In today's fast paced society we're on the brink of information overload. From the moment you wake up to the moment you're finally able to shut down, you're bombarded with massive and unprecedented amounts of information. Never in the history of human-kind has general information been so accessible to such a large percentage of the world. To illustrate, according to a 2009 University of California - San Diego study on data consumption, the average person in the U.S. consumes nearly 6,000 words of information per waking hour. That's over 100,000 words of information per day! It hurts to even consider the daunting task of how we filter through that much data, let alone make any sense of what we gather. How then, are we as social media experts expected to penetrate the mindshare of our targets and elevate our message above the constant bombardment of information? Imagine a room with a thousand people, all screaming at the top of their lungs at one single person. Who will that person listen to?
Let’s take pause for a moment to think about the question. While we’re at it, I will use this same pause to answer the question. How are we expected to penetrate mindshare? By taking pause! More specifically, we can penetrate mindshare by taking a step away from reactionary tactics, thinking about the voice we are using to send a message and using proper punctuation to support that voice. So rather than simply scream at the top of our lungs at the person in the room, formulate a thoughtful, unique message and communicate it.
Every day it seems another member of the social web is being lambasted for something they communicated through channels like Twitter or Facebook. "That’s not how I meant to say it." "You’ve misinterpreted my intentions." Statements like these are commonplace as we stumble through new, and often misunderstood, forms of communication; specifically, digital communication. There is a level of disconnection in the intent of statements made in the online world versus those made face-to-face. Consider, for example, the difficulty in expressing sarcasm through digital channels. It’s not always apparent to the recipient of the message that the expression of sarcasm is an underlying addition. Understanding how messages are structured will help you in filtering out unintended interpretations. Ultimately, the proper use of punctuation is at the core of message structure. Take the following statements where a simple pause completely changes the meaning of a sentence:
"Let's eat Grandpa!" - Poor Grandpa is about to be eaten by his grandchildren. :(
"Let's eat, Grandpa!" - Hooray! :) Grandpa is saved by a simple comma, the written version of a momentary pause. Not only is he saved, but his grandchildren are inviting him to eat. I’m sure he was hungry too.
Brushing up on your grammar skills can really make the difference in both elevating your message above the constant flow of information and giving yourself and your social brand a distinct voice. By accurately expressing the intended message of your statements, you won’t just sound like you’re screaming at the top of your lungs anymore. You will be listened to. So please, I implore you to take pause, stop eating grandpa and use a comma to invite him to dinner.
This is great, Dennis. I very much enjoyed the reading - especially about eating Grandpa. Very good point.
ReplyDeleteOK - let's eat(,) Dennis :) Nice thought.
ReplyDeleteAnd while true, we are near information overload, our brain is a fantastic device and can deal with a lot of strange content like this:
Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can.
i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are,the olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit apboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef,but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuot slpeling was ipmorantt! if you can raed tihs you unredtsand erevyithng esle I write.
Not sure about the commas though :)
Axel
http://xeesm.com/AxelS
"Great minds think alike" ha.
ReplyDeleteFinally, someone has expressed what i have always thought - the importance and lack of proper punctuation and grammar in social media spaces.
For the longest time, I shunned Twitter as I was never fully able to comprehend the composed messages posted by others as the texts were abbreviated, and the spelling, grammar and punctuation atrocious.
Brilliant post! ;)
There's lots of misspellings and confusions on the web today. At first sight you might believe that our grammar gone bad. But if you check historically, languages lives their own lives and is constantly evolving. Especially with the usage of a younger generation or a new communication technology. I do agree with you that there's lots to be done with the way we communicate. But I also believe in the power of adopting and meet half ways to create recognition with the people you want to reach. Sometimes it's even a good thing to eat Grandpa and feed the starved. ;)
ReplyDeleteFor those of you that are interested. Here's a cool infographic illustrating how much data we consume in a day.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.fastcompany.com/blog/maccabee-montandon/upswing/america-hungry-need-data
I do agree and I am in more than one way as guilty as most bloggers, and believe me I read my post about 3 or 4 times before I press the "publish" button. But I also agree with Axel, that the human mind is capable of so much. I am always experimenting it with my Daughter. Nevertheless, the debate is not only in social media, you just need to read the emails we all receive in our inbox, if I had to redline them , I won't spend any time working.
ReplyDeleteMy belief is because "actions speak louder than words" and we live at 150mph, we are now trained to grasp the essential in a sentence and forget about spelling or grammar. For better or for worse, I don't know.
Great post, Robert. I think its okay to make mistakes every now and then, however, I have friends who speak perfect English, yet every time they get online, I can't seem to understand a word they're saying. Their complete disregard for punctuation sends the message that they're lazy and they don't care. This might not be the case at all, however, this is the message they're sending us. Just a little more attention to detail can go a long way.
ReplyDeleteYou're a brave man.
ReplyDeleteOf course Axel has a good point to make. At the same time, I believe that those who are evangelizing social media can do themselves and their message a disservice by being cavalier about such matters as grammar, spelling and punctuation.
They might not matter to the evangelist/consultant, but they may matter a lot to whether their message gets through as intended, and then that will, or should, matter to the evangelist/consultant.
There is a big difference between not being obsessive about such matters and not caring about the impact of carelessness.