Newspapers Buy Blogs A Drink
As you can see, I've joined the masses of people who post their ultra-concise comments on Twitter. I've found it so useful, it's taken precedence on my blog page over my most-recent post. Why? Because more than likely, I'll have five new Twitter posts before anyone realizes I've updated my blog.
Has the traditional blog gone the way of the newspaper? Shunned for its lack of immediacy over a newer technology that provides greater capabilities for social interaction and networking? You bet it has.
But the same answer cannot be given for the following question: Is the blog irrelevant? Ask the same question of newspapers and the answer remains 'No.' I think we're just seeing a sea change of how the medium defines the message online.
My sentiments here would be hard to convey in a single Twitter update... most of my Twitter updates (I refuse to use the phrase 'Tweeting.' If anything, I'm a Twittering Nabob of Negativity, to modernize a phrase from William Safire for Spiro Agnew.) do not merit the kind of writing at length I sometimes do for my blog, and they certainly have little use in a newspaper without being reworked for that format.
If the medium isn't the message, at the very least it's directing traffic to get 'Tweets,' blogs, columns, articles, soundbytes and viral videos to their respective areas for maximum consumption.
So belly up to the bar, blogs. The first round is on us in the newspaper business.
