Posts Tagged ‘tweet’
Editor tells staff not to use silly words like “tweet”
June 14th, 2010
Here’s a story that caught my attention over the weekend, The New York Times’ editor, Phil Corbet, sent a memo around to staff telling them not to use ‘tweet’ or similar words, which he referred to as “silly”.
Here is the memo:
How About “Chirp”?
Some social-media fans may disagree, but outside of ornithological contexts, “tweet” has not yet achieved the status of standard English. And standard English is what we should use in news articles.
Except for special effect, we try to avoid colloquialisms, neologisms and jargon. And “tweet” — as a noun or a verb, referring to messages on Twitter — is all three. Yet it has appeared 18 times in articles in the past month, in a range of sections.
Of course, new technology terms sprout and spread faster than ever. And we don’t want to seem paleolithic. But we favour established usage and ordinary words over the latest jargon or buzzwords.
One test is to ask yourself whether people outside of a target group regularly employ the terms in question. Many people use Twitter, but many don’t; my guess is that few in the latter group routinely refer to “tweets” or “tweeting.” Someday, “tweet” may be as common as “e-mail.” Or another service may elbow Twitter aside next year, and “tweet” may fade into oblivion. (Of course, it doesn’t help that the word itself seems so inherently silly.)
“Tweet” may be acceptable occasionally for special effect. But let’s look for deft, English alternatives: use Twitter, post to or on Twitter, write on Twitter, a Twitter message, a Twitter update. Or, once you’ve established that Twitter is the medium, simply use “say” or “write.”
Techcrunch has a couple of updates on the story:
Update: Dave Itzkoff, who blogs for the New York Times, tweets that the report is indeed not true. Which makes it a perfect satirical piece worth sharing anyway. Update 2: Another New York Times staffer tells us privately that the memo is “100% real” and Itzkoff clarifies that it is not the memo’s existence he was denying, but that some journalists inside the NYT recognise “tweet” as a word and there is an internal debate ongoing about it.
Is it true or not? Whatever the case it is mildly amusing, and highly embarrassing for the NY Times, but hang on a sec maybe the guy has a point, will the vast majority of his readership know what “tweet” and similar words actually mean?
August 3rd, 2009
Over the last few days one particular sports star hit the headlines with his improper use of Twitter.
The star in question was Darren Bent, Tottenham Hotspur’s centre forward. The controversy started when the star’s proposed transfer to Sunderland hit dodgy ground. Bents’ response to this was to vent his anger on his personal Twitter account:
“Seriously getting p***ed off now,” read his first message.
The striker then went on to add: “Why can’t anything be simple? Sunderland are not the problem in the slightest. Do I wanna go Hull City? NO. Do I wanna go Stoke? NO. Do I wanna go Sunderland? YES.”
Bent later went to make this public apology: “I appreciate that transfers are seldom straightforward and are often complex. However, after a long period of waiting following my withdrawal from the plane to China, I had become incredibly frustrated by the time these things take and I posted inappropriate comments on my Twitter site.”
Shortly after this controversy unfolded, which made national television and back-page newspaper headlines, Tottenham introduced microblogging guidelines for all staff and players.
Moving on to the NFL - similar rumblings have been felt.
Recently, San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman tweeted: “Coach said we can’t tweet in the blding so i called my lawyer and found a lupo [loophole] in that contract…tweeting outside yeaaaaa.”
Other instances include Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco (formerly Chad Johnson) and the league. Last month, Ochocinco floated the idea that he would Twitter from the sidelines during regular season games.
The league sent out word almost immediately that it has a pre-existing rule barring the use of mobile devices from the bench area. Ochocinco, who has nearly 79,000 followers, immediately responded on his Twitter page: “Damn NFL and these rules, I am going by my own set of rules, I ain’t hurting nobody or getting in trouble, I am putting my foot down!!”
Now sports stars are increasingly seeing the power of a tweet and the resulting effect it can have, especially on employees and governing bodies and, moving forward, tweets with endorsements.
I will leave you with this thought.
Top sports star with 1 million followers starts tweeting about all his Nike gear - what’s that worth to Nike?
Why do Twitter users protect their updates?
July 24th, 2008
Private or public Twitter accounts - what’s best?
There have been a few posts on this subject lately, so here’s my take!
Private - do they have something to hide? Are they from the dark side, or are they just plain shy?
A massive part of the social media mix is open conversation , transparency and the ability for people unknown to you, to comment and have opinions on what you have to say.
So why when it comes to Twitter do a small minority of users insist on vetting you before allowing you to see their Tweets. It’s like they want to check you before they except you!
TWO HUGE REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NOT PROTECT YOUR TWEETS AND HAVE A PUBLIC ACCOUNT…
1. Everybody in the whole wide world has the opportunity to see your Tweets.
2. Public tweets are indexed by Google
Let’s face it, the whole idea of Twitter is to promote conversation and sharing, make contacts and friends in 140 characters or less. Protecting your Tweets makes it a lot harder to do this, and it is not great for social media optimisation either!
I guess the only reason you would want to protect your Tweets are:
A, You want to talk aggressively about other Twitter users.
B, Don’t want your boss to see you slagging him/her off.
C, You Tweet about your stamp collection.
D, You are talking to a mistress via Twitter.
E, You think you are far too important and senior to be followed by mere mortals
I can recommend another way of keeping Tweets confidential - Group Tweet - which allows you and your gang to send messages via Twitter that are instantly broadcasted privately to only the team members.
Maybe Twitter should just go back to the drawing board and not give users the option to have protected Tweets!
One reason FOR a private account I have come across is in a similar post, click to view here.
A comment is left that says “Twitter in a way is the space where I can say anything, it’s my “free space” to complain about brands, work, anything. That’s why I’m private on Twitter.” - she has a point!
What do you guys do - public or private - let me know your thoughts?