Another “Why I am quitting Facebook” post...
The benefits of posting less.
Read MoreThe benefits of posting less.
Read MoreLanguage matters.
Read MoreSome notes on how I’ve connected Micro.blog to my existing Squarespace site.
Read MoreA year ago, I decided to lessen my reliance on Twitter. Here's my progress so far...
Read MoreFacebook Memories shows you what you posted on this day in previous years. And eight years ago, I was cross posting everything from Twitter to Facebook.
It didn’t take long for me to figure out this wasn’t the best approach for me. My Twitter followers are mostly professional acquaintances. My Facebook friends mostly want to see pictures of my children. So I stopped cross posting.
Today, the only crossposting I do is through Buffer to schedule posts on Twitter, Facebook, LInkedIn and more. But I select and customize the posts based on where they are running.
I’m thinking about how I’ll use Micro.Blog. Lots of people are interested in figuring out how cross posting works so they can post to Twitter and Micro.Blog at the same time. I understand why this a primary part of the platform — cross posting to Twitter gives people a way to try out Micro.Blog without investing significantly more time. But I’m thinking that I’ll largely avoid cross posting for two reasons:
My communities are different. I’m not sure what the community at Micro.Blog will be like, but I imagine they won’t mirror my design-heavy corner of the Twitter universe. (At least not initially. I'm pretty confident Micro.Blog will have a compelling story to tell to creative professionals. Look for a future blog post...)
I’m excited about the unique aspects of Micro.Blog. Twitter allows for 140 characters. Micro.Blog allows for 280 character posts. I don’t really expect to write much longer posts, but I do look forward to not having to rewrite sentences or butcher punctuation to fit a tweet under the 140 character limit. And Micro.Blog allows inline links and simple formatting with Markdown. That’s lost when I cross post to Twitter.
I'm looking forward to the launch of Micro.Blog and figuring out all the logistical issues like cross posting. Hopefully, the service will evolve to the point where cross posting isn't necessary.
Bob Wertz writes about design, technology and pop culture at Sketchbook B. Bob is a Columbia, South Carolina-based designer, creative director, college instructor, husband and dad. He’s particularly obsessed with typography, the creative process and the tools we use to create. In his spare time, he is thinking differently about Twitter. Follow Bob on Twitter and Instagram.