I’ve been asked a number of times this question and whether or not it’s a good practice; I’ve decided that it might be worthwhile to discuss here on this blog.
A common practice (or a practice that’s becoming more common) is to simply use one’s tweets as blog posts, either in summary fashion or like a timed digest. This can be completely automatted with a number of plugins, etc.
Is this a good practice or not?
Personally, I’m not a fan. I’m not sure how much value it gives your readers unless you find that the majority of your readers are in fact not Twitter users. But, even then, how “boring” is it to read just your daily tweets on a blog post?
Yes, there’s something to be said about not having enough time to blog and I need something there but I find that pretty weak – If you’re going to tweet then just tweet, but don’t make them into blog posts.
I’m willing to be swayed here though; prove me wrong! What are your thoughts?
dannyjbixby says
First thought: Lamesauce
Second thought: Perhaps this could be used by someone who rattles off 478 tweets in a row because they're really tweeting paragraphs and/or novels at a time into twitter in tiny chunks. You know who you people are…
But that's not the point of twitter, they're using it for something that it's not, and frankly I stop following people who take up an entire 3 pages of my feed at once.
Summary: Lamesauce
Jim says
I'd rather read a Posterous post….but if i go to a blog on my gooreader everyday and all that is there is the same stuff i can get on friendfeed? what's the point? and if you've got time to tweet, cut them back to 1/2 time and spend that time blogging. make a plan, stick to the plan.
Phillip Gibb says
hmmm, I have seen that, can't say I liked that. A better approach would be to use your tweets to create a buzz for an upcoming blog post and then after the post to draw more attention to it.
otherwise it just becomes an RSS feed of tweets.
maybe there is value in blogging certain tweets, maybe because the discussion on twitter developed into something worthwhile taking further in a more central and less busy nexus
jaledwith says
I totally agree with your last statement. I like when it's used in crowdsourcing. Example: blogger asks a question on Twitter, answers/opinions are sent back. Blogger uses the original question and the answers given to create a post and continues the conversation using that post.
Example in action: http://smarterware.org/1590/whats-the-best-projec…
wvpv says
i do a weekly digest and have a separate category on my blog for it. It's been good archive/reference for me and hopefully interesting to my readers to don't like or aren't interested in twitter.
@christopherbmac says
I think reading a post of tweets is like reading a disjointed conversation. Besides, if I already follow you, then I've proabably read your twitter posts already and wouldn't bother reading them a second time.
joannamuses says
Why not put your tweets in the sidebar of your blog? Then they are there for everyone to read but aren't clogging up the rss readers of people who already follow you on twitter.
Trey Bowles says
I think the purpose of a blog is to expound upon more than 140 characters of "what can I say to impress people" (aka Twitter)and more about what is going on in your mind, in your life, and in your world. The other thing I like about blogs vs. twitter is that twitter is a push technology vs. blogs which invites the user to come to the host site and find information. In the end, tweets have their place and blogs have their own, but sooner or later if you are using your tweets as blogs, people will find you and out and lose interest in your message and what you have to say… My $0.002
@katdish says
I suppose it depends on what you tweet. I do a "best of" every Friday, which is always one of my biggest days. But to just post everything you tweeted the entire week is both lazy and lame.
bman says
You're also CRAZY WEIRD which is probably why you get so much traffic that day. I know I check it. The post did make me think of you though. Ha!
Helen says
Doesn't bother me. I like to see what they highlighted. What a person considers important enough to reshare helps me to get to know them a little better, because they are saying "Attention! These are the most important of my thoughts!"
I have done a couple of Friday Twitter Ho posts myself. I find that I am sharing my thoughts in a new way, because I don't post every tweet, just those that I particularly wish to highlight. My favorite is to highlight a twitter conversation from beginning to end, and not just my own tweets.
wvpv says
I'm definitely not in favor of a blog post for every tweet, but I don't see a problem in posting a summary of tweets.
I guess it all depends on how much you tweet. If John was posting tweets on his blog, then I'd say it wouldn't be a good idea. Me on the other hand…
@tommcfarlin says
Yeah so I'm not such a big fan of this.
Blogging your tweets kinda of dillutes the purpose of blogging. This isn't to say that tweets can't be thoughtful or offer value via their content, it's just that are two separate things.
Then again, I think it's fine for people to post links to their recent blog articles from their Twitter account (as long as it's not the sole purpose of their Twitter account).
Jeff says
I agree with you John. I think tweeting is a good way to get people to your blog. The real value in tweeting is to let people know you have something valuable to say on your blog.
J
nerrad says
Two reasons I publish weekly tweet digests on my blog (and both admittedly for myself, not necessarily my readers):
1. To archive all my tweets. There are a few different ways to do this but I choose to use my blog (Twitter search doesn't provide a way to search tweets past a certain time period – which appears to be variable).
2. Archiving allows me to search through ALL my tweets without being dependent on a third party service for accessibility to my tweets.
I agree however that a blog containing just tweet posts (digest or single) is a bit lame (something that my blog is lately…) which is why when I get around to redesigning my blog I won't make the twitter digest posts so visible.
Here's another thought for twitter implementation on a twitter blog. On my blog I use a WordPress plugin that allows me to show all tweets on twitter around a particular search term/tag. Where this is really cool is when you want to show twitter conversation around a particular post with that post. You can see an example in the sidebar of my post on Donate Friday
nerrad says
Two reasons I publish weekly tweet digests on my blog (and both admittedly for myself, not necessarily my readers):
1. To archive all my tweets. There are a few different ways to do this but I choose to use my blog (Twitter search doesn't provide a way to search tweets past a certain time period – which appears to be variable).
2. Archiving allows me to search through ALL my tweets without being dependent on a third party service for accessibility to my tweets.
I agree however that a blog containing just tweet posts (digest or single) is a bit lame (something that my blog is lately…) which is why when I get around to redesigning my blog I won't make the twitter digest posts so visible.
Here's another thought for twitter implementation on a twitter blog. On my blog I use a WordPress plugin that allows me to show all tweets on twitter around a particular search term/tag. Where this is really cool is when you want to show twitter conversation around a particular post with that post. You can see an example in the sidebar of my post on Donate Friday
Adam Lehman says
ditto.
I just post a weekly digest of my tweets. I exclude all replies & hashtagged items so it’s not just crap (mostly…)
stephenbateman says
Darren Rowse at ProBlogger does it, and I respect him for his blogging moxie, thousands (literally) of times higher than mine.
But I find that 1. Almost none of my tweets are worth reading a week later and 2. they aren't cohesive.
Number one is a concern, why aren't tweets worth reading later? Is it worth saying, or just adding to the noise?