Blogs in the Age of Twitter
What happens to a blog when its creator moves on down the road to Twitter?
In a time of such interesting and important issues — energy policy, overseas reform movements, Project Runway leaving Bravo for Lifetime — this is hardly the most earth-shattering of questions. But as the increasingly scattershot nature of my blog updates suggests, it’s a question I’m still trying to figure out.
When I started Goddess of Clarity five years ago, it was the only manifestation of my “online presence” (and I couldn’t even tell ya what the hell an “online presence” was). Now, in addition to the blog, I have a Twitter account and a Facebook profile. I’m on Flickr, LinkedIn, and Ning. Even “old school” sites like Amazon, eBay, and Netflix have personal or “social” layers that encourage some form of community or communication among their users.
So where does the blog fit it?
If there is a continuum of the purely personal to the purely professional, I have always thought of Goddess of Clarity as purely personal. I made a decision when I started the blog to not write about work-related topics. I think that’s gotta change, and it’s been my use of Twitter that has led me to change my mind.
If we used to say that “the personal is political,” I think we can now say that “the personal is professional” (I first read that on Twitter, of course, but I can’t remember who said it.) In my professional life as the Web editor for the University of Rochester, it’s a good thing to inject a healthy dose of my personality into what I do every day and how I think and talk about what I do with others. That’s what Twitter has taught me, and it’s led me to re-think what I write about here on Goddess of Clarity.
So taking the social media “big three” — Twitter, Facebook, and blogs — here is my new breakdown of the role each plays in my “online presence”:
Twitter (@LoriPA) — mostly professional, with a healthy dose of the personal
Facebook (www.facebook.com/lori.packer) – mostly personal; goofy stuff that would never clutter up my Twitter stream
Goddess of Clarity — the sweet spot in between; my take on events in my personal life, popular culture, and politics; but also professional issues in higher education, Web development, etc.
Of course, the number of people who care about this can be counted on the fingers of one clumsy shop teacher’s hand. But as I wrote in my first-ever blog post:
I’ve created this blog for myself really, as a way of making some sense of the jumble of thoughts that passes as my brain. I may already be overreaching.
By adding some of the professional into what has been purely personal, I hope maybe that Goddess of Clarity can be a little less of a purely navel-gazing exercise and little more of a contribution — however small — to an ongoing conversation.
And don’t worry: I’ll still watch the Oscars so you don’t have to.
–lori
June 21st, 2009 at 6:50 pm
Okay then Goddess! I am waiting! What with Twitter, Facebook, your blog etc.. I am surprised you have any time left for just living! And you still haven’t answered my question about Vaughan’s pub in Kilfenora.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Ah yes, the big three. I must confess that I am not a big Twitter fan, I update only once a week or so (as Spinneret), and my updates are protected. For some reason, it doesn’t weird me out for a stranger to read my blog, but I have no idea why that same stranger would want to read my Twitter updates. Facebook has been great for finding long-lost friends.
June 22nd, 2009 at 3:49 pm
YP — I know, I’ve been a bad, bad goddess — and I missed your question entirely! My apologies. Yes, that Guiness sign was outside Vaughn’s pub in Kilfenora — well spotted. The pub was recommended by an Irish co-worker; he said it served as a location for the late, great “Father Ted.” We were sitting outside having a pint on a gorgeous late afternoon, and a woman leaned out the door of a house right across the street from the pub and shouted, “Martin, your tea’s on!” An old guy came running out of the pub and into the house. My friend (the big guy in the photos) sighed into his pint and said, “I want to live here.”
June 23rd, 2009 at 6:47 pm
I’ll drink a Smithwick’s to that! Happy you’ve redefined your purpose. Hope we can keep up with movie reviews as well and maybe continued political / social topics-of-the-day.
Ireland….boy I’d sure like to visit there someday……
Carry On Young Lady Goddess!!