Twitter! It’s addicting isn’t it? It can also save you some time if you’re interested in Speedlinking, or provide an easy way to Sideblog.

How? Using Alex King’s amazing plugin Twitter Tools. If you want to get the most out of Twitter blog-wise, you should definitely check-out this WordPress plugin. It does a lot, including Twittering your blog posts and displaying your latest Tweets.

Before we continue, install the Twitter Tools plugin, and configure your login information. If you use Twitter for personal uses, as well as for speedlinking/sideblogging, then you may want to create a secondary account. If you use the Twhirl client to post Tweets, then you’re in luck. It can easily post to more than one Twitter account. (more…)

Sideblogs are “mini-blogs” that allow you to share links and write short updates to your readers.

Speedlinking is a method of posting. When you Speedlink, you round-up a collection of links to other blogs’ posts that you think would be interesting/useful to your readers.

The question is: Which is better for you?

Sideblogs

• Sideblogs are quick to update
• Sideblogs are instantaneous. You see something, you add it to your sideblog, and it’s out there for everyone to see. With speedlinking, you round-up your links then publish them all at once every week or so.
• Sideblogs allow you to post other things besides links.

Speedlinking

• Speedlinker posts show up in you main feed. Sideblog entries generally don’t.
• Speedlinker posts tend to get a lot of views and linkbacks. Also, everyone likes a big list of links.
• Speedlinking gives you a break. It’s real easy to write a short list of links, and a few notes about them.

Personally, I like both. I speedlink and I have a sideblog. I use the sideblog for timely links that can’t wait until the end of the week, as well as for quick updates and things that can’t be expanded into a full-blown post. My speedlinker posts, known as “BlogBuzz,” handle the rest of my linking needs.

ProBlogger Darren Rowse is credited for “inventing” Speedlinking. When you Speedlink, you round-up a collection of links to other blogs’ posts that you think would be interesting/useful to your readers. Here are a couple of examples:

• Speedlinking - 18 October 2007
• BlogBuzz October 18, 2007

After looking at the above examples, you should have a good idea of what Speedlinking is all about.

Why should you Speedlink? It can benefit you, your blog, and other blogs as well. You save time, your blog gets traffic and comments, and other blogs get incoming links. Everybody wins, right? Here are some of the said advantages: (more…)