by David Tandet
Increasing social media has the same effect on good writing that the size of a parking structure has on nice cars: not much.
Some networkers babble on in disjointed streams of consciousness. Others? Wordsmiths to the max.
But when it comes to the need for effective writing in all this, there’s no need to look beyond the Twitter.com home page: “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co-workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?”
That’s some simple, serious wordplay that you know the folks at Twitter wouldn’t have left to their off-the-cuff first time musings.
So when you’re just networking around online, say anything however you’d like. Be as casual as talking to friends at a coffee house. Half the fun is just doing the back and forth in half-sentences, interruptions, and exclamations.
Genuine free-form reaction has its place in viral marketing. But in the larger scheme, don’t you want to guide how your target audience perceives your product or service?
Need a light touch? Cool! Going for appointment as official mustard of the royal court? Put on your Sunday best.
Either way, effective writing - in social media and elsewhere — will make it work.