Louis Gray

Of course Twitter can be used for Microblogging! It's just that it doesn't *have* to be. - Martin Bryant

That guy sure is full of himself - Gabriel

I actually agree with some of what he is saying. Twitter is an infrastructure component to get messages across. Of course, in its raw form, it can be used for micro-blogging, location sharing, link exchange and other data amongst pre-established relationships, but in its true form, it is just a messaging system and there is nothing wrong with that. I am yet to see anyone use it purely as a publishing system - Shivanand Velmurugan

Somehow microblogging is not blogging anyway, so why bother? - Nikos Anagnostou

Linkbait as well as shoddy conclusion reaching. Hmnnn the word I am looking for is either biased or just extremely grumpy. - Mathew A. Koeneker

Lewis - I am trusting you to filter those items out for me. ;) - Mathew A. Koeneker

Like I said on his blog. It is a tool and used as such. - Mathew A. Koeneker

Just as an example check out the last two twitter posts and their comments in FF. http://friendfeed.com/mati - Mathew A. Koeneker

This whole "microblogging and/or Twitter is somehow less pure than the pearls of wisdom that litter every 'real' blog" is getting ridiculous. Some people tweet boring nonsense. Some people blog boring nonsense. Some people tweet interesting things that start discussion. Some people blog interesting things that start discussion. Twitter has not brought down the quality of blogging, and this disdain for it baffles me. - eve shot first

If Mashable pays traffic bonuses, that guy is going to Disneyworld. - Chris Baskind

@Evangeline I think Steven makes a few really valid points, but you're right. I've seen my share of really insightful tweetversations. I have also seen the prattle he describes. Twitter is just a platform, and it becomes whatever you make of it. If you want to do mini-posts to your followers all day long, then for you it's a "micro-blogging tool" (whatever that means). If you want to use it as an IRC channel, so be it. - Steve Spalding

@Louis I couldn't agree more. I'm never seen Twitter as more than a glorified IM service. In fact, it's always reminded me of chatrooms from back in the day because we use it mostly to communicate with complete strangers, whereas IM services typically are for conversations with friends (i.e. people who you've actually been in the physical presence of, and spend time with in the real world). - Jasmin Smith

Finally! - Lawrence via twhirl

Disagree. It's a tool, if you fill it with inane garbage, that's the bloggers fault. If you pull twitters into a blog (as I'm contemplating doing) or load it into FriendFeed where it garners comments, it becomes very close to blogging. The only difference is giving up the increasingly antiquated idea of driving traffic to a website you own, and the lengths of the "tweets". Pull the tweets out of the contextual prattle on Twitter and it's a whole new ball game. - Jason Kaneshiro

@ Jason - Nail/Head. Well Done. - Iain Baker

@Jason Twitter is obviously a very useful tool (when it's working) but based on the way it is predominantly used, it falls more in the category of IM than Microblog. For example, it's a great tool for broadcasting a new blog post, or getting advice re social media, or generating feedback in general... in other words, it's a great way to drive traffic to your blog, but twitter as a blog, or microblog is give it more credit than it deserves. - Jasmin Smith

I refrained from commenting on this thread, but the core of twitter is related to "what are you doing?" within 140 chars. I was not designed for blogging, or IM or any such stuff.. it was meant to help users , let other users what they were doing. However, community in and by itself have found fancier ways to leverage twitter for bloggin, some for IM (If you use DM), or spamming. - Peter Dawson

@Jasmin We may have to return to the definition of a blog. Is it a website with content that's meant to garner traffic, RSS subscribers, and pageviews for ad purposes? Or is it a conversation starter, communication tool, idea generator? I'm more focused on the latter, and therefore Twitter is just another communication mechanism that supplements and could even supercede a blog. - Jason Kaneshiro

This is interesting. I guess the problem is that there is no one true definition of the term blogging. If you believe that blogging is a way to update your status, then it makes sense that twitter is a micro-blogging service. But if you believe that blogging is a way to publish content online, then Twitter can in no way be micro-blogging. I think that the Mashable author is viewing blogging as the later. That is, a way to publish content online and not an online "public diary". - Jay Cruz

I refer to Twitter as a social instant messenger. - Andrew Dobrow

Oh, look, someone else that wants to tell me that what he's doing is cool and what I'm doing is crap. Where the only difference is -- well, there really isn't any. I remember when we invented writing, there was this guy who was all "That's garbage! How are you expected to capture nuance with some simple figures like that! This is wall-painting, this is expressive! How dare you call yourself communicating!" Of course, back then we could just beat him to a stinking, bloody pulp and after stomping around in the mush of his decapitated head scrawl, "Ha ha, I'm gay!" with an arrow pointing down the wall at his body before walking off, whistling a jaunty tune. Man, I miss the old days. - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver

actually, alex, the guy ranting about the lack of subtlety in writing was quite right, he also didn't mention how addicting it would be, and that it would take millenia to recall that there is meaning beyond words, in fact more than is found in words ... - Gregory Lent

@Gabriel - thanks for that very asute observation and it did a termendous amount to add to the conversation - please keep it up I appreciate it. - Steven Hodson

@Chris Baskin - no trip for me unfortunately - Steven Hodson

@Alexander Williams - chill out bud .. no where did I suggest that how anyone is using Twitter as being crap. I only talked about how I don't like the idea of calling it a microblogging tool. If you feel justified is calling it such a thing all the more power to you but I neither suggested what I was doing as being cool and Twitter as being crap. If anything I have written many time on winExtra where I believe that Twitter actually holds out great promise so instead of trying to slap me around to justify how you use it take a deep breath and chill out - Steven Hodson

@Steven Hodson (stevenhodson): What you may or may not like really doesn't have a bearing on the facts, though. If there are people using Twitter for microblogging (and there are), then it's a microblogging tool. Period. That's not really an issue for debate; it is what it is. As for not suggesting what folks who microblog on Twitter are producing crap, well, I quote: "If anything, as a blogger I find it insulting that Twitter is even considered to be in the same field as blogs or even micro-blogs." You're insulted they're considered in the same field? We have a word for that: pretentious, elitist crap. I cop to it when I engage in it, you should at least have the same cojones. - Alexander Williams via NoiseRiver

A-MEN Most of the people I'm following are still utilizing it as a micro-blogging tool but there are a few who feel the need to let the entire world know they get out of the house. What're you trying to prove? Btw, Tweeting inside movie theaters = TACKY - Mona N.

@Alexander - how is what I said insinuating that what people are using Twitter for as being crap. in fact I have sad exactly the opposite in the past - http://www.winextra.com/2008/0... - just because I don't see how Twitter is being used as being on par with many of the blogs out there is not being elitist it is expressing a person opinion. As to copping to when I have been wrong about something I am not afraid to do that either - http://www.winextra.com/2008/0... - Steven Hodson

can anyone point to a twitter feed that can be considered as microblogging? Thnx. - costis

One glaring omission from this post is the author's definition of what a blog is. It says a lot about the choice of tone if you only write negative, openly ego-driven ("...I find it insulting that Twitter is even considered to be in the same field as blogs...") posts. Did anyone learn anything from this post besides the author's bias? - Bryan Landers

It's silly to imply that blogging should be elevated to some higher level. Surely you're read enough blogs to know that lots are crap too. That doesn't mean that the use of Twitter that some people make isn't great. Micro-blogging is a perfectly legitimate term for Twitter. - Michael C. Harris