The rise and rise of Social Media

Evan Williams Image by Getty Images via Daylife

There haven’t been many new posts on this blog over the past several weeks. Have I stopped blogging? Not entirely. But time is at a premium, and for a casual blogger like me, there are a great many social online tools competing for a slice of my (limited) online social activity.

So if I’m sharing little snippets here and there, Twitter and Facebook have become key platforms (for me and – I believe – many others). A blog post is reserved for those occasions where there is something longer to say, when time permits. And these days, time is not very forgiving.

So the microblogging premise of Twitter, for example, which limits tweets to 140 characters, is hugely time-saving and a lot less hassle. I can choose to post a message on Twitter, or Facebook – or both – depending on the nature of the message. By using an interface like Ping.Fm, Yoono (Firefox plug-in) or by linking my Facebook profile with Friendfeed (just a few examples) I can disseminate a single status update to multiple platforms simultaneously.

The other thing of course is that with these microblogging platforms or status updates, I can engage in almost instant and open (and very often lively) conversation.

I think blogging will remain an important element of the social media universe for a long time, but will become more and more reserved for professional bloggers, those whose careers are closely linked to (or depend upon) their blogs and online journalists who can dedicate the time and effort required to write quality content on an ongoing basis. For the casual online trooper, Twitter and Facebook hit the mark with their many different uses, and their popularity will continue to soar.

That’s not to say I won’t be posting any more blogs here. Jemstep is ripping ahead, things are frenetically busy and our private launch is around the corner. I’ll keep you posted.