Microblogging

Microblogging is an online broadcast medium that exists as a specific form of blogging. A micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregated file size. Micro-blogs 'allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links', which may be the major reason for their popularity. These small messages are sometimes called microposts. Microblogging is an online broadcast medium that exists as a specific form of blogging. A micro-blog differs from a traditional blog in that its content is typically smaller in both actual and aggregated file size. Micro-blogs 'allow users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video links', which may be the major reason for their popularity. These small messages are sometimes called microposts. As with traditional blogging, micro-bloggers post about topics ranging from the simple, such as 'what I'm doing right now,' to the thematic, such as 'sports cars.' Commercial micro-blogs also exist to promote websites, services and products, and to promote collaboration within an organization. Some micro-blogging services offer features such as privacy settings, which allow users to control who can read their micro-blogs, or alternative ways of publishing entries besides the web-based interface. These may include text messaging, instant messaging, E-mail, digital audio or digital video. The first micro-blogs were known as tumblelogs. The term was coined by why the lucky stiff in a blog post on April 12, 2005, while describing Leah Neukirchen's Anarchaia. Jason Kottke described tumblelogs on October 19, 2005: However, by 2006 and 2007, the term microblog was used more widely for services provided by established sites like Tumblr and Twitter. Twitter for one is especially popular in China, with over 35 million users tweeting in 2012, according to a survey by GlobalWebIndex. As of May 2007, there were 111 micro-blogging sites in various countries. Among the most notable services are Twitter, Tumblr, FriendFeed, Plurk, Jaiku and identi.ca. Different versions of services and software with micro-blogging features have been developed. Plurk has a timeline view that integrates video and picture sharing. Flipter uses micro-blogging as a platform for people to post topics and gather audience's opinions. PingGadget is a location-based micro-blogging service. Pownce, developed by Digg founder Kevin Rose among others, integrated micro-blogging with file sharing and event invitations. Pownce was merged into SixApart in December 2008. Other leading social networking websites Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, Diaspora, JudgIt, Yahoo Pulse, Google Buzz, Google+ and XING, also have their own micro-blogging feature, better known as 'status updates'. Although status updates are usually more restricted than actual micro-blogging in terms of writing, it seems any kind of activity involving posting, be it on a social network site or a micro-blogging site, can be classified as micro-blogging. Services such as Lifestream and Snapchat will aggregate micro-blogs from multiple social networks into a single list, while other services, such as Ping.fm, will send out your micro-blog to multiple social networks.