My career mentor proof read my early reports to upper management and offered the following words of advice.
Always submit reports destined for upper management review in short, to-the-point factual statements. Never editorialize. Upper Management positions require the review of "countless" daily reports. Their time is precious. Keep them happy with short but precise reports.
Who knew that "Upper Management" requirements would someday dictate the "Twitter Writing Style" of Generation Y.
I deal with a lot of myth-debunking in this job. One myth recently making the rounds is the reading word-limit of the Generation Y. [131]
With the rise of the status update and Twitter even still a viral method of communicating, the theory is that younger people read less. [135]
In honour of this idea, each paragraph in this article will be 140 characters or less. You may be surprised as to how hard this actually was. [140]
Younger readers do not read any less, as has been previously discussed. We are forced to confine our messages into smaller spaces, however. [139]
Twitter, in particular, forces us to limit our character count to only 140 characters. Over time, and with experience, it becomes easier. [137]
With something so inherently developed over time, it is not an illogical argument to suggest the Generation Y need less rather than more. [137]
Though 160-characters is the maximum one can send in any given singular text message, Twitter knocks this down by 20 characters. [128]
The Generation Y are the kings and queens of text messaging, without doubt. So is it becoming an in-built ‘requirement’ for younger writers? [140]
It could be reasoned that less is better. It gets more across in a short space, and allows content to be thought about and condensed. [133]
Many students, for example, will be acutely aware that shorter essays are often harder than the lengthy essays they are tasked with. [132]
So next time you speak to a Generation Y employee, try and condense your written text into a shorter, easier-to-read and concise fashion. [137]
While 140-characters may be limiting, try it and see. It may just get your point across in a way that younger people really understand. [136]
