I’ll freely admit that I was a long standing Twitter holdout. With profiles on Facebook, Myspace, Flickr, Behance, Buzznet, Live Journal and my personal blog already clogging my schedule, the motivation for adding another social networking site to my list of engagements was definitely lacking. Months of being preached to about the positive virtues of Twitter fell onto deaf ears.

The turning point came last week when I was staying with a well respected blogging friend in New York City. She explained that for bloggers, Twitter is a worthwhile tool because it can be set up to notify followers of when you’ve updated your blog. Essentially, folks following you on Twitter are provided with a quick, on-the-go reminder of what you’re up to and in return, you can gain some steady traffic to your blog posts.

After one more deft attempt to escape the world of Twitter, my friend took over and signed me up on the spot (while I continued to protest in the background). Within three days, I had 60 ‘followers’. And, the rest is history; a Twitter fiend was born!

While some have found the advent of Twitter (and for that matter, Plurk) to be a distraction from blogging, Darren Rowse of ProBlogger holds the opposite view:

I personally find that Twitter informs and inspires my blogging. The interactions that I have, the conversations that I see others having, the questions that I’m asked and the answers that other users of Twitter and Plurk give me are constantly feeding me with ideas to blog about.

So, why should you join the masses of twittering addicts?

Some Benefits of Twitter:

1. Find Blogging Inspiration

If you’re stumped on what to write about, posting a quick ‘tweet’ (a post or status update) in the form of a question or poll to Twitter can provide a platform for your biggest fans to brainstorm and tell you what they really want. In a matter of minutes, it’s possible to have an abundance of clever ideas gathered on your screen via users from around the world!

2. Remind Followers to Check Out Blog Posts

It is possible to set up a feed that publishes your blog headlines directly to Twitter with a handy link. Some people just don’t have the time to keep up with RSS feeds and linking your article in this manner can be much more user friendly.

3. Readers May Make a More Personal Connection

Twitter has the ability to take on a more spontaneous, playful side of a blogger’s personality. Since tweets are often fired off multiple times a day (whereas a blog post from the same user may go live once a day or even less frequently) and posted on the spot with a maximum of 140 characters, they tend to be short and sweet and more to the point since space is limited. There’s not enough room to defend your views, to delve into a disclaimer, or to give a back story.

When blogging, many of us focus upon a niche topic (examples being music, street style, self improvement, D.I.Y. crafts) and may not want to clutter the front page of our blogs with random, off-topic personal tidbits such as, “I’m in line at the store and just saw Michael Jackson in a wheelchair” or perhaps “Courtney Love just passed me up in a shopping cart!” Yet, these present tense mumblings give those subscribed to your Twitter feed a way to bond with you as a real person, not just the persona they encounter on your blog.

Additional Twitter Pluses:

a. The site is very user friendly. It takes a max of five minutes to sign up and get a profile in place.

b. Unlike the social networking behemoths Myspace and Facebook, Twitter is free of advertising (for now).

c. Keeping track of your favorite posts is easy. If you see a tweet of value, click the star directly to the right of the message and effortlessly bookmark it for future viewing:

The Downsides of Twitter

Of course, not everyone will agree that Twitter is the equivalent of the second coming of Christ. Some points of contention are as follows:

1. Limited Comment Length

Since the number of characters on a Twitter post are limited to 140, it’s not always possible to reply in an intelligent, in-depth manner. Dave Allen’s take on its shortcomings is pretty accurate. He says that:

I still believe a good, well written blog is the place for conversation. Twitter, a micro-blog, is not. I use my Twitter account to drive traffic back to my blog where the conversation can really open up. After all, Twitter only allows 140 characters so truncated updates are the norm, which is fine. On both my blogs, the other being Pampelmoose, I enjoy reading comments that can often be longer than the original post - something that is impossible with Twitter.

2. The Distraction Factor

While firing off short and succinct messages may be fun, the time it takes to do so can add up quickly. Some people become so preoccupied with tweeting that their blog postings begin to dry up. In my view, Twitter is not a replacement for blogging but rather a tool that complements and reinforces blogging efforts.

The Bottom Line

Twitter is a free, easy to use social networking service that isn’t cluttered with ads and other unnecessary applications. If you’re an active blogger, Twitter has the ability to keep on-the-go readers informed and provide them a more personalized experience. If you use it with a purpose in mind, it’s a win-win situation for both you and your subscribers.

Once the mainstream media and the more hysterical tech blogs have got over the fact that the success of the iPhone 3G launch caused Apple’s servers to be overloaded, we can sit back and take stock.

I own the iPhone v.1 and I’m currently happy without 3G access so I remain content with my device. One reason for staying put with the original model is that the new software update from Apple brings some rather cool new applications [or Apps in the vernacular,] that improve the original phone’s productivity.

I chose a couple of productivity apps, Zenbe, a list sharing tool and Jott, a voice to text tool. I got AirMe for uploading my iPhone pictures up to my Flickr account and added MPG and Spend [no link available, tsk, tsk] so if I care I can track my miles per gallon in the Element and set budgets for my gourmand extravaganzas. These apps all perform well without G3 and most were free. One app that fell into the epic fail bucket was Reqall. Couldn’t sign up on the iPhone and couldn’t load the web site either. Fail! Turns out that Jott does the same stuff anyway.

The most interesting app of all is Loopt which enables users to broadcast their whereabouts and send a status of a broad set of services and find interesting locations and reviews nearby. This could be the next breakout social networking platform as it works best from the phone [mobiles, not just the iPhone] and is simple to update ala Twitter. In fact it has a Twitter plug-in so you can post once and hit Twitter too. Follow me on Twitter here.

One problem though - Loopt could be a predators dream. In fact Loopt’s Be Safe page spells out in no uncertain terms that you need to control who has access to your location.

Anyway, here’s my thinking behind the title of this post. David Griner wrote a post entitled Are Blogs Still Good Places for Conversation? which at first glance I took as simply a Google bait tactic. The answer would seem to be “of course they are.” He raises a good point but I still believe a good, well written blog is the place for conversation. Twitter, a micro-blog, is not. I use my Twitter account to drive traffic back to my blog where the conversation can really open up. After all Twitter only allows 140 characters so truncated updates are the norm, which is fine. If I follow Marshall Kirkpatrick on Twitter I get up-to-the-minute breaking tech news from him but I prefer to read his blog at Read Write Web for a more in-depth review. On both my blogs, the other being Pampelmoose, I enjoy reading comments that can often be longer than the original post - something that is impossible with Twitter.

Joining the conversation and being invited in are two things I have stressed when it comes to advising our clients on their forays into social media advertising. A blog is the right venue for extending conversations, not a micro-blog. By all means post links to your original content stories to Twitter so that interested followers can link to your blog. Be sure to use FriendFeed to share your blog posts with others, use Tumblr too for the same reason, but understand that many of the social networking arenas, Twitter, Loopt even Facebook, are way ahead of the general online populations’ capacity to juggle all of them, and those folks not partaking in every widget, bell and whistle are your customers too.

Run a blog, embrace radical transparency, get invited in to communities that might enjoy your products and join the conversation. But whatever you decide to do, don’t do this - OHSU Director’s Blog. If you don’t immediately see why feel free to ask me.

After reading Nubby’s post on The Power of Celebrities as Brands I came across a post on Sasha Frere-Jones’ New Yorker blog where he talks about Jeff Leeds, a music reporter for the New York Times, who was recently laid off. Frere-Jones has entered into an email discussion with Leeds where they discuss music writing and criticism today:

LEEDS: I’m not sure that it’s so easy anymore to write about the art without acknowledging the commerce or vice versa. It’s also just more fun, as a writer, to inhabit the middle. There is a case to be made that the cultural role and the experience of music now are just inextricably tied to commerce and the new ways that artists and listeners perceive each other. Even as a fan, isn’t your relationship with music and artists at least somewhat different depending on whether you subscribe to e-music, share a station with a friend on Pandora, or watch someone’s show on your cell phone? Is U2 still the same U2 if they’re in an iPod ad? I think the message and the medium are much more intertwined than they were ten years ago.

FRERE-JONES: This behavior parallels the world of online friendships, at least in form. People who could just as easily call or e-mail each other decide to make conversations public through blogs or Twitter or MySpace comments. The platform chosen for each message changes the effect of the words, who can read them, and how long they will hang in the air. (The Web is creating a multiple-exposure version of memory: words remain, reappearing over and over, even if nothing more than cocktail chat. “Nice dress!” echoes in the hall of mirrored servers. An LOL is not an LOL is not an LOL.)

LEEDS: I think that sort of transparency, where we’re all declaring our positions publicly, is here to stay. In music it means that all these little tribes and congregations of fans can mobilize in really powerful ways. And that in turn is contributing so much to the changes you see in the relationship between the artists and the machinery, the industry underneath and around them. It’s a crucial space to watch. I always think of music as Patient Zero in all the disorder that is changing everything in entertainment and media, including, by the way, newspapers. It’s worth paying close attention.

Leeds and Frere-Jones are suggesting here that transparency, aided and abetted through the use of social media, affects the way that music fans “perceive” the artists and the music industry. With its machinations no longer hidden from them, fans interact differently with their favorite musicians. As musical artists use their celebrity to sell products one area where this perception could become dangerous is over-exposure.

In an article in the New York Times, Nothing Sells Like Celebrity, the story of the teenage R&B pop star, Rhianna, her song ‘Umbrella’ and her deal with the umbrella manufacturer, Totes Isotoner, is typical of the arrangements made between a celebrity’s brand and a product these days:

“Rihanna and her representatives wanted Totes to do more, however, than merely use her [song] to peddle a product. They wanted Totes to create customized umbrellas featuring sparkly fabrics and glittery charms on the handles — all recommended by the emerging star and her team. Totes also guaranteed the singer a percentage of the sales of the umbrellas”.

Apparently the arrangement between the star and umbrella company was successful but what does this say about the future of music as an art form? As Leeds says - “I’m not sure that it’s so easy anymore to write about the art without acknowledging the commerce or vice versa.” To paraphrase him - Is Rhianna still the same Rhianna if she’s in an umbrella ad? Do her fans blur the line between seeing her in a video on MTV and then seeing her in a Totes ad?

Sales of hip hop and R&B music have dropped off precipitously lately and many have blamed the over commercialization of the music and its ties to products; too much bling in other words. Does hearing a song repeatedly through an advertisement cheapen the artist and the song? And then in turn, does social media - Facebook, Twitter etc, allow these “little tribes” as Leeds calls them, share the idea that ‘too much exposure is quite enough thanks, we’re moving on to the next artist’…become gospel? I think so. Leeds and Frere-Jones are on to something.

As these all important “little tribes” spin off into tightly-knit social groups online, all of which will independently coalesce around their favorite subjects, be it knitting, hang gliding, musicians, movies, actors et al - the large social media sites and networks will fracture into millions of laser-precise spin-offs. As Frere-Jones says, the words and messages of these “little tribes” become “echoes in the hall of mirrored servers.” As he also says, the web and social media are “creating a multiple-exposure version of memory,” - is that U2 on MTV or U2 in an iPod ad, I may ask myself?

Beware all marketers who intend to try and reach these ever-shifting, nomadic, online groups; as I said in a prior post - the people who are members of these groups don’t exist, only their personas do.

The music industry should be careful too. Music becomes cheapened by being used as a commodity to sell products. The artists behind the music have their celebrity enhanced and they then go on to use their brand to sell more products. Music fans understand that music is now a commodity and refuse to pay for it. The music industry and the artists both complain that no one pays for music and to account for the decline in sales accuse us of stealing it online. The commodity is over-priced; no one is buying it.