Two Vital Writing Lessons Taught by Modern Media

As social media hubs like Twitter and Facebook become ever more present in our everyday lives, more and more criticism begins to surface about them.

There is no denying that social media has revolutionized the way in which our modern society lives and communicates. With much of our social existence created online, it is hard to deny that social media hasn't had some sort of positive influence on modern society. However, as it goes with anything that is highly praised, social media communication is also heavily criticized.


People often put down Facebook and Twitter for being an expression of incomplete thoughts and inadequate arguments. While this can most certainly be the case, there are several aspects of social media interaction that positively influence our ability to communicate via written word. The following two aspects of social and modern media communication can teach valuable lessons in professional and persuasive writing.

Be Concise

Modern media communication generated through Facebook, Twitter, and text messaging is often criticized for limiting discourse to 140 characters. While this argument is somewhat understandable, character limits can teach a worthwhile writing lesson. With a limited amount of space to express your thoughts, we are forced to create clear and concise sentences. Precision is key to any genre of writing.

Twitter and text messaging force users to compose clear, concise, and direct points. These general writing skills are invaluable within the professional writing world. Whether you are creating business memorandum, professional email, or technical document, every sentence must be clear and to the point. All too often, our writing becomes convoluted with drawn out sentences filled with unnecessary adjectives and complicated verbs.

Twitter and text messaging have forced us to limit our sentences and narrow our arguments. Clear concise writing creates clearer understanding and stronger discussion.


Know Your Audience

Another aspect of modern media that can translate well to strong business writing is reading and understanding your audience. A huge part of successful writing is understanding who you are writing for. Of course, reading your audience is also one of the most challenging aspects of writing to master.

In order to gain a clear perception of who you are writing to/for, you have to understand what your goal is, who you want to listen to you, what those listeners want to hear all things that are difficult to pinpoint.

Social media, however, makes it significantly easier to pinpoint your audience and cater to their interests. For example, when someone Tweets a message, they consider who will be viewing this message. Just as you would not necessarily Tweet the same thing to your boss or family that you would your friends or siblings, writers must also evaluate their audience carefully. Public discussion using writing word (such as on Facebook or Twitter) intrinsically involves evaluating your audience.

This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for best online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 at gmail dot com.