Since digital media took root in our global culture in the mid-1990s, we’ve had new “words” introduced into our vocabulary. Words like LOL and TTYL are common. More often, written communication is being slowly diminished as our reliance on slang, phonetic spelling, and a general obliviousness to good grammar all increase. The prolific use of social media to maintain relationships gives the appearance that no one will ever write properly again. However, as an alternative to casual digital communication, most professional Web content is very well written.
This paradox of good and bad writing may be because many content producers are able to write almost simultaneously in many formats. For example, many people may pause while during the creation of a well structured technical blog post for their business Web site in order to send a quick SMS text to a friend. It’s as if one skill or communication channel doesn’t affect the other; multi-task communication is the new norm.
But what is disconcerting is that search engines don’t do a great job differentiating between casual conversations and business sales pitches on the same subject. Likewise, we’ve all sent an e-mail that wasn’t meant for the eyes of someone who inevitably read that e-mail. You should assume: if you write it, everyone will read it.
My personal preference has always been to write to my best ability. Even though I have a limited vocabulary and I don’t understand most grammar rules, I try to write everything as if my English teacher were grading it. To rise to the challenge, here are a few tips I try to follow:
1. Pause–Unless something is extremely urgent, never finish typing and immediately press send. Instead, have someone else edit your work, or at least wait an hour between your first draft and letting it loose on the world.
2. Grammar–Avoid being sucked into the world of poor writing by not following very basic grammar rules. It’s not hard to use capital letters, punctuation, and good spelling in your every day writing, so just do it.
3. Reader–Make sure you write in your voice, but always focus on your reader. Too many personal slang terms, technical jargon, and acronyms may make it difficult for your message to be heard well. Clear, concise writing is always best.
These are my ideas. Do you try to have common writing strategies for the variety of digital forums?
