Is Tweeting Important for Technical Writing? Absolutely

the correct message, yet in a powerful manner. All of a sudden word choice means something and if the writer uses proper grammar and punctuation, it is that much more of a valuable exercise in technical writing. By constantly working on perfecting the Tweet, a writer is unintentionally polishing a very difficult art, technical writing. Clearly the advent of Twitter has provided an entire generation with the opportunity to unintentionally perfect and expand a skill using a medium to which my generation never had access. By actively Tweeting, the student has many more opportunities to describe events and opinions in a concise manner, which clearly falls into a skill that we use daily in technical writing. Whether it is writing the best title for a manuscript to describe the major outcome of complex experiments or learning to write concise sentences to convey the meaning of complex events, Twitter is a useful and fun tool to actively participate in this process. Further, its use will constantly evolve and perfect one’s writing style. I encourage everyone to engage in the practice of Tweeting and perhaps we can all enjoy the writing challenge that Twitter unintentionally provides each and every user. As a confirmed dinosaur that is clearly left over from the 1980s, it is hard to believe I have embraced the Tweet. I still must say I don’t understand the entire hashtag part of Twitter, but I do understand the power of Tweeting and what this power means to science. Certainly we can convey events to a legion of followers and give our opinion on countless topics, but Twitter actually offers an exercise in technical writing. In my ethics class, I discuss, much to the surprise of the students, how mastering Twitter is absolutely critical in learning how to write a great title for a manuscript as well as for technical writing in general. Why? Simply the standard scientific manuscript requires a title of 150 characters and spaces or less, making a Tweet not permitting more than 140 characters and spaces a great learning tool in shifting to a Hemingway-like style. Tweeting teaches one to be concise and to use the power of the English language to convey feeling and meaning all in 140 characters and spaces. No room is left for a glamourous, wordy style; rather writing must convey meaning in an absolutely concise manner. This translates into the writer examining word choices and to choose words that covey