I like to travel and I like to blog. I don’t do either as much as I might like. Microblogging gets done even less despite supposedly being easier, faster, more convenient. Am I doing it wrong?
It is common among my San Francisco friends to sling tweets in a bar or restaurant or shopping mall while friends look on. It gets less annoying over time but in a social situation the snub sticks because the act is essentially parasocial. The elitism faded after the rise of microblogging via SMS but the snub still sticks.
During a cross-country motorcycle trip I twittered my gas stops. This was a comfort for friends and family and I might find it useful if I decide to retrace my path and need a reference. That kind of usefulness doesn’t come around often.
I am waiting for a plane, typing on a sub-qwerty BlackBerry Pearl keypad into the standard WordPress post box, even though it is crippled by my primitive mobile browser. It seems I think of mobile blogging not when engaging in exciting outdoor activities, or seeing amazing things, or talking with interesting people, but when I have nothing better to do. (If you wonder, I press 18 keys to add emphasis each time.)
Usually I am happy to spend waiting time immersed in an audiobook or music. Today I posted a few words of status on Facebook when I sat down for a wait. I remembered that just a few minutes ago while driving I turned off the radio to develop some thoughts by expessing them out loud. Had I thought to buy speech recognition software and a voice recorder I could be editing those forgotten words on my laptop right now.
I don’t think I will ever get the hang of microblogging until I have a device that makes it so easy that it outweighs the lack of usefulness. And now they are closing the aircraft door and my thumbs hurt. Bye.