140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form
Dom Sagolla
Language: English
Pages: 208
ISBN: 0470556137
Format: PDF / Kindle (mobi) / ePub
Make the most of your messages on Twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites
The advent of Twitter and other social networking sites, as well as the popularity of text messaging, have made short-form communication an everyday reality. But expressing yourself clearly in short bursts-particularly in the 140-character limit of Twitter-takes special writing skill.
In 140 Characters, Twitter co-creator Dom Sagolla covers all the basics of great short-form writing, including the importance of communicating with simplicity, honesty, and humor. For marketers and business owners, social media is an increasingly important avenue for promoting a business-this is the first writing guide specifically dedicated to communicating with the succinctness and clarity that the Internet age demands.
- Covers basic grammar rules for short-form writing
- The equivalent of Strunk and White's Elements of Style for today's social media-driven marketing messages
- Helps you develop your own unique short-form writing style
140 Characters is a much-needed guide to the kind of communication that can make or break a reputation online.
strategy against TMI (too much information) is to decide ahead of time what topics are off limits. 30 140 Characters A popular strategy is to stay as discreet as possible within the medium. The private experience (called “Protected” on Twitter) is a very simple way to avoid many of the pitfalls previously described. It’s not foolproof, but there are levels of privacy on Facebook in particular that will provide a buffer. Direct message (DM) is a way to reply to many messages that you receive
“I can remember what life was like without Twitter.” http://twitter.com/TwitterLit/status/1971028633 Onomatopoeia is the great gold mine of comics and visual storytelling. It’s virtually endless: ◆ Oof. ◆ Grrr. ◆ Psst. ◆ Pfft. BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK my neighbor’s dog BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK BARK http://twitter.com/ravenme/status/3199311027 Every sound is part of your repertoire, even the words and sounds that we forget
but there remain a few challenges to telling a larger story. How will you identify the foil in your short? What passes for hubris in SMS? I’m hard-pressed for a good characterization of utopia in 140 characters. These are just a few of the challenging forms (try surrealism, mythology, or allegory for an instant headache). Going further, we must decide for ourselves what makes a viable pattern language. We build our own short code collaboratively. The French call this Oulipo: a loose gathering of
of the URL becomes dubious. Iterate 147 Here’s one that deserves wearing, in my book: Liberated. Justified. Hopeful. Ready. http://twitter.com/willotoons/status/3089208701 A seemingly simple change, addition, or extension can have a profound effect. Reading “Brain-Twitter project offers hope to paralyzed patients”. http://bit.ly/uJexB http://twitter.com/dom/status/1595931580 A casual reference to one’s own state can inspire deep reflection in others. The eight-year-old daughter of my
aarong adambhb adamjackson algore aplusk apstylebook arnoldkim atebits barackobama bbctech bdamer beep biz blaine bmf brendacopeland bs bt buffalax buzz case ceedub chockenberry cnnbrk common_squirrel cookbook crystal current danielbru danielschorr daringfirefeed darthvader digiphis doctorow domainr dotboom dougw dtrinh elwood emarlin erinmalone ev goldman google googlebooks gruber hodgman hotdogsladies ijustine io9 japhy jennycool jennydeluxe johncleese johndonvannl jonathancoulton jonathan360