The imperfect tweet

I sometimes spend more time than needed in writing a tweet.  Sometimes it's worth it - sometimes I abandon the attempt and the moment has gone. Do you find the same?

Personally, I dislike scheduled tweets, as I like to know that what I'm saying will be well-received. It could be hard to quickly reschedule insensitive marketing-led tweets in cases of emergency or disaster.

On most occasions, I tweet from the heart, naturally and they come thick and fast. But one has to have a confidence of spirit to know that this will 'work'. The tweets almost invariably receive a response from one quarter or another amongst followers, or a Retweet (RT).

It has occurred to me that the imperfect tweet is a necessity on Twitter, because time flies and the timeline passes within a matter of seconds or minutes. Say what you mean, what you want, as long as it's within your communications strategy (informal or formal).

Likewise, we should not be knocking those who get it wrong by accident. Yes, we should question and call to account people who are acting unlawfully, immorally or inaccurately. But, let's judge less quickly when the error is just an imperfect tweet in its natural state; a second or two of subjective opinion, that may raise eyebrows if spoken face-to-face but equally may not even be heard or noticed.

Live tweets use the 'spoken written word'. I believe that's an important distinction from a conversation that is a face-to-face or a written letter or email. There may be a specific name for it one day. In the meantime we can refer to 'online chatter' or 'online word' with thanks to @WeeChrissieB; or 'online narrative' @benjdunn and 'Verbatim' @MikeWooles. If I worked for a lawyer, I might be able to give you the legal low-down.

The point is, let's be receptive to imperfect tweets as we would in a conversation, but be aware of the consequences as we write! Quite a balancing act.