Why Journalists Love Twitter and Hate Blogs

Here is an interesting comparison of Twitter and blogs:

Blogging was a direct attack on MSM hegemony at both the micro (fisking) and macro levels (explanation space). I just don’t see Twitter as the same threat. It is a flood of unmermorable chatter that is easy to ignore. Blogging had the potential to break the power of the MSM guild. Bloggers, at their best, presented arguments. Arguments can both change minds on the immediate subject and undermine the credibilty of those establishment pundits who present weak cases on a regular basis.

I think that’s largely apt, but there’s more to it.  Both blog posts and tweets tend to be short, but tweets are too short to convey any real content or argument.  It’s the difference between e-mails and text (sms) messages.  There’s no inherent cap on e-mail length, but e-mails are kept short.  Text messages are capped at 160 characters.  With Twitter, there is no way to convey a complex idea in only 140 characters.

Blogs-and the web generally-permit authors to reach a much wider audience than they could otherwise–essentially disintermediating the gatekeepers of old.  Twitter is too short and is a closed system, so it cannot achieve the disruptiveness of blogs.

via.

UFC Encourages Its Fighters to Tweet

The UFC is embracing Twitter as part of its promotion strategy.

From MMA Fighting.com:

Unlike other professional sports organizations that have cautioned, not to mention fined, its players for using Twitter, the Ultimate Fighting Championship is encouraging its fighters to tweet as much as possible.
.  .  .  .
At the conclusion of a full calendar year, the UFC will end up paying $240,000 a year to its fighters for their Twitter usage.
So while NFL and NBA players have been fined for tweeting during team functions, the UFC is doing the exact opposite, which is no surprise considering how active White is on Twitter and how he has long been in favor of embracing social media.

This makes sense from the MMA’s perspective.  Take advantage of controversies to build awareness of the brand, the fighters, and the fights.

It encourages the fighters to reach out to their fans and build a more-direct and stronger fan-base.  I think it’s another smart move from UFC boss Dana White.