posts. For me, it seems to be driven by the nature of the content. If something has a shelf-life, such as commenting on the latest news about the economy, then it belongs as a post. It will gradually fade from view, just as the news itself fades. But if something has ongoing relevance or usefulness, such as a “how-to” piece, then it is probably best to add it to a static page, with a blurb on twitter and in a blog post drawing attention to it. I don’t know if other people feel this way, but I feel a little sad when I put a lot of effort into writing something I think is really good, just to know that it will age before its time.

Thanks Chris. This really helped me think through the issue of what is transitory and what could have some lasting value when it comes to blog posts. For me, it seems to be driven by the nature of the content. If something has a shelf-life, such as commenting on the latest news about the economy, then it belongs as a post. It will gradually fade from view, just as the news itself fades. But if something has ongoing relevance or usefulness, such as a “how-to” piece, then it is probably best to add it to a static page, with a blurb on twitter and in a blog post drawing attention to it. I don’t know if other people feel this way, but I feel a little sad when I put a lot of effort into writing something I think is really good, just to know that it will age before its time.

Great analogy! Thank you.

Well said, Chris.
I was explaining the idea of Twitter and other social media modes if information transportation to a group of people last night. They sorta get it, but the idea of streams and stopping points hits the nail on the head.
I’ll be sure to share this post with them next round.
Thanks,
@MatthewRay

Well said, Chris.
I was explaining the idea of Twitter and other social media modes if information transportation to a group of people last night. They sorta get it, but the idea of streams and stopping points hits the nail on the head.
I’ll be sure to share this post with them next round.
Thanks,
@MatthewRay