I’m not the only one who feels that Twitter has eaten my blog. Musician Mike Doughty blogs recently about the book he’s writing, a memoir of his time in Soul Coughing and being an addict then being sober. Embedded in that is this paragraph:
Blogging, as an art form, isn’t as fun as micro-blogging. Writing on Twitter, I think, is a better form of communication on the web; I’m a fan of parameters as a creative tool. So my real blogging has suffered. I’m trying to get back on the horse, though; I’m trying to generate thoughts that take longer than three lines to express. It is, of course, a thankless struggle.
I’ve started shutting down HootSuite for hours at a time. All the criticisms I’ve made about microblogging still stand. The whole reason I’m involved in any of new media – blogging, podcasting, self-publishing – is that I want to own my own shit and control my own destiny. I’m one of the few holdouts in my circle by not wanting to carry around an always-on device buzzing constantly with social media status messages. I want to think slower, react slower, write at greater length and cogitate more deeply on issues.