This document discusses how to write effectively across different media and social media platforms. It outlines several key principles for good writing: writing concisely using precise language; focusing the writing; including important details while keeping it brief; using an active voice; maintaining consistency; organizing information in an orderly manner; and viewing writing as an iterative process of drafting, revising, and editing. The overall message is that these principles of good writing are necessary for success when writing on Twitter and other social media.
2. UCD 2012-Tweet Success
Previous Presentation
For IABC Fort Worth
Available at: www.slideshare.net/klcolley
3. UCD 2012-Tweet Success
What is good writing? Precise
“The difference between the
right word and the nearly right
word is the same as that
between lightning and lightning
bug.”
Mark Twain
5. UCD 2012-Tweet Success
Good writing is concise
• Writing long takes
very little time
• Writing short, or
concisely, takes
longer
• Good writing fits into
the smallest box
12. UCD 2012-Tweet Success
Find this presentation and others:
www.slideshare.net/klcolley
Dr. Kay L. Colley
Follow me @kaycolley Tweet Success
Notes de l'éditeur
This presentation is designed to help you write effectively across all media.
In the fall of last year, I did a similar presentation at Fort Worth International Association of Business Communicators professional meeting. I discovered that the basics of writing was a hot topic again when I went to the IABC World Conference in San Diego last summer. The sessions that had the most people in attendance were the sessions on writing, so I decided that would be a good refresher session for Fort Worth chapter members. That meeting had the most in attendance last year, so good writing is still a hot topic everywhere, including on the job hunt.
This is a famous quote from Mark Twain, which says it all. Sometimes, we confuse words and assume they mean the same thing when they don’t. Many books that focus on grammar, like When Words Collide, Working with Words, and Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing, provide a list of commonly confused words such as eager and anxious.
The focus of this photo is the elephant’s trunk reaching for the celery from the zoo handler. Compared to the entire photo, this is a small and specific focus. That’s the kind of focus your writing needs to have. One idea. One focus, no matter if you are writing a tweet or a speech. Finding your focus, and sticking with it, makes for writing that is easy to understand and effective.
Good grammar, including sentence structure for emphasis—1,2,3 slots Put the strongest words at the beginning of your tweet; Use key words at the beginning or end of sentences