The Great Debate: Blogging Vs. Twitter- Which is a Better Time Investment?

Posted by Amanda Walsh

This blog post, 19 Reasons You should Blog and Not Just Tweet from Adam Singer at The Future Buzz, caught my eye recently. He highlights the importance of keeping up with blogging while everyone seems to be jumping on the Twitter bangwagon. Here at The PR Lawyer, we have been fans of Twitter for a while now, but I agree with Singer´s reasons for not neglecting your professional/ company blog.

Twitter, is the popular “micro-blogging” service that allows users to “tweet” or post 140-character messages answering the question, “What are you doing?” Singer points out that although Twitter is a great tool to post links and quick updates, that blogging is the “the strongest platform if you’re serious about sharing ideas and having a continued dialog with the world.”

He explains that blogging and tweeting should be done in conjunction, but the long term commitment for a company or professional should be to blogging not tweeting. I’d like to highlight some of his reasons below because I think he has some important points.

1. Having a blog with regular updates shows dedication to your industry. Those who stay committed to posting frequently can easily become thought leaders in their field, whether it´s public relations, marketing, and/or social media expertise.
2. Blogs allow for easy retrival of archived articles that can be valuable resources to consult later.
3. Blogs allow for more control over content and presentation of your work. (Plug-ins for example)
4. Twitter´s content is “snack-sized” while blogs provide a ¨square meal¨ to the readership.
5. A blog provides multiple ways to reach viewers through RSS or E-mail updates as well as full analytics of blog traffic and search engine optimization
6. A well organized and informational blog can be a link that other Twitter users are posting and tweeting about, thus giving you double the exposure.
7. If a blog continues to provide fresh, interesting content for readers, it should be able to withstand the rise and fall of new networking sites that can be popular one day and turn into old news the next week. It remains to be seen if Twitter is here to stay.

While Twitter is great for connecting with other users, drawing readers and drumming up interest, I agree with Singer that blog wrtiting and development should take precendent over Twitter because a blog is your material in your personal web space.

Lastly, Singer notes that while blogging has lost a lot of its original appeal in the long run it will still prove more helpful than Twittering will be when done alone. Ultimatelythose interested in long term growth should maintain a presence on Twitter while maintaining their blogging.