Slow down when you text, tweet and e-mail

The other day I sent a tweet that included a misspelled word. Should I be embarrassed considering that texting and tweeting are the breeding grounds for poor spelling and grammar? After all, butchering the English language is suitable and accepted behavior in the Twittersphere, right?

Wrong! I’m extremely embarrassed. I don’t care that just about everyone on Twitter figures it’s OK to create new words like “thx” and “k.” It’s not OK, especially if you are sending a tweet or a text for business. That’s just unconscionable. The business world never has room for purposely misspelling words.

We are all brands. The way we act, the way we comport ourselves means something – leaves others with an impression. Do you want to be known for being lazy or ignorant? Of course not. Yet, that’s exactly what you are doing when you write a text or tweet so fast that words are misspelled or shortened on purpose. You only have 140 characters with which to work. Is it that hard to make sure you are communicating properly?

I know someone who is notorious for sending nearly unintelligible texts. When I call this person out on a message, this person retorts with either “I was in a hurry” or “I’m not good at typing.”

Seriously?

Let’s take a look at the first answer. In a hurry? When you rush a message, it often obscures the meaning. So if you send a “quick” test, what are the odds that the receiver will read the message and then send a text back asking for clarification? Then the original sender will have to follow up the first text with another one. Not saving much time, is it?

Second, the “not good at typing” excuse? Are you not good at reading? You should review everything carefully before sending it. Text. E-mail. Tweet. When you don’t, it leaves the recipient with the impression that you don’t really care about their time. It says I have so little time that I’m just going to send this off without caring whether you can understand it or not.

Come on, people, do everyone a favor and slow down. Yes, we live in “fast times” in which technology allows us to be more efficient and complete several tasks at once. But, when it comes to communicating, you are only as efficient as your ability to clearly get your message across and received properly by the target audience.