Your kidding, rite?

May 3, 2011

Have you noticed that as more people get onto the Web and start sharing their daily activities, the spelling, grammar and structure errors increase? These errors are particularly bad on Twitter where space concerns and speed are sometimes deemed as important as accuracy.

That brings me to three points…

1 – What makes me qualified to rant about poor grammar when I clearly messed up the title of this post?

2 – Does it really matter how you come across in loose conversation if your professional missive are clean, clear and correct?

3 – If you don’t care how you’re representing yourself or your brand on Twitter, should you care if you get ridiculed publicly for errors you make in this space?

Answers…

1 – If you missed the sarcasm of the title, you should add that failing to your inability to spell or construct a sentence. My qualifications include experience, training and a love of the English language. *I am in no way qualified to comment on the grammar or spelling of tweets in languages I don’t speak fluently.

2 – Depends on what you’re doing? If you can ensure that your professional contacts remain wowed by your style and don’t actually care about substance, then have at it. But, in an age where people are getting fired for errant tweets and denied jobs because they have errors on their LinkedIn page, it pays to focus on being accurate and correct.

3 – This is a toughie. If you’re putting your errors out there for everyone to see, you should be able to take the heat if you get called on them. I prefer to keep discussions offline instead of ridiculing people in public – especially if I know the person I’m dealing with sees all jokes as a sign of disrespect and doesn’t understand sarcasm.

What’s your take?