The Anatomy of a Tweet: Twitter Gets a Style Guide
They’re no Strunk and White, but Dom Sagolla and Adam Johnson are aiming to do for Twitter what “The Elements of Style” did for good writing on paper: outline elementary rules of usage, composition and grammar.
The bulk of the book, titled “140 Characters, A Style Guide for the Short Form,” will revolve around eight key lessons from the Twitter universe, such as the importance of simplicity, honesty and humor. The project will also highlight notable figures worth following on Twitter, anecdotes from the community and even examples of the few occasions Twitterers have gone overboard: For example, Mr. Sagollo points to “bathroom tweets,” or messages about bodily functions, as falling into the category of things not to post to Twitter.
“This is a new genre of writing,” said Mr. Sagolla. “A new form of literature, in some ways.”
A portion of the book will also double as a memoir from the perspective of Mr. Sagolla, who was involved in the early stages of development for the tool. Mr. Sagolla, who now works at Adobe Systems as an engineer, is also planning on including a mini-dictionary of Twitter lingo, like “retweet,” the reposting of another Twitterer’s message, or “twoosh,” a message that is exactly 140 characters.
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