Write It Well

Smashing Magazine recently published a list of ten truths most corporate websites don’t want to face. I found Harsh Truth Number Five most interesting: “You are wasting your money on social networking.”

Not that social networking isn’t effective for corporations. As Paul Boag writes, “Tweeting on a corporate account or posting sales demonstrations on YouTube misses the essence of social networking. Social networking is about people engaging with people. Individuals do not want to build relationships with brands and corporations.”

How can a business use social networking tools effectively? Boag encourages companies to let their employees blog or tweet independently. With a few guidelines on acceptable content, employees can give their companies a personal, networked presence on the Internet.

On his way to give a presentation about social media, a PR executive insulted his audience when he complained about their city on the social media site Twitter. David Henderson, who described the incident on his blog, added later, “The same fundamental rules and principles apply to a new form of media in today’s Internet era as with mainstream or traditional media.”

The difference is that now your mistakes can fly around the world at lightning speed. Mr. Henderson noted that two nights ago more people read his blog post about the mistake than visited most of the major news sites.

Not all of us use Twitter on a daily basis, but the vast majority of us rely on e-mail daily, if not hourly. The risks are quite similar: instant, widespread infamy. To learn more about how to minimize your chances of committing an electronic gaffe, check out E-Mail: A Write It Well Guide.

Twitter — the “microblogging” website that lets users post tiny messages to each other — sounded frivolous at first. Why should I care about the mundane details of everyone else’s lives? Especially when I’m a large company? A recent article in Business Week found that quite a few companies do care, in fact. Listening in on their customers’ “tweets” helps them provide better customer service, for example.

Some tips for using Twitter and other microblogging services:

• Go for crisp details. The 140-character limit will help you practice writing concisely!
• Keep it light. Halting, formal language works better in long legal documents.
• Look at other successful users for cues on how often to post. Posting too much is a bit piggish, but frequency also helps you create your online identity.