The differences between blogs, websites and twitter

It is not the questions that are important but that they remind me to keep my audience in mind.

Why this subject?

What is the difference between a blog and twitter? What about a blog and a website are they the same?

The answer to these questions seems obvious, and maybe it is to you. But last month, they were serious questions by attendees at a social media and internet trends presentation, for small businesses in Lorain County. This reminded me of blog post from last year. Who's point was to investigate why a client is asking for some feature. Because, what the client says they want might not be the best solution to their problem.Or taken one step further, don't assume you know what the client is thinking or knows.

Get a Frame of Reference

It helps me work with others to understand their concerns and frame of reference.

These questions drove that home. Before the presentation, I tried to get a feel for the attendees experience level by asking questions. "Who's company had a web site?  Is anyone was on Facebook?  Do you have a blog?" Everyone knew something about the topic, I thought, until five minutes into my presentation those questions about twitter, blogs and websites were asked. After answering those questions,I adjusted my assumptions. The result, hopefully, was a better presentation and  learning experience for the people who attended this talk.

Next week when presenting to another group, they will be asked a few more questions, to see if they have a similar knowledge base as the last group.

To answer those two questions for those of you who want an answer.IMHO:

Twitter is a web site (or service) that lets you post 140 character long brief messages. While past  tweets (the message people post) can be retrieved and searched, doing so is not easy. Although it is getting easier and easier. Typically tweets are the current thoughts or brief pieces of information people want to share. One can sign up to follow a person's tweets and keep up with their thought as they are posted.  People can exchange their thoughts by tweeting back and forth to each other. For the most part the public does not see those "conversational" tweets unless they are on twitter.

Blogs are websites (or parts of websites) were people can share more detailed thought or information. Past blog entries can be easily retrieved and searched. Blog platforms allow the public (or registered) users to post comments, about blog entries, which can be visible to to anyone visiting the site. Most blogs let the owner control if anyone or who can comment on a post.

Websites a collection of interconnected webpages. A website can be blogs. And many websites are being run by blogging platforms. Having a blog for a website is an easy way to control your site's content. WordPress and other blog platforms have add ons (called plugins) which offer features such as calendars, polls, contact forms and more which make them a great choice for many sites. Complicated websites, or those with complex functions (such as e-commerce) are usually not blog sites.

Jordan is the owner of Zajon Inc. (a website design and marketing company) and speaks at local chambers and business groups promoting effective use of social media for corporations.