Style Guide

As more genres of digital communication are developed for the Internet, epistolary style guides and writing manuals may struggle to keep up. One recent how-to book aimed at would-be Twitter masters is 140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form by Dom Sagolla. A recent review compares the book to Strunk & White (a text now loathed by composition instructors, but no matter).

Other publications and lists of tips are aimed at business users, who are interested primarily in increasing market share. Matthew Fraser frequently kees his Facebook friends updated on what could be called a "battle of the experts." From So You Think You're a Social Media Expert to the fact that so-called social media professionals often don't use a full suite of quantitative metrics, Fraser keeps his fingers on the pulse of an emerging profession with all its Foucauldian disciplinary claims. My favorite of his links has to be the hilarious rundown on how to "damage your brand" with social media. Other snafus involve mistakes PR execs make, more complicated relations between bosses and employees, and social media editors who don't use social media.