Twitter Makes You A Better Writer

Love it or loath it, Twitter is all the rage lately. If you don’t know what Twitter is, basically it’s a micro-blog. In 140 characters or less, it answers one basic question..."What are you doing?" If you’re a person who tends to ramble when you write, you will surely find condensing your words to just 140 characters rather challenging and often downright frustrating! But that’s a good thing because it helps cure you from diarrhea of the mouth. Long winded writers may have a hard time wrapping their heads around this concept, but a list of phrases can be replaced by single words without loss of meaning. Twitter forces you to write concisely. And that makes for crisper, more direct, easier to read copy. There's no room for flowery prose with only 140 characters to express an idea. It cuts out the fluff and leaves the reader with just straight content, which is important in today’s busy world where people are pressed for time and want you to get your point across in a hurry. In short, Twitter can make you a better writer.

Since you only have 140 characters to spew your message, you will have to dust off your dictionary and thesaurus and expand your vocabulary. You will have to utilize words that are shorter, more descriptive and get the job done in 140 characters or less. In the process, you’ll discover a better, clearer and more concise way to say what you want to say. Plus, every writer needs to be able to edit their work. And by using Twitter, you can really hone your editing skills and make them top-notch.

I’m a fan of simplicity. And writing more clearly and consciously is something I’m working on. If Twitter helps me accomplish this goal by putting me to the test, then I’m going to keep on Tweeting. But now it’s time to put YOU to the test!

So whether you are or aren’t Twittering already, put yourself to the 140 character test now by leaving a comment on this post in 140 characters or less. Remember, letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation and spaces all count as characters on Twitter. Good luck!

(Follow me on Twitter @diamondkt and Tweet this post. You know you want to.)