Twitter Has Hurt Blogging

When I started blogging 5 years ago, one of the reasons I did it was because I had shitloads of time on my hand that I needed to kill.

My blog posts back then tend to be short, mundane and written very quickly without much of a forethought. Over time, pressure from my readers creeped into my head. Somehow my style of blogging evolved to long magazine-type articles with 50 different photos and ends with a punch line.

Soon enough, my readers accepted that long entries and punchlines are  essentially ingredients of what makes kennysia.com, kennysia.com.

It becomes a situation that when people log on to kennysia.com, they wanna read long entries, they wanna read something funny. And if my entries aren’t long enough or don’t end with anything funny, I’m gonna find myself a mailbox full of people calling me fat.

 

A lot of people don’t realise it, but brainstorming for jokes and photoshopping pictures ain’t exactly easy. Doing stuff like these for my blog tend to take up a lot of time. At one point, I was spending TEN hours divided over 3 days just to craft up a single blog entry.

Imagine that. TEN hours just to write ONE single blog post.

It wasn’t a problem for back me then because, like I said, I had shitloads of time. The problem is, these days I cannot even find time to shit. Let alone blog.

Yes, back then I was happy to spend 10 hours crafting up a single blog entry just to make my readers happy.

If I had something short or mundane to say, I would rather not blog about it at all – simply because it does not pass the Kenny Sia Quality Assurance Test™.

The longer I blog, the more I realise kennysia.com is no longer a hobby of mine that I do after work. My website had evolved into an “online lifestyle magazine” of sorts. I had to be careful not to offend people. I had to make sure people enjoy reading my content. I had to do all sorts of quality control to make sure the stuff published on my blog is good enough for an “online lifestyle magazine”.

The difference however, is this.

Whilst established magazines out there have a team of writers and photographers and editors working around the clock. Me? I got nobody. I gotta do it all by myself.

Eventually blogging became more of a chore. I wasn’t enjoying it as much.

Then Twitter came along.

 

And Twitter is awesome. I can publish one-liners and photos anytime, anywhere, on my phone. I could be sitting on the toilet bowl, or having my lunch, (or both) and I could still update on my Twitter.

Unlike traditional blogging, I don’t have to take photos with my digital camera, think of an idea, then wait until I get in front of my computer to update my blog. I can just do it all on my phone.

It works well with my lifestyle too. Since about 3 years ago, I have been pretty much living off my suitcase and travelling all over the world. Most of the time, I update my Twitter through my phone when it isn’t convenient for me to update on my computer at all.

The problem now is this.

I seem to be managing two completely different online sites – kennysia.com for long carefully-thought out blog entries written on my computer. And twitter.com/kennysia for my short spontaneous thoughts published through my phone.

But I think it is about time that I marry the two.

In future entries, I’ll be transforming kennysia.com into something similar to Twitter.

Updates will be short, simple, not always funny – but quick and frequent.

What it means is that kennysia.com is always gonna remain fresh. I’ll be updating my blog mainly through my phone, but if I do get the time to sit down in front of my laptop, I’ll write my usual long well thought-out entries.

Reason I’m this way is because about to embark on a 3-week long trip to the USA and Australia. I foresee myself not touching my laptop for quite a bit. Twitter will be my best friend, but there will be times when I need to say stuff that cannot be contained in 140 characters or less. So mobile blogging is the way to go.

I think this may very be the direction that blogging is going into.

Only time will tell how well this is gonna work.

86 Replies to “Twitter Has Hurt Blogging”

  1. Kenny, my suggestion is, make your Twitter updates (in sidebar) stand out a bit? the lines are kinda messy and I always thought it’s some spam ads. Only today I realised its your Twitter update ^^;

  2. hell yeah.. i see more updates frm ur twitter instead of ur blog.. it’s ok.. juz accept the fact that u’r now a big boss of a well-established gym in miao city edi..

  3. Sorry to bug you with a stupid question, but what Twitter client are you using on your iPhone? It looks dope
    And btw I’m already following you on Twitter so no worries!

  4. Don’t worry.. i’ll still love your blog/twitter whatever it has evolved to as long as it’s from you!!
    enjoy your trip!
    let’s party in the usa eh eh…!

  5. No worries kenny, we all go thru different stages in life. What used to be something done for leisure now became a chore. I feel u. I do follow your twits

  6. It’s always better to have something to read (albeit short) than no updates at all!
    Hope it all works out (:

  7. I feel you man, its not always easy to come up with funny and new posts.
    All the best, enjoy your trip and dont worry too much about the blog!
    ps: just write a good long one when u come back

  8. Ha! Same sentiments about spending lots of time to do one entry. But I think you’re probably a lot more stress than the rest of the bloggers,there’s so many readers here!
    But yayness,we’ll be able to read more entries from you now 😀 -happy happy-

  9. If happens to be you’ll be somewhere in NYC, Philadelphia or DC, along that line of northeastern cities, maybe we can hang out for a cup of good american fast coffee. Have a good trip bro.
    Philly Dude

  10. Instead of tailoring ur blog for your fans, you shud instead blog for urself, as your hobby n for fun. Fans can come and go but u r urself.
    Dun give a f*ck to anyone out there. If they dun like your blog, they can just open n create their own blog instead. Barking dogs will forever be a barking dog!

  11. Kenny! Have fun in US… if you happened to be in Southern California (LA or San Diego), lemme know if you need any recommendation for good restaurants or great place to meet chicas!

  12. No problemo Kenny, I’ve picked up and put down many blogs to follow over the years, but yours have always been on the “to read” list. Just write what you want!

  13. FYI, allow for a lot of time between arriving at the first US airport and moving on to the next destination. Male travelers aged 20-35 from Malaysia are considered “high risk” and will have to be specially registered into the US Immigration database. It took about an hour for me to get it done. Good luck!

  14. True indeed, Kenny. Readers should not have too high expectation of you. After all, you are NOT a celebrity and you DO NOT want to be famous or a star. You write your blog purely to entertain you friends and NOT to make money out of it. So shame on those who think that your blogging is becoming lame or boring because you owe NO ONE anything. In short you can shut down this blog anytime you wish without any obligations to anyone.

  15. Just be your self right?
    Short post is always better than none~!
    Maybe you can put a Twitter widget at the sidebar to get more follower and can see your updates =)

  16. Notably omitted is the fact that Blogging is totally responsible for your “Too Busy to Blog Schedule”.
    Simply a natural graduation from popular past time to Business entity while it lasts.
    Capitalism at work baby, I wish you LUCK, but spare the diplomatic BS. Besides the switch from ‘Fun and Conscience’ to ‘Economic Viability’, you now have Business Interests to Protect and hamstrung from tackling Controversial Topics. Kennysia.com is now House-Trained. No disrespect, just objective observation.
    There’s an opening for a New Rebel in Malaysia.

  17. Hi Kenny….if i were you, i wouldnt give a damn to those losers who treat you as a blog-entertainer…. they dont deserve any of piece of ur thought…so why should u care…jus total ignorance…
    Do what u like…its ur life n ur time after all… real readers will appreciate n support u………

  18. Well Done Kenny for putting your foot down, and doing what will make you happy. There will always be expectations… but seriously… who gives a shit what we may think. Just do what will suit you and your life. Cheerios!

  19. How did you get a 10-year US Visa on a Malaysian passport? Whoa.. They only isssue 4-5years once to students.

  20. Haha. Well, i think the reason most people read is because you don’t five a f*ck about what people think about you and your blog in the first place. Come down to Perth???? 🙂 Twitter IS the shit. 🙂

  21. they call Twitter ‘microblogging’, as you know, people in this day and age want their info and soundbites faster and shorter.

  22. Witnessing an Offensive-mind struggling on Defence is embarrassing. Akin to calculating the Clean-end of a turd.
    I believe you’ve been placed under Heavy-Manners roo.
    Worst part is:- Leading Democracies fund and instigate the very Injustices they condemn.

  23. I just read about you in The Star newspaper and was so impressed by the sheer number of people who read your blog that I just had to log on to find out what the commotion about. And yes, you blogged pretty well and amusing too. Keep it up!

  24. Ask him if he applied as an Aussie or Malaysian?
    Other point of interest:- Permanent Status is offered to Successful Students if their Skill is needed. It’s how Industrial Countries keep raiding Developed and Poor Nations of Talent after making them Pay for Education.
    How much MONEY you bring also influences or waives Visa requirements.

  25. hey i got my US visa a couple of days before you. guess that means we weren’t meant to meet irl. hahaha.

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