Twitter May Have It Right

280 characters and you are done. This necessitates crisp, clear, concise writing.

While I never got into the habit of tweeting, the concept appeals to me. Twitter makes you point not paint. This can’t help but sharpen your thoughts and enhance your communication.

Of course, like everything else, it is nothing new. Long before social media of any kind existed, the writer of Ecclesiastes observed, “The more the words, the less the meaning, and how does that profit anyone?” (Ecclesiastes 9:11)

Letters, emails, and Facebook posts can go on and on and on. But not tweets, 280 characters and you’re done.* Letters, emails and Facebook posts get skimmed. You know it because you do it. Tweets, almost because of their limited length, get read.

Consider applying that concept to your communication. Whether in your speaking or in your writing, tighten up the words. Use fewer. Discard the extraneous.

Admittedly, a limit of 280 characters is extreme and impractical in most communication, but the concept holds true. Good communication needs to be:

• Well organized (outline everything)
• Full (but not too full) of clear nouns and active verbs
• Devoid of verbal rabbit holes

A friend encouraged me to read Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less. Now that I think about it, I wonder if that was a criticism or an affirmation of my writing. Regardless, the book offers significant points toward better communication. And since we Christians have a hope in Jesus to communicate, the better we are at the art of communication the more compelling the message will be.

My new work world is filled with endless documents and elaborate procedures and lengthy overtures, not to mention listening to sermons—words and words without end. Tightening up the number of words would be a blessing to both the authors and the recipients.

Whether from Twitter (280 characters) or from Ecclesiastes (the more the words, the less the meaning), let’s learn to exert greater discipline in the choice, structure and number of words. This practice of more disciplined communication will lead toward significance.  

*Yes, I know Twitter Blue subscribers can now post 4000 characters.