Blog Off?

Last week, following my quick poll on blogging & tweeting, Gráinne Conole started an Is Twitter killing Blogging? discussion on Cloudworks. The excellent discussion has ended now but I’d promised I’d blog and very much wanted to sooner but finding the time… what with all that tweeting…

First, the overall results of my poll, which are based on 53 responses as I have removed the 7 respondents who have never blogged.  Results in full


Interestingly, when I answered the poll I chose about the same but looking at my blog stats I now realise I should have said less!  I wonder if any others made my mistake?

Many of the comments on Cloudworks ring true for me. Like Kate Boardman, Terry Wassall & others I’ve struggled to ‘find time’ to write blog posts. My August contribution to the VLE – PLE debate was one I’d mentally drafted following Graham Attwell’s keynote at April’s Plymouth Elearning Conference! I’m also finding, like Juliette Culver, that since my tweeting has increased I’ve been following feeds less and get to many blog posts via Twitter.  However, as the majority of the bloggers that I follow also tweet this is not a problem for me.  I also agree with John Pallister’s suspicion that many of the bloggers I follow have been blogging less recently which in some cases seems to be Twitter-related.

Quality Conversations

Is Twitter killing blogging?  Although the numbers might be down, I don’t think it is.  As Steve Wheeler noted there is a great synergy between blogging and tweeting and I think it’s more a case of them complementing each other (BTW – I’ve never been happy with the micro-blogging label for Twitter for me it’s all about social networking).  Twitter is increasing the connections between us and and in effect bringing more people into the conversation which can only be a good thing.  The recent VLE-PLE debate is a great example of this.  Steve kicked off the latest round on his blog but it was his (& others) use of Twitter that brought people into the conversation, some of whom went on to blog, including myself, with that blog post I’d saving up since April (see above)!

The blog-twitter discussion was an appetiser for the Great VLE-PLE Debate™ at ALT-C 2009.  Having eaten too much of the appetiser I opted out of that session but what has been great is the way I have been able to re-visit it thanks to Cloudworks.

Cloudworks works

I’ve followed the development of Cloudworks for a while now with some scepticism.  However, it’s use around the VLE-PLE debate and this blogging-Twitter discussion has really changed my views. I now get it, see a purpose and think it could have a really important role to play as an aggregator, a record and focal point for our discussions.  Gráinne has explained the Cloudwork’s team’s current thinking on how cloudworks might be used as it develops and I certainly give a big thumbs up to the conference cloudscapes and flash debates cloudscapes!

PS This blog post, including the related reading on Cloudworks and beyond, has probably taken me over 2-hours BUT has been well worth it. I whole-heartedly agree with Niall Sclater that “[blogging] helps to get your thoughts in order in a way that twitter doesn’t”.

Last week, following my quick poll on blogging & tweeting Grainne Conolestarted a great Is Twitter Killing Blogging? discussion on Cloudworks. The

discussion has ended now but I’d promised I’d blog and very much wanted to

sooner…

First the overall results of my poll:

I started blogging in April 2008.  Despite having a Twitter account not long

after that my tweeting didn’t really take off until ALT-C 2008. I voted…

but…

Many of the comments made by others ring true for me…

Like Kate Boardman, Terry Wassall I’ve struggled to ‘find time’ to write blogs.

My August contribution to the VLE – PLE debate was one I mentally drafted

following Garham Atwel”s keynote at Aprils Plymouth Elearning Conference!  I’m

also finding, like Juliette, that since my tweeting has increased I’ve been

following feeds less and getting to blog posts via Twitter which is fine. I

also agree with John Pallister’s suspicion that many of the bloggers I follow

have been blogging less recently which in some cases seems to be Twitter

related.

Quality Conversations
As Steve Wheeler has noted there is a great synergy between blogging and

tweeting, While the tools do overlap to a certain extent for me it’s more a

case of complenting each other (I’ve never been happy with the micro-blogging

label for Twitter for me it’s all about social networking!).

The recent VLE-PLE debate is a great example of this

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