The Elements of Style: Twitter Edition

I have at least four copies of The Elements of Style. Originally published in 1918 by William Strunk, Jr., this book has truly stood the test of time. It’s been a great writing resource for me over the years, even though there are still dozens of its rules that I break with each blog post. I recently read the book again and noticed how many of the rules are relevant for Twitter and other short-form, social media writing.


Here are some guidelines for tweeting adapted from or inspired by The Elements of Style. I hope you find these suggestions helpful and entertaining:


Elementary Rules of Usage in Tweets


* In a series of three or more terms, use a comma after each term except the last. Example: following, follower and friend
* Enclose parenthetic expressions between commas. Example: the fastest way to read this post, unless you are a speed reader, is to read from top to bottom
* Do not break sentences in two (don’t use periods for commas). Example: This post is awesome. Though not the best post I’ve ever read.


Elementary Principles of Tweet Composition


* Use the active voice. Example: I always use the active voice when tweeting. My tweets are magical.
* Put statements in a positive form. Make definite assertions. Example: instead of “her tweets are useless,” use “I don’t find her tweets useful.” Instead of “I don’t remember,” use “I forgot.”
* Omit needless words. If there’s one thing you get out of this post, it should be this principle. Don’t use more words than you need to communicate your point. Example: instead of “she is a woman who tweets” use “she tweets”. Instead of “this is a subject which”, use “this subject”. If you read and revise your tweets, you’ll be surprised how many words you can omit (which is often necessary due to the 140 character limit).


Elements of Style Rules You Won’t Find in The Elements of Style


William Strunk, Jr., or E.B. White for that matter, couldn’t have predicted so much communication would take place via 140 character short messages. While The Elements of Style has stood the test of time, there is a new set of rules (which I’ve completely made up) you should keep in mind for Twitter.


* Don’t use more than one hashtag at a time. It junks up your tweets. Example: I’m at this #conference, in this #building, listening to this #speaker which is relevant to this #industry.
* When tweeting shout-outs, such as #followfriday or #ff, there is no need to include commas between the handles. This will save you much needed characters. Example: #ff @userone @usertwo @userthree.
* If you are replying to somebody, and you want people other than mutual followers to see it, don’t do a simple @reply. Example: instead of “@journalistics great post on adapting The Elements of Style for Twitter”, consider “I love @journalistics post on adapting the Elements of Style for Twitter”


This advice only helps you if you actually want your tweets to be represented as good writing. There are no hard and fast rules for what a tweet should be, or shouldn’t be. If you want to tweet “this post from @journalistics made me LMAO”, or “WTF were you thinking @journalistics?”, don’t let me stop you.


How many rules from The Elements of Style did I break in with this post? Exactly. The Elements of Style are guidelines, though some very powerful ones, which will help you improve as a writer. I hope at least one of these rules will help you improve the quality of your tweets, provided that is something you want to do.

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