Is Twitter a Substitute for Blogging?

Recently a client asked me about the difference between a blog and a Twitter profile. I briefly explained him that Twitter is a sort of micro-blog where users have the privilege of posting short messages, even using a mobile phone, to keep their followers updated about their activities.

But actually Twitter is not exactly a micro-blog and the concept of blogging is completely different from it. Twitter is more like a communication tool, where as blogging is a media platform that is more extensive and requires focussed attention to generate in-depth content.

I personally don't consider Twitter as a great publishing platform or a substitute for blogging. It is basically an informal way of posting your updates and sharing your views. You cannot have a detailed exploration of an idea like it can be done using a blog. So if I really want to post anything in detail, I will definitely use a blog.

But today a lot of companies and celebrities are preferring Twitter to blogs as writing a blog post takes a good amount of time where as a Twitter post can be written in a couple of minutes. The time factor could be the reason for them to consider Twitter as a replacement for blogging.

There is no way Twitter can outdo the traditional way of discussion on the internet. The small size of post on Twitter can only allow broadcast of an idea but the real discussion on a particular topic can only be done through blogs.

So we can say that both Twitter and blogging serve a purpose different from each other. And that's why Twitter itself has its own blog.