Old Dog, New Tricks -- I Learn To Syndicate on Twitter
The other day I noted the impending death of Google Reader. Having started to survey the alternatives, I feel much better about the transition. But I did not fail to note a different implication -- that RSS has never really caught on as a syndication vehicle -- twitter and Facebook and I suppose Google circles are more popular.
Well, I am happy to to adopt technology where it makes sense. I loath Facebook as a personal tool (seriously, is there a worse laid out web page on the planet?) but my customers love it so we have adopted it enthusiastically as a business tool, using Facebook pages to create a dialog with our customers. Here is a good example of a great business Facebook page - people are doing our advertising for us.
In the same vein, I likely will never really be able to use Twitter like other pundits do, to fire off witty, biting remarks in 140 characters. I have trouble keeping post titles under 140 characters. But I am happy to use it as a syndication tool.
So, starting now (actually starting with the previous post), Coyote Blog posts will be tweeted out at twitter.com/coyoteblog and linked at facebook.com/coyoteblog. If that is your preferred way of discovering web content over RSS or just surfing the site itself, go for it. I am still working on Google, but that will come soon. By the way, for other bloggers interested, I am using the free version of Netscripts: Social Networks Auto Poster plugin.
PS- I am sure my friend Tom, who is driven to distraction by my typos and grammatical errors, would observe at this point that at least in 140 characters there is less room for me to make mistakes.
LarryGross:
What Twitter does is it forces you to think about what you would say in 140 characters to convince the reader to follow the URL at the end!
March 16, 2013, 10:59 amChris:
I've already found that NewsBlur is mostly superior to Google Reader. I kinda wish I had looked for,it earlier.
March 16, 2013, 11:27 amjohn mcginnis:
Well yes and no. A study noted that about a third of all Tweets close with a short link to a web page. That high a percentage is a fair indication that most can't conclude their point in the characters alloted.
March 16, 2013, 1:09 pmLarryGross:
yes.. and thus my point - that you have 140 characters to convince them to follow that link - which means (in my book) you have to write something short and compelling enough to convince them.
sort of like writing a good cut-line for a newspaper?
March 16, 2013, 3:50 pmJens Fiederer:
I switched to Feedly when I heard....it has the advantage of integrating smoothly with Google Reader -- I can actually switch back and forth while Google Reader still lives (it uses the Google API, but I guess there is the issue of trust that they will keep it alive). Haven't tried NewsBlur.
March 17, 2013, 8:36 amLarryGross:
Been trying Feedly - and it's more glitzy but not a configurable (or I don't know how). I went to NewsBlur which was advertised as 'free'... when I got to the site, it wanted money...said that the "free" version had been "suspended" because of "demand"... went back just now..and looks like things have changed again...but now I'm suspicious .. that they are still going to want money at some point. (which I do not mind considering if the price is reasonable, the product is worth it (in my view) AND they are HONEST about it.
March 17, 2013, 8:53 amArthur Felter:
Check out IFTTT.com for help automagically syncing your posts.
March 17, 2013, 12:33 pm