How Twitter is Making Blogging Better

In the comments to CK's post about my media sponsorship policy, she recommended that I open up a forum on my blog during events that I cover for others to interact, ask questions, take polls, and bring the events to life as much as possible on the blog. I have tried doing this to some degree, but as I noted back to CK, Twitter's much more effective for this.

This is just one way Twitter's making blogging better. Here's a quick recap. I welcome your ideas in the comments, whether you agree or disagree.

• Bloggers post their quick thoughts and links on Twitter so they don't need to post them on their blogs.
• Bloggers get feedback from people who can reply instantly from wherever they want rather than going to the blog and taking the time to compose a comment.
• Bloggers can engage in real-time dialogues with their readers and followers rather than the time-shifted conversation on the blog. This further narrows the gap and deepens the relationship between bloggers and their audiences.

And here's one way Twitter can make blogging worse:

• One prominent blogger, who I won't call out here, includes a daily summary of his Twitter posts on his blog. Very few of those posts are worth syndicating. They only make sense if you follow him. I find myself reading his blog less now because of it.

I do think the pros outweigh the cons though. It's the classic paradigm: it's not the tool; it's how you use it.