Use Twitter to practice writing more concisely
blogging, content, effective communication, social media February 25th, 2009
Ever been to a party and been trapped by a non-stop talker? Those standing monologues (especially the ones by complete and total strangers) are annoying at best and a buzzkill at worst.
Droning on and on without engaging in any kind give-and-take dialogue is absolutely awful for the person on the receiving end.
That’s what I like so much about Twitter. The microblogging site lets you “talk” but forces you to do so in short snippets of 140 characters or less.
I recently conducted an informal survey of people who follow me and found that most think using Twitter has helping them communicate more concisely (and hence effectively).
Now, mind you, long prose certainly has it’s place. But in business writing I see so much extraneous copy that it drowns the core message. Get to the core message quickly. Put it first. Your reader will thank you and be more likely to take the appropriate action.
If you’re not on Twitter, sign up for a free account. Follow a few people (me included) and start paring down your dialogue. I promise you’ll be the life of the next party you go to.
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