Is Microblogging Realy Micro Blogging?

I wasn't a fan of microblogging or Twitter when I first heard about them, but I have come around. My problem with microblogging now is the word. Obviously the messages we send on Twitter-like services (something I will be posting about soon) are considerd micro, but are they really "blog-like?"

I've linked this site before, but Microblink shares news on all the microblogging news. Mike Templeton of microblink.com defined microblogging a month ago. Here is what he defines it as...

microblogging [mahy-kroh-blŏg-ing] verb
A small-scale form of blogging, generally made up of short, succinct messages, used by both consumers and businesses to share news, post status updates and carry on conversations.

It is definitely small-scale messages to share news, post status updates, and carry on conversations. But these short messages are basically instant messages sent to the people you are either friends with or are following you.

If you look at Wikipedia's definition of blogging you will see that basically sharing news is the only thing the two definitions have in common.

A blog (a contraction of the term "Web log") is a Web site, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of events, or other material such as graphics or video.

Now I really like the definition Mike Templeton and the team from Microblink.com came up with, but I think the term microblogging still needs some work. I'm just really sure which direction that work needs to head.

Do you have any ideas? Do you agree or disagree? Leave a comment below.

Linkbaiting: Good Or Bad?

A controversial topic in the blogosphere is whether or not linkbaiting is a good or bad thing. We will cover a couple different topics about linkbaiting and then try and decide on whether or not you should do it.

First, what is linkbait? Linkbait is what bloggers and other Internet users call posts that are written for the sole purpose of receiving a digg or stumble. But since the word linkbait has negative connotations should we continue to call stuff linkbait, and is that word even relevant?

Obviously we all want lots of traffic and Digg and StumbleUpon can provide it, but is writing posts specifically for the purpose of being bookmarked or added to social media sites the right thing to do?

We all should be writing posts full of content that anyone would be happy to bookmark, but if those posts are few and far between than linkbaiting is a problem. On the other hand if you write every post chaulked full of content that is worth of being social media bookmarked than linkbaiting really isn't a bad thing.

Most blogs about blogging have written about linkbaiting but Darren Rowse from ProBlogger has a few posts on it. Take a look at his 20 linkbaiting techniques and his introduction to linkbaiting.

Definitions About The Blogging Community

Blogging is a wonderful community with millions of members all over the world. If you aren't part of the community yet or are just getting started, you might be hearing a bunch of words that you may not understand. Here is a short list as this will be updated with more words and links to specific sites.

• Weblog - A site maintained, usually by an individual, that is updated regularly with comments on many different topics.


• Blog - Shortened version of weblog.


• Blogosphere - The community of bloggers.


• Blogging - The act of writing posts; to blog.


• Post - An entry on a blog.


• Bloggeries - The posts contained on a blog.


• Blogger - Someone who runs and writes on a blog.


• Photolog - A blog with photos taken by the blogger.


• Vlogging - Instead of posts that are written, the vlogger will record a video of them talking and post it to their blog.


• SEO - Search engine optimization is basically things done to a site to improve search engine rankings


• SMM - Social media marketing; marketing towards the social media channels.


• Microblogging - Another form of blogging that is generally short, text message like entries that is available for others to see.