What is Microblogging?

Microblogging is a quick and easy way to maintain a web log (or blog). Traditionally, writing and maintaining a blog can take a few hours to set up. You have to select a theme, plug-ins, install the blogging software, select a host, and so on. Blog posts do not necessarily take a lot of time to create, although text formatting, image selection, and other editing considerations can make blog posts a time-consuming exercise.

In contrast, microblogging is designed for short, quick bursts of text that are published instantly. The idea behind microblogging is to capture a quick thought or idea with ease. To date, microblogs are hosted by a few select organizations, including Jaiku, Pownce, and Twitter. Twitter, in particular, is famous for its ease of use and for its now famous 140 character limit per blog entry. Other platforms, such as Pownce, have fewer restrictions on the size of a blog entry and also allow you to include images and other file attachments.

You can also send links to websites by microblogging. For those sites with a limitation on entry size, additional technology (e.g. TinyURL) is used to compress the size of the hyperlink, which can be very handy indeed.

A Public, Real-Time Stream of Information

Microblogging does not occur in a vacuum. In fact, microblogging is an extremely social function. Microblogging includes friend lists just like instant messenger software or social news websites. You can add people to your friend lists and they can do the same for you. Your friend list allows you to see a personalized feed of microblog updates with a minimal time delay, usually a matter of a few minutes. It's fascinating to watch the stream of microblog entries stream by. Some are clearly public statements of current events, but in other cases people hold conversations with each other by their microblog entries.

On top of that, certain microblog platforms (e.g. Twitter) publish their entire public stream of blog entries. This stream gives you an amazing “stream of consciousness” view of things that are happening on the Web. It's like watching a massive group instant messaging session.

As Versatile as the Swiss Army Knife

Microblogging's greatest strength is in its ease of use. There are a number of ways that you can create a microblogging post:

• Using the microblogging application
• By E-Mail
• Using instant messenger software
• Text messaging from your cell phone

A number of add-ons and extra functions have been created that make microblogging incredibly powerful and flexible. You can use some of these add-ons to link your regular blog to your microblog. The link to your latest blog entry can be sent automatically to your microblog. This is a great way to let your friends know that you've created a new blog post.

Small, but Mighty

There's no doubt that microblogging is helping to revolutionize the art of maintaining a personal weblog. Despite its limitations, microblogging's flexibility and ease of use is making it a big hit on the Web. Who knows: years from now, microblogging may be as commonplace as the cell phone or the iPod.