Micro blogging is a form of blogging in which bloggers post short messages, usually under 200 characters each. It is often possible to subscribe to such blogs using a web feed such as RSS. Two of the more well known micro blogging services are Jaiku and Twitter.

Micro blogging services Twitter, Jaiku, and Pownce offer free membership to bloggers. Twitter and Jaiku both have short registration forms; Pownce’s form is somewhat longer and requires an invitation code. Pownce is substantially different from Twitter or Jaiku, and offers a paid “Pro” membership with additional features. Blog postings can be sent in using multiple methods; for example, Twitter allows them to be submitted via instant messenger, mobile phone, or their website. Jaiku lets users post comments on other members’ micro blogs, while Twitter does not. Allowing comments may or may not be desirable depending upon your blog’s subject and personal preferences.

It is also relatively easy to start a micro blog on a regular website; this gives bloggers more control over the page design, advertising, and message length. This can be accomplished by simply updating an HTML or text format page on your website with your latest message/post, and removing older messages if desired. Even starting a new micro blogging service is a goal which can be achieved by those with moderately advanced website programming expertise; not as many features are expected and less storage space is needed, as compared to a typical blog hosting service.

Some micro bloggers post short updates of their current activities, while others provide a brief description of larger articles they want users to read, with a website link at the end. If links are to be used in a micro blog, they must have relatively short URLs so as not to exceed the character limit when combined with a description; services such as TinyURL.com can be used to reduce their length (these services redirect a shorter website URL to the longer URL you want to send people to). Another option for shortening URLs to use with micro blogging is to register a domain name with a registration service which includes redirection, then redirect the domain to the desired URL and change it when necessary.

Overall, micro blogging services offer a good alternative for bloggers who only want to post brief messages, or desire to use a blog for the promotion of articles which appear on a traditional website.

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