Everything's going micro,
from handhelds to laptops,
and now blogs and URLs have joined the trend.
Microblogging
Just when I began to enjoy blogging on my blogger account, someone introduced me to microblogging. The world's getting faster, I tell you,...and smaller.
Everything's going micro, from handhelds to laptops, and now blogs and URLs have joined the trend.
(For those quick readers, it's fine to scroll down to the last few paragraphs of this article)
I'm a writer. I love to write long and well organized blog posts. However, with microblogging, my words are restricted to just 140 to 150 characters.
"140 characters?" I thought to myself. What in the world can I write using just 140 characters! All my inhibitions faded away once I started using
Twitter- the name that has become synonymous with microblogging and social networking.
Just a few days into Twitter
and I figured out
the power of those 140 characters.
Micro Social Networking
Facebook allows you a lot of activity on its turf. You can be a part of as many "stories" as you like. Your posts are not very much restricted and you can write volumes on your "notes." You can upload your pictures directly from your camera onto the site, and you can comment on your friend's pictures. You can create your own group and invite all your friends to join it, or you can join another group. That's a lot of disk space allotted to you! However, you've got to be disciplined about whom you invite, and cannot add a "friend" unless they confirm you. This restricts the stray marketer and the intruding moneymaker.
Twitter does not make friendship conditional. You can "follow" anyone you like, unless they block you or "protect" their "tweets." At the same time anyone can be your "follower." It's an open platform for moneymakers and marketers alike, and the same goes for the one who is seeking friends and fans.
Just a few days into
Twitter and I figured out the power of those 140 characters. Almost every day I have "followers" pouring in without much action on my part. Yes, many of them are marketers and do not hesitate to say, "Hello."
Now, there are also ways to add a 100 followers a day; however, I'm still a bit slow at blogging (oops...microblogging), and would not like to delve into that at full steam. I'm not a full time blogger; so whether it is blogs or microblogs, you will see a little activity on my part every now and then.
Note: You may soon see third party contextual ads on Twitter, just like the ones you see on Facebook.
Microblogging has created another need:
the need to shorten URLs.
Micro URLs
Microblogging has created another need: the need to shorten URLs. Most tweeters would like to save on character space, and this is where URL shorteners come in.
Tinyurl has been in business for many years now, helping one to shorten URLs mainly for masking the actual URL.
Bit.ly and
tr.im have gone a few steps further by shortening the URLs even more. That's not all; you can even post your URLs directly to
Twitter with just the click of a mouse. Furthermore, you can get detailed statistics as to how many people have clicked on your newly shortened URL and how it is performing throughout.
Lessons from Microblogging
That 140 word restriction can teach you a lot:
- to be concise
- to write to the point and not ramble around
- to get the maximum impact from minimum words
- to be restrained in your phraseology and get cracking with business
Here's the bottom line:
Twitter has fewer features as compared to facebook, and yet the impact it has been having proves that if you've got to make a point, words need not be many.
So, don't waste your words! There is power in a few words!
-ContentScoop
September 10, 2009
