This section will introduce you to some alternative forms of blogging.
First, we have microblogging. This is a form of blogging that allows users to write brief text updates (usually less than 200 characters) and publish them, either to be viewed by anyone or by a restricted group which can be chosen by the user. These messages can be submitted by a variety of means, including text messaging, instant messaging, email, or the web.
The most popular microblogging site is Twitter. Jaiku is another microblogging site, and while not quite as popular, they are the main competition for Twitter.
For those of you who are using Facebook or MySpace regularly, these microblogging posts are similar to status updates.
Like many other social networking sites we've seen, there are also a variety of mashups and tools available for Twitter.
Some resources to give you more information about Twitter:
The Big Juicy Twitter Guide
Twitter Explained for Librarians, or 10 Ways to Use Twitter from David Lee King's blog
A Guide to Twitter in Libraries from the iLibrarian blog
Another interesting form of alternative is the linkblog. This also employs short blog posts, but instead of just text, the posts are direct links to interesting websites, photos, videos, even quotes. You may also see these referred to as tumblelogs.
Tumblr is a free site where you can create a linkblog.
Here are some examples of some interesting linkblogs:
Steven M. Cohen of the Library Stuff blog is a big fan of linkblogging
Projectionist
The Deplorable Word
And now, let's play with microblogging a bit!
Activities:
1. Go to Twitter, look around, see what you think. Read the articles linked above. Check out some of the Twitter tools/mashups.
2. Create a Twitter account if you are interested.
3. Go to Tumblr and create an account. Make a post or two.
4. Blog your thoughts. What uses can you see for either of these tools?
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