At Rands In Repose, Michael Lopp writes:

The articles on Rands keep getting longer and longer, and as I'm finishing a piece, I worry, "Is it too long?" I worry about this because we live in a lovely world of 140-character quips and status updates, and I fret about whether I'll be able to hold your attention, which is precisely the wrong thing to worry about. What I should be worried about is, "Have I written something worthy of your attention?"

Writing is the connective tissue that creates understanding. We, as social creatures, often better perform rituals to form understanding one on one, but good writing enables us to understand each other at scale.