ONE OF THE PRESSURES I get as a blogger is that it faces time pressures from all sides. I get veiled advice from co-workers that I need to cut back on musings I make online and to focus on things that will pay the bills week to week. And while they are right, I'm sticking with making microcontent because (1) I like writing, (2) I know it will pay through its long tail, and (3) it's how I meet people who matter.
Just five years ago, microcontent was synonymous with blogging (see David Armano's quip above). Hordes of people climbed on the blogging bandwagon, Ireland spun up several glorious years of blogging awards, and web developers had a new service to offer for businesses that wanted to evolve beyond a portal or a basic website. Today, microcontent pulsates through channels like Twitter, Facebook or Google Plus. Its half life is measured in the attention span of Britney Spears. Blogs hang in virtual space and get linked, found and saved. Tweets are for synchronous patterns. Facebook wall posts are inside a silo. Google Plus items can be locked down against leaking into public space. The only true sustaining format for microcontent remains the old reliable blog. I'm sticking with it and showing creative third level students how to write blog posts in a Media Writing syllabus that I teach at the Limerick Institute of Technology. If I'm correct, I'll uncover a half dozen new bloggers before the end of October. I'll link to them from my Inside View blog in hopes that I can offer them more than link love. Because in my workshops, I show how to monetise that microcontent. And in my life, I know that making money is one of the ultimate attention steps.
Previously on Irish Typepad: Irish Microcontent with Ben Hammersley, August 8, 2003.
"Why we bought 10 Long Tails", July 18, 2006.
"Multi-channel microblogging", May 19, 2007.
Recommended: Susan Cloonan, the Queen of Pots.
