Maybe U R 1 who wants Twitter 2 B purely fun and wishes it had a built in word-shortener alongside a URL shortener. As a writer myself, however, I completely agree with author Mitali Perkins’ tweet, and I’d take it even further: the misuse and abuse of language on Twitter has an impact on anyone using social media for any sort of professional purpose, not just writers looking to get published.
It’s no surprise that Twitter’s 140 character limit makes it a major source of garbled language: it’s faster and easier to drop letters, ignore punctuation, and use abbreviations than it is to rethink and rewrite a tweet to make it fit. Also, conventions and commonly accepted abbreviations like LOL and RT pepper everyone’s tweets, so it’s easy to get in the habit of throwing others in, too, even when you’re not trying to save characters.
It used to be that, with rare exception, what happened on Twitter stayed on Twitter… which was populated by a relatively small pool of people. Now, Twitter’s grown tremendously, and a lot of people push their tweets to their blogs and Facebook. In fact, if you use Ping or other tools, your tweets can fly to many of your networks, from personal to purely professional.
In other words… your tweets are in the public eye. So, if you’re at all concerned about how you present yourself to others, think about your tweets in terms of what I call the four C’s:
CLARITY
Some tweets are so chock full of shortened words that their meaning can be in doubt. Ask yourself if you really need to abbreviate words so much or if there is another way to say what you need to say. You can write a good tweet with abbreviations, yes… but you can probably write a better one without them.
CONVERSATION
When you have a conversation with someone in the real world, you tend to talk in complete sentences – it’s not only the easiest way to communicate, but making the effort to engage is also showing an element of respect. Twitter isn’t different, and a conversation through @ replies should still be a conversation. If you’re tweeting with your friends, you might communicate differently, though remember that your tweets will still be part of the Twitter timeline.
CONTEXT
Just as you might speak differently among friends, people don’t “speak” the same way from network to network. When you push your tweets elsewhere, they exist in a different world where abbreviations and Twitter lingo can be totally out of context. Also, while you might be having a detailed chat with someone on Twitter, if you’re pushing your tweets to your Facebook status, for example, everyone there is missing the other side of the conversation – your tweets have no context. For these reasons alone, you need to give thought to where you send your words…and why.
CAREER
If you are using Twitter to build your brand or platform or to make sales or, really, in any other way professionally, you’ve probably already thought about who you want reading your tweets. Make sure you also think about how you want them to view you. It’s easy to come across as someone who takes shortcuts unnecessarily or is a sloppy communicator. It’s also easy to present yourself as someone who cares about what you’re saying and how you’re saying it.
Of course, even when you use the four C’s, abbreviations will have a place, sometimes context can’t be given, and not every tweet you make is going to work perfectly on other networks. Still, you can create patterns that people will notice. They can be positive or they can, potentially, be negative.
The choice iz up 2 U.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
Great article, Greg! I actually agonize a lot over what I put on Twitter and how I say it…glad to know there’s a good reason for it.
Welllll, I don’t know if there’s a good reason for agony, but yes, I really do think it’s important. And knowing that you’re a writer, too… then it’s probably even more important. There are so many editors, agents, reviewers, and readers on Twitter alone, forgetting anywhere else your tweets might go, that it simply makes sense to put effort and thought into what you say.
Well, I guess I’m a social networking caveman — or perhaps neanderthal, as my communication skills are actually more advanced than homo erectus — but I have not yet Twittered or Tweeted or been Tweeted about, so far as I know. I’m not even entirely sure what it all means.
But I’m happy that way. I already have access to far too much information about other people on television, the nightly news and Facebook, and my cellphone, which I once used STRICTLY for emergencies and highway travel, is now in my purse most every day (though I still use it only once or twice a week).
I LIKE being a little out of touch. I don’t WANT to be reached after work hours, and I rarely feel the desire to communicate with someone else IMMEDIATELY. When I’m in my kayak, or walking through the woods with my daughter, or even reading a good book, I never ever wish I could check my email, update my FB status, text anyone (OK, OK, you got me there — haven’t done that yet, either. I don’t think my ancient cell phone is capable of it.) or sit down at the computer to Tweet someone.
So … I guess I’m falling under the social curve, but I’m OK with that.
I still enjoy your blog, Greg.