Blogging vs Tweeting

So in my last post I included a small blurb about how interacting with social media isn't quite the same as blogging. Keen readers like Night Owl and Tony caught onto that and agreed. Today I thought I'd expand on that a little more. Weighing the pros and cons of both and comparing the apples and oranges. Not to see which is better, but to show that both have different roles to play.

Now when I say Twitter, you could really replace it with any of the big social media sites. Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, Discord, LinkedIn, Mixi, Myspace, VK, it's all the same. In the end they're all sites that save and sell your personal info and use big data to try to manipulate you. But we use them anyway because you might as well be cast off on an island if you don't have a social media presence in this day and age.

Before we start, let me just say that these are based on my experiences with both being a blogger and a Tweeter. They'll probably differ from yours depending on how different your usage of your blog and Twitter accounts are from the way I use mine.

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So I think we should start with things that blogging and Twitter have in common, as well as what they don't have in common and see where things go from there.

The first thing they have in common is that both offer you a platform (of sorts) to say whatever is on your mind. Want to blog/tweet about baseball card backs of certain obscure cards? Sure, go ahead. Want to blog/tweet about things that have absolutely nothing to do with baseball or sports? Sounds great.

That said this brings up the first major difference between the two. Exactly how much you can say. I don't mean that as in you need to censor what you want to say (although you should really think through what you put out there on the internet, it's your inescapable permanent record). I mean it in terms of literal limits placed on Twitter not allowing you to use more than 280 characters.

With Blogger or WordPress or whatever the fuck people want to use, anyone could write entire novels about any topic they want. With Twitter you have to keep it to 280 characters. Of course you could create long Twitter threads but if it exceeds more than three chain tweets, the average Twitter user will tune out and think you're a moron for not just starting a blog.

This is why I think Twitter is better suited for hot takes and mundane thoughts that don't have enough meat on them to sustain their own blogpost. I mean I'm sure a lot of us with both blogs and Twitter accounts have had random thoughts pop up in our heads related to baseball cards, but we know that they could never carry an entire blogpost so we just put them up on Twitter. Granted maybe some of those thoughts get incorporated later into bigger blogposts, but the point remains that Twitter is better suited for being a wall where you fling shit against it and see what sticks. Whatever sticks may end up being able to beef up another blogpost.

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Another thing that blogging and Twitter have in common is that you can be a part of some really nice small communities.

We all have our own little collecting hub here on our corner of the blogosphere. Chances are we all have something similar on Twitter. The internet connects us to so many people now that it's very scary and overwhelming, but it can be fun if everyone plays their proper part. I think the blogging community here is as close as it's going to get to a good online community comprised of strangers with only one hobby being what connects them. It's not perfect but compared to the online card communities I've seen on message boards, yeah this is as good as it gets lol.

With Twitter, chances are the community will be a bit bigger. After all it's one of the biggest social media sites ever and not every collector out there has a card blog. That has it's benefits as you have more people to talk to and engage in conversation with (maybe trade/buy/sell some stuff you all need). But it also has its drawbacks because you're going to be dealing with a lot more people who only have a Twitter profile as a frame of reference. Can you really trust that person? Not just with your cards but with your address and personal info in general? This is where you have to use your brain, put on your adult pants and make adult decisions about who to interact with and who to stay far far away from.

Although once that's done you usually find yourself in part of a little clique. Whether it's with fellow collectors or just people who happen to share your interests. For reference, the people I interact with on Twitter the most are people who don't collect baseball cards at all. When I do interact with fellow traders it's usually about things that aren't cards at all (just ask Stealing Home). Card related matters usually either just end up being private Twitter DMs or just tweets telling people that their packages arrived so they don't have to worry.

Or at least that's just me. I don't use Twitter as a hub for my collecting life (that's what this blog is for). I use Twitter to keep up with #LuisTorrens news, Yankees news, news in general (I'm not proud of that but Facebook's algorithms keep screwing up my timeline) and various other things that interest me. Hence why my own Twitter feed is littered with garbage Yankees takes and Dark Magician Girl gifs more often than anything card related.

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I'm sure you folks can come up with even more similarities and differences between blogging and engaging in social media. For me it all just comes down to how much you can get out there with every push of a Publish/Tweet button, and the type of company you'll find yourself in.

Got any of your own stories about blogging and tweeting? Why not write a post or tweet about it?

As always thanks for stopping by and take care :).