Inbound Link Dead! Twitter Did It! (maybe so, maybe not)

"Has Twitter killed the inbound link?"
SEO Scoop (September 21, 2009)

"If you believe the hype, Twitter is the biggest serial killer since Jack the Ripper. Mitch Joel thinks it killed RSS. And there is certainly an element of truth in that. How often do you really check your reader these days…? Be honest. For others, Twitter is the death of Facebook. And there’s no question Mark Zuckerberg is quaking a little. Centralising the platform around status updates and the recent introduction of the @ reply were both aimed at nullifying Twitter's strengths. Some are even brave enough that Twitter could kill Google via real-time search, although surely Google would acquire them before that became a reality. And while I'm not often one to sound the death knell, I'd like to throw one more into the mix. Because I think Twitter may just be killing the inbound link...."

It's an interesting look one facet of the Web's changing face.

As for "killing the inbound link" - Well, I'm a survivor of the food riots and starvation of humanity that didn't happen as predicted by a butterfly expert; I've seen the coming ice age (which would doom civilization) supplanted by global warming (which would doom civilization - and probably kill off the spotted owl); I've seen the 'dying' town I moved to a quarter-century back sprout suburban developments and new businesses - so I don't take pronouncements of doom all that seriously these days.

I do, however, think that things will change. That's remained a constant through my lifetime. Like Heraclitus said, "Nothing endures but change."

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A tip of the hat to Twitter_Tips, on (what else?) Twitter, for the heads-up on this op-ed / blog post.