As someone who is rather bullish on microsharing - I was both bemused and annoyed at Senator Chuck Grassley’s recent Tweets about President Obama. NPR had a recent piece on Grassley’s use of Twitter, extrolling his “authentic” voice and how Twitter allows the common person to listen in on the daily work of a politician. So here’s one example of a Grassley Tweet: “Pres Obama you got nerve while u sightseeing in Paris to tell us”time to deliver” on health care. We still on skedul/even workinWKEND.”
Come on. Surely Senator Grassley does not really speak like that?
Just because one is under the constraint of 140 characters or less is no reason to come off sounding like a 14-year old SMSing his BFF. For goodness sakes. It’s hard enough to gain serious corporate ground with these tools (the funny names don’t help) — examples from Senator Grassley just reinforce the notion of Twitter as a social tool for the young and idle. Perhaps someone advised him that when using these newfangled Web tools it’s important to sound somehow young and hip. Now he just comes off sounding silly.
When I heard the coverage of this Twitter example on NRP the other day, I had in fact just been thinking of blogging about how Twitter has brought me back to the contemplative craft of writing to size. Composing Tweets to maximize the message brings me right back to my early days as a beat reporter writing to inches, and later as a newsletter editor tweaking each and every character to ensure fit and avoid wasted space throughout the narrow columns of the traditional format. And then there was writing headlines - especially fun and challenging. This was all work that I truly enjoyed.
The art of writing clearly and succinctly was part of learning the skill of the trade. These days, blogs have allowed people unlimited space to wax on and on with no constraints. With Twitter, I’m seeing a hopeful return to the classic art of writing with quality *and* brevity.
So how about a rewrite, Senator Grassley:
“Pres. Obama, what nerve! Paris sightseeing while saying “time to deliver” on health care. We’re on time and working weekends!”
Hmm… he also Tweeted that he’s looking for interns (“If ur interested in being an intrn ck my website”) Maybe I can be his Tweditor?
