Today people will send over 100 billion emails, half a billion Tweets and write 3 million blog posts.
Every 60 seconds on Facebook, 510 comments are posted and 293,000 statuses are updated. Five new profiles are created every second.
More people are writing than ever before in history
Billions of people are now using social media and that means we are all writing words to carry our messages.
We are all writers. YOU are a writer.
You will say, “Sure, but that’s not the kind of writing I need to do in my job as a supervisor, manager or executive.”
Writing is speech you can see
OK, the content will be different than your Facebook update or your Tweet, but all the writing you do on social media shares two important features with all the writing you do for work: writing is speech you can see, and writing is your thinking made visible.
One of the big myths about writing is that what we write at work should be more formal than speech.
Let me say that again:
A common and widely accepted belief is that workplace writing should reflect a more formal register.
Now tell me, which of those two sentences was easier to read and understand?
Most of all your writing is informal
The fact is probably 90% of all work related writing is “speech you can see”.
Emails, announcements, advertising copy, website content; most of it is “informal”. And it should be. Readers today don’t have the time or patience to read boring pseudo-academic writing that’s written more to impress than to express.
And why should they? Who made that rule anyway?
Only four reasons to write
There are only four reasons to write anything in your occupation as a supervisor, manager or executive: to inform, request, direct and persuade.
The more simply and directly you can do that, the more clear your message will be and the more your readers will appreciate you and your company.
The Seven Myths about Writing
What gets in the way of “writing it like you would say it” are myths like “writing should be formal”. Yes, sometimes, but not always, in fact, not in most cases for day-to-day communication.
In a future post, I'll idenfity the Seven Myths about Writing....breaking down each one...and freeing up the writer inside you.
Would you like to break through the barriers holding you back from “writing naturally”? Call us and let’s talk about your training needs and goals.
Our Guest Blogger
Terry Erle Clayton is a psychologist, writer and educator based in Udon Thani, Thailand. Terry’s clients include UN agencies,NGOs, international research organizations, government ministries and private sector companies.
Terry’s Mindful Writing series is feautred on his Linkedin page. He is the author of two books; the latest can be found on his Amazon.com author's page. He writes for trade magazines and has two blogs, houldtherebeadoor@wordpress.com and Travelswithahat@wordpress.com.
