Tuesday, February 10, 2015

Tips for Grammar in the Digital Sphere

As a die hard grammarian and Oxford comma enthusiast, I initially had trouble adjusting to social media and the confines of 140 characters. I didn't want to be cheated out of appropriate comma placement and mellifluous word choices with too many letters.
grammar tips digital sphere social media
Recently, I took to my Twitter account to ask some of my followers what their thoughts were on using correct grammar in tweets and other social media related posts, and I received answers on the opposite ends of the spectrum. My friend Nate, a recent grad from York College's Professional Writing program, doesn't believe in the need of using correct grammar for posts.
On the other hand, the writers behind The Refined Side, who I've been fortunate enough to develop a digital relationship with, feel the importance of using proper grammar online.
At first I thought I would disagree with Nate's assertion that posts in the digital sphere don't need to be accurate, but the more I thought about it, I realized I've taken many opportunities to delete a tweet, Facebook post, or Instagram post if I've belatedly noticed an error. The fact that you can easily remove or edit text does take the pressure off when quickly shooting of a tweet.

So far in my social media career, I think I've done a good job at navigating between my grammarian side and the part of me that wants to use social media as effectively as possible. I have a few key rules I stick to:
  1. Always, always, always include the Oxford Comma: I'll either re-craft a tweet or not post it at all if I can't include my favorite piece of punctuation. The editor I am at heart requires it!
  2. Don't sweat the small stuff: I outwardly cringe when I notice an error in something I've written, but there comes a point when you're in the middle of a conversation and it's just not worth it to delete your tweet. 
  3. When in doubt, consult the Chicago Manual of Style: I think Nate makes a great point about any errors being easy to fix, but from my experience, I would rather take a few moments to double check anything that I'm not 100% sure is the correct grammatical form. Although your ethos as a writer might not be affected if you post something with a few grammatical errors, I'd rather not take the chance. 
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1 comment:

  1. UnknownFebruary 11, 2015 at 1:44 AM

    That tweet makes me look like such a terrible writer and horrible slacker when it comes to rules. Which isn't terribly untrue, but I guess I should explain myself better.

    Of course I believe grammar is always important (I'm a writer for gosh sakes) no matter the medium. There's just a lot less stress when writing in digital form than print form. When writing for digital audiences, there's usually pressure to publish before competing sites, so accuracy in grammar takes a backseat. Pressure for correctness is also lessened by the fact that anything can be edited whenever necessary. Add in the fact that digital writing is usually written and edited by the same person and it makes sense that more errors will go unnoticed.

    In print writing, work is usually passed among many different people at different stages of the publishing process, so there's less of an excuse for errors slipping by. Editing print work post-publication is also a lot harder to do because it requires republication, and even then the flawed work will still exist.

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