Managing Multiple Twitter Accounts

I have been an active twitter user for several months, and now I’ve branched into a second twitter account. I’ve created an account for my church, Grace Church, with the idea of pushing simple information about what’s happening at Grace. It’s an experiment in using twitter for this kind of application.

The problem is that twitter is not setup for multiple accounts. To post to twitter, you have to be logged in. To post as a different user, you have to log out and log in as the new user.

Given that twitter is best when you can tweet when the thought hits you, this is rather cumbersome. Here’s where google comes to the rescue. Did a quick search on “managing multiple twitter accounts,” and I suddenly found a lot of options. This video by Churchscmo.com on YouTube offers a simple method using NetVibes page. Take a look:

As you can see below, I’ve not got my own NetVibes page setup with both of my twitter accounts online and ready to update. Pretty slick.

There are other options available, but this is a simple setup and it has the added benefit of providing several nice features available via NetVibes.

Highly recommended!

Just when it was getting fun...

Are we losing our enthusiasm for blogging? Just when it starts to get fun, there's a suggestion that blogging is entering into its sunset. Rob Peters suggests that blogging may be losing ground to microblogging. He states,

Blogging malaise might be due to the myriad of options now available to the traditional pleasure blogger. A yen for self-expression can be fulfilled online in any number of ways -- social networking, participatory news reporting, Flickring, YouTubing -- you name it. The blog has stiff competition.

Even so, there does appear to be a more realistic version of the blog coming down the fibre optic trunk line. If filling an entire blank page is a little daunting, how does a 200-character text box sound? Enter the microblog.

The move from big blogs to smaller ones says a lot about our cultural attention span. One or two lines of text are about as much writing as we can handle -- either creating or consuming it. Which begs the question, why did I write a bloated 750-word blog exposé? I could have just Twittered it in a line or two.

I think blogging will continue to have a place in our technology toolbox for some time, but as it loses its "coolness," I can see casual bloggers moving on to the next techno-fad to hit the streets. Moreover, as we become more and more mobile with out technology, microblogging will grow in importance.

You can read Peters' complete article, "Is Personal Blogging Fast-Fading?" by clicking here.

Blog What Interests You

As a new blogger, I find myself viewing each post with a certain degree of apprehension. In fact, as stated earlier, I have started blogging and stopped blogging many times over the years simply because I have this critical voice inside my head that can shut down my writing...especially for a blog.

In Forget 'Readership', Blog What Interests You, Rick Brannen offers some good advice for bloggers. Brannen states,

Simply blog what you want to. Blog what is interesting to you. Don't write posts to impress people, write posts that reflect what you're thinking and learning. For me, that's the best reason to blog. Not to sound erudite, or to compete with other bloggers for attention share. If you're genuine in your writing, then the folks that you really want to read your stuff will find it, and bookmark you, and aggregate you, and link to  you.

Like all things American, the blogosphere has become an entrepreneurial mega-mall. There are thousands of bloggers trying to follow the path of some of the superstar bloggers making big money with their blogs. Why have a few dozen readers, they argue, when you can have tens of thousands? And if you have tens of thousands, think of all the money you can make!

In fact, as you search for advice on how to improve your blog, many of the sites end up pointing you in the direction of trying to make money with your blog. Forget it! Don't do it! If you follow that path, then something that started out as an enjoyable hobby will become a task. It will become work.

I want to blog what interests me. If you read my blog, you will get a picture of what I am thinking about and what I am reading and researching. I appreciate Rick's advice: "Simply blog what you want to. Blog what is interesting to you."

Blogging - Starting Again!

Starting to blog on a regular basis has been on my "To Do" list for a long time. In fact, my first attempt at blogging started during the summer of 2004. Presidential politics were on my mind, and I can remember blogging about the race between George W. Bush and John Kerry.

While I consider myself a writer, finding my "blogging voice" has been difficult. Journaling is very natural, but there is a perfectionist bug in my system that prohibits me from diving in to blogging with the same passion I have for blogging. So, dear readers, please endure me for a few entries as I get started. At the same time, I hope my early trials prove to be an encouragement to other would be bloggers who can't seem to find their voice. Here's to perseverance.