But earlier this week, I received several e-mail notes from readers asking what had happened to Moments in Crime. It had suddenly disappeared, and been replaced by a Twitter page of the same name. They’d heard no explanation of what had happened, and there was no archive of the blog’s existing material.
Curious myself, I fired off an e-mail note to St. Martin’s publicist Hector DeJean, requesting an explanation. His response:
We found that Twitter tweets have been generating more responses than blog posts. At the same time, tweeting fits into authors’ schedules with greater ease, especially helpful if an author is touring to promote their new book; they don’t need to worry about getting online to post a new blog entry while they’re moving around. So the new setup accomplishes our goals even better than the blog did--it generates a lot of involvement between authors and readers, it doesn’t intrude heavily on busy authors’ schedules, and brings together a lot of dynamic Minotaur-related content.All well and good. Except that this change has meant the obliteration of all of Moments in Crime’s previous content. Links across the blogosphere to that material are now dead. Why the Minotaur folks couldn’t have archived Moments in Crime posts, thus preserving all of the links, and then created a Twitter feed in addition to the blog is beyond me. Why destroy everything that had already been done, everything that Minotaur writers had been thoughtful enough to contribute to Moments in Crime in the past?
To my way of thinking, this new Twitter page is boring and useless. While I regularly checked out the Moments in Crime blog, I’m unlikely ever to look at this new Twitter page. It certainly seems to make poor use of Minotaur authors. Writers are supposed to write; that’s what they do best. Tweeting isn’t writing, it’s small talk.
7 comments:
I don't tweet so they've lost one reader. I often linked to the posts at Moments in Crime on my blog. They had a lot of great essays.
As convenient as Twitter is, a lot of people erroneously think it can replace blogging, but trading longer forms of writing for tweeting implies that one can't be bothered to correspond at a more leisured and, yes, friendlier pace.
As someone who enjoys blogging and tweeting, I prefer to get to know someone through blog posts, a newsletter, or in person than through the snippets you get with Twitter.
While it's regrettable the archives weren't saved, I can't say I'm all that surprised by the move. Truth be told, I didn't check out the site all that often, and I suspect traffic was disappointing, especially of late, in large part because of the larger issue of how publishers can reach readers directly. Are readers going to check out author blogs or places to get news, like The Rap Sheet or my own site, or will they make a point to go to where the publisher is? You can guess which door wins. And not only is Twitter much easier for writers who find it hard work to blog for a tiny audience, it does - at least for now - reach readers (aka consumers) far more directly.
Of course tweeting is small talk or micro-aggregation or short-form conversation, and it can't, and shouldn't, replace blogging. But Moments in Crime was launched as a promotional vehicle, and it appears to have run its course. Twitter hasn't (not yet, anyway) and so it makes sense to try reaching readers more directly with this particular social network. And if that doesn't work, there'll be something else...
Like Sandra, I don't tweet so they've lost a reader.
I think Sarah Weinman is right. I follow her (and several other mystery writers/analysts/critics) on Twitter; it's a good way to keep up with breaking news in the field. At the same time, 140 characters will not and should not replace blogging. I also agree with the initial point: why couldn't the publisher have left the original material in place? Closing comments would have eliminated the need for a staff member to keep up with it, but the material that had been posted would remain available and, presumably, show up on web searches.
I agree with Sarah. If Minotaur wasn't getting the traffic, then they had to move to the next level. Sadly, that's mini-blogging or tweeting. It's snippets-140 characters. I'm a tweeter, and maybe I'll see their tweets, probably will. I'm sorry they didn't archive, but I must admit I wasn't going to Moments in Crime very often.
It's true Twitter is newer and perhaps more hip than blogging, but I don't see that it "brings together a lot of dynamic Minotaur-related content." Aside from short comments, the most you can do is post links on Twitter to content stored on blogs or websites anyway, so authors still have to maintain their sites once they get Twitter accounts. In that sense, Twitter doesn't save much time or work.
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