Blogging versus Twitter

I've been thinking about this a lot. I've noticed that my private blogging, which is not available to the world only a few friends, has dropped precipitiously since I started using Twitter. And this blog, which I thought I would use more, hasn't had a lot of posts either. This is definitely the Twitter effect on me, and I kind of like it. Feeling Entropy has been thinking about this too, likening quick easy blogging to fast food, as opposed to longer well crafted posts.

Here's the difference, for me:

I try to use the blog for long, well thought out posts. I don't really care for posts that are simply a link and "Hey, look at this!". Not that I mind linking to other sites, as long as the post does a nice job explaining why it's important that you examine this particular link. I prefer to use blogs as a discussion, an explanation of a topic.

Twitter, on the other hand, has become my fast food post. The 140 character limit allows me to just do a quick "Hey, look at this!" post. Also, people seem to be scanning their Twitter feeds more frequently than their blog readers. Personally, I have almost 1000 unread blog posts in Google Reader. I say almost, because I fight to have it under 1000 as Reader flips a bit and says 1000+. Apparently, I like to know the numbers exactly. But I do scan almost all the 143 people I'm following on Twitter daily.

So, where is all this leading us? Are we truly going down the route, as Feeling Entropy says, of a fast food blogging culture? Now that it is easy, we'll produce less quality? I don't know. But strangely, I feel as if my Twitter feed is having more impact than this blog. 

Or maybe that's just because the Twitter effect means I write here less.