I promise, this isn't about blogging
I’m writing this on my iPhone (full disclosure, this will be partially about blogging). It feels incredibly odd, like eating pancakes with a caviar fork. I love this device, but complex content creation is not its strong suit.
Yet, it is awesome with micro-creation. Instagram, Twitter, Tumblr all work beautifully on mobile, because they are not designed to feel like a blank canvas. People have time to revise because they only have to review 140 characters.
The barrier for content creation is friction. It takes far longer to get on my laptop when I want to write. Even if the idea deserves long-form, instad of blogging, I will post on Facebook and then share the post on Twitter (this practice has to stop, but that is a whole other can of tuna).
So I’m writing this on my iPhone because I know if I add a reminder, the actual work I have to finish will take over and I will not bother to write anything today.
What scares me is that the guys ten years younger than me don’t use a PC unless you put a gun to their heads. The result is obvious, they love short-form composition. Tumblr gains on Blogger not on its merits (though it is wicked smart), but on its ease of use among 14-21 year olds.
So the question is simple: will a generation raised on smartphones create long-form content?
Having said that, I’m going to upload this post, I’ll share it on Facebook and Twitter, and then take it to Branch (when that is live, I’ll update this with the link).
Same warning: this was written on a mobile device, so there may be errors I didn’t catch.