Twitter

I'm hooked on Twitter. My tweet-stream grows by about half a dozen posts per day, on average. In 140 characters or less (not words - characters) I have a change to express myself quickly, while learning the art of being succinct. It's almost like a Facebook status update, except with more personality. It's not quite social networking, and it's not quite a blog - it's an effective communication tool that reflects the fast-paced world in which we live. But certainly it is no substitute for a blog, even though I like it.

Changing Face of MySpace

The log-in screen and home pages of MySpace have changed -- the look is a little cleaner, and navigation is a bit easier. I still find sometimes there are delays when I am trying to public a blog post, or I get an "unexpected error" when I try to update something or reach another page -- generally I just hit the "back" button on my navigation and try again. Sometimes I end up with double blog posts as a result, but that is what the "Delete" function is for. However, I am really surprised that after being around for so long, MySpace still can be slow (I am assuming because of servers being taxed to the max with so many people on the system). I do appreciate the regular blogs that "Tom" writes, informing everyone of what is going on behind the scenes when technical upgrades are happening.

Facebook

Facebook is probably the biggest social networking phenomenon to have developed over the past couple of years. I remember when I first joined, I was one of the "old timers," being over 30. Now, pretty much everyone and their mothers - literally - are on Facebook. Facebook does not have a blog per se, but has applications that can be added for blog functionality, and has a "Notes" feature that many people use as a blog. You post a note, and everyone on your Friends list can read it. I have my Facebook set to import my posts from my LiveJournal blog -- you have the option of importing one blog. So that pretty much ensures that everyone I want to read my posts will have the opportunity. And yes, I probably spend way too much time on Facebook posting photos, playing word games, and catching up with what everyone else is doing.

Blog Functionality

One of the best aspects of blogging, is the fact that it's pretty much push-button publishing. The entire back-end is taken care of for you. A person does not have to be an expert in PHP, CSS, or even HTML. All one has to do is write, and the content is automatically incorporated into a design, with formatting. Anyone who is computer literate can blog. I anticipate that blogging is becoming more and more of a universal pasttime and art form. It certainly is a creative and productive way to communicate online.