A while back, I wrote a post on Google Reader as a casualty of Twitter. Since tools like Twitter and FriendFeed provide instant access to the activities, thoughts, blog postings and insights of your 1,000 closest friends, reading blogs posts the old-fashioned way was starting to feel a bit clunky.
"Progress is made by lazy men looking for easier ways to do things."
--Robert A. Heinlein
Recently, my buddy Mitch Joel commented on this phenomenon--that some bloggers were abandoning their blogs for Twitter, with its 140-character limit and short-attention-span theater. He insists that blogs aren't dead: I think the people saying "Blogging is dead" are those who are not
passionate writers by nature, and are simply focused on the next shiny
object.
(Ooooh! Twitter shiny! Wait; I need to Twitter this... where was I?)
My most esteemed colleague Mitch has a point. Those who are not particularly passionate about writing might find Twitter an easier and more comfortable means of communication than researching and writing out a coherent blog article. Those of us who love to communicate and who are simply average writers (or maybe even a little bit lazy writes) love Twitter. Or Facebook. Or podcasting. Or Skyping. Or text chat, SMS, webinar participation, even down-home meat-space coffee. For some of us, writing out our thoughts isn't always a easily-flowing daily activity.
Me, I have a passion for communicating. I love live, real-time communication above all else. I've spent the last 10 years giving live presentations for my clients, not knowing when the tech would fail or what questions would be asked afterwards. Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of the spoken word than of the written word; I was podcasting long before I was blogging, and I still feel my best work is in Diary of a Shameless Self-Promoter rather than here at Talk It Up. I have a passion for communicating, and to me, writing is the painful process you have to go through to get to a really great presentation, conversation or podcast.
So I think Mitch is onto something here. And I think that the people constantly creating new social media tools are onto it, too. I think they know some of us are just plain lazy and are out there innovating because they know we have the passion; we just also sometimes want the shortcuts.
I wonder if Jack Dorsey got the idea for Twitter by watching too many of his blogging buddies saying, "You know, I have some ideas, but I just don't feel like sitting down and writing out a blog post." I wonder if Adam Curry sat on his couch, saying, "You know, I bet a lot of people could have really great radio shows if they didn't have to find a producer, studio and marketing support." I wonder if Mark Zuckerberg was hanging out in Harvard yard, saying, "You know, I bet my friends could have a much better social life if they could stay in touch online at any hour of the day or night."
And there is a huge amount of value in these new tools targeted at us lazy slackers who are looking for an easier way to write, blog and communicate. If we all had the patience and drive to blog prolifically, would my favorite obsession, Twitter, ever have been created? If we all were masters of our calendars, interpersonal communication skills and time management, would there have been a need for Facebook?
Hi, I'm Heidi Miller. I'm a lazy blogger. And a Twitter and podcasting addict. Those are easier for me. What is easier for you? What innovation would your lazy butt like to see created to make your life easier?
