Microblogging 101 : What Are You Doing?

Filed under Social Media |

If blogs are composed of short stories, microblogs are haiku collections. Where a blog post may contain a few hundred words, a microblog post is usually restricted to only a few hundred characters. (In Twitter’s case, the maximum length of a “tweet” is only 140 characters.)

Microblogging refers to the posting of brief updates about what a person is doing, observing, thinking, feeling, tasting, working on, railing against, irritated about, …and so on. Microblogging tools allow you to answer, “What are you doing?” RIGHT NOW. Because of its emphasis on the immediate experience, microblog posts tend to be more personal. So how does this help you and your organization or business?

The answer to that question depends on which microblogging service you use. Here are the top three:

• Twitter – The most popular and widely-adopted microblogging service, Twitter allows you to post updates – “tweets” – via SMS text message, the website, or third-party desktop clients. Because it was designed to be used with mobile devices, each message is limited to 140 characters. In addition to its broader audience, the advantage of Twitter is its use as a research tool via crowdsourcing and the numerous applications that have been developed to maximize its utility.
  
  
• Tumblr – Tumblr is microblogging software designed specifically to make it easy to post in small bites. When you create a new post, Tumblr makes it easy to share quotes, bits of chat conversations, music, video, photos, and links through pre-made templates. Many bloggers who already have a regular blog use Tumblr as their “link blog,” posting article-length pieces on their regular blog while pointing to offbeat internet discoveries on their tumblelog.

Other microblogging services worth mentioning are Pownce, Plurk, Jaiku, and Yammer. Pownce is like a robust version of Twitter, allowing you share files with friends and add more information about yourself on your page, including other social networking profiles. Plurk is Twitter on a timeline. Jaiku is the Google-bought version of Twitter. Yammer is the business-oriented version of Twitter: only other members of your company – or others with the same email url – can join your group, so conversations stay internal.

Microblogging tools can be used for your organization in the following ways:

• To research trends and hot topics
• To share links to blog posts, articles, press releases, pictures, videos, podcasts, etc. (or to share the actual material, as opposed to just the links)
• To keep in touch with colleagues
• To track projects: work in progress, milestones, etc.
• To learn what “thought leaders” are thinking
• To get event notices
• To learn of opportunities
• To meet and commune with like-minded people
• To blow off steam (stress can be a killer!)

As with all social media, you first have to determine the goals you want to achieve for your organization; then test each service to find which one helps you best achieve them.