Ten Ways Twitter Can Make You a Better Writer
Here are ten things writers need to do that are fostered by the constraints of Twitter and other micro-blogging apps.
- Evaluate yourself as a writer. Who are you? What topics interest you? What do you want to express – in this tweet and over time? If you haven’t asked yourself such questions starting out,
you’ll come to them before long.
- Make style reflect content. What writing style comes naturally to you — informational, snarky, amusing, inspirational? What style best suits your writing aims? Do they match?
- Evaluate your audience/readership. While a few writers only want the joy of self-expression, most want readers too. Microblogging is a crash course in reaching out.
- Be concise. A fundamental of good writing.
- Weigh the words. You’re told how many characters you’ve used, when you’ve gone over the limit and by how much. In working out which words to remove/alter to make your message fit, you get a writing tutorial.
- Get clear. No room for faff and imprecision.
- Choose strong verbs and nouns. No room for unnecessary adverbs and adjectives either.
- Stretch vocabulary. You’ll need to dig deep into your vocabulary to find the bestest, shortest word.
- Respond appropriately to feedback. On Twitter and other microblogging sites, the feedback loop is instant and unforgiving. If you’re not making sense or adding value, you don’t get retweeted or followed.
- Play with the words. Have fun with it. What words will inspire people to follow you, take an action you’d like them to take, click on your link, retweet your tweet? Microblogging works best for writers who treat it as a word game – like a crossword or Scrabble.
