Internet Tech Boston

I had my first bad experience with Blog it. After spending a good deal of time, doing some researching, creating links, and writing up an entry, the “Post” button returned error – invalid username/password. I hadn’t changed either my username or password since my last successful entry. Of course, my entry was gone, and I felt like I was 13 years old again – staring at a “Disk Read Error 0″ on my Packard Bell 8080 with 3 1/4 floppy drive, knowing I was going to get an F on my book report on Of Mice and Men.

I was really excited by Blog it when it first came out. Even though it burned me, I still used it to make this entry you’re reading now. However, after using it a couple of times, I’m starting to think a blog post is probably faster, easier, and safer, if done in good ‘ol Wordpress. I can take the extra 2 seconds to update Twhirl myself.

This morning, I learned about BlogIt from a Michael Arrington post on Techcrunch, and had to try it out for myself first thing.

BlogIt is a Facebook app from Six Apart (i.e. Typepad) that allows a blog entry from directly within Facebook. This kind of feature is not necessarily new. YouTube and Digg, for example, both allow the ability for users to link their blog accounts directly to the service and post blog entries from within their own environment. I’ve used these features in the past and they’re OK at best. I find myself wondering what’s the benefit of creating a blog post inside Digg’s rinky-dink plain-text editor, when I could use my Wordpress Rich Text Editor and just copy-n’-paste the link to the story I’ve recently Dugg.

BlogIt has a similar plain text editor. It allows HTML, if you’re so inclined. Other than dropping in my obligitory trackbacks to credit my sources, I don’t see myself getting too adventurous with HTML in the 15-row sized plain textarea box I’m provided here. I’m also interested to see what kind of self-promotion links or credits are appended to my post from Six Apart.

BlogIt’s differentiator is the ability to automatically alert other social media sites of posts created through BlogIt. It will update your Facebook status and your Twitter account. I already have my Twitter account updating my FriendFeed account. My Twitter account already updates my Facebook status. My FeedBurner account updates others when my blog is updated. Seems convoluted? Maybe. But now, quick blog posts I generate from BlogIt will be announced via Facebook Status, Facebook mini-feed, Twitter, FriendFeed, and opt-in emails from Feedburner. Not to mention anyone who’s subscribed directly to my blog’s RSS feed.

I’m looking forward to reviewing BlogIt’s potential impact on my readership, and will make sure to provide a follow-up comment after I’ve used it for some time.