photo by daquella manera
I’ll admit it. Anytime I see “professional” writing that includes misspelled words, bad grammar or misused punctuation, I wince. I recognize that in the new Democratic Republic of Social Media, there are those who shrug off such errors. “The important thing is that people are getting out there,” they say. “They shouldn’t be intimidated by their lack of writing skills.”
Lord knows I wouldn’t want to intimidate anyone, but … uh, no. If you didn’t master sixth-grade English class, hire someone who did. Or work to improve your own abilities. Good communication is best done by professionals. When my pipes leak, I hire an experienced plumber, not some guy who’s enthusiastic and has decided to “get out there” and do a little plumbing.
Sounds a bit snotty, coming from a so-called communications pro? Maybe, but consider this: Every misspelled word, misplaced comma and badly crafted sentence says something about you, whether writing is part of your job description or not. It says, “I’m not much for detail,” or, “I’m pretty casual about this quality control stuff.” Your poor writing suggests that maybe there are other things you’re a bit sloppy at. Like your plumbing.
It’s not just communications, of course. Everything you do says something about your work ethic, organizational culture, quality of service, etc. Your brand grows out of every point of contact you have with your stakeholders or customers.When I see your poor communication, I wonder what else you’re not so great at. And that should worry you.
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{ 4 comments }
Amen, brother! Thank you so much for this post. I feel exactly the same way. As a communications director, I’ve long believed in my various jobs that the one thing you have a great deal of control over in editing or writing a piece is its grammar, punctuation, spelling, etc., which are easy to correct (with a little knowledge of English). It may be bad reporting or poor expression, but one thing an editor can do is correct these things, which is often the first impression a piece delivers to readers. But why is there still so much bad writing out there?
Good question, Stephen. I can understand the inattention to even basic detail among those who aren’t really interested in communications, but where are all the editors? I shudder to think how many of those “pros” lack what you and I would consider to be the baseline tools for doing a competent job.
“Everything you do says something about your work ethic, organizational culture, quality of service, etc.”
Dan, this is one of the hardest things I find with running a business. (I have no problem with your main argument: eliminating most, if not all, grammatical/spelling errors in communication.) But when Twitter and Facebook and social media in general start to cross work/home/professional/personal borders, I find it difficult to know what I should be saying. Take, for instance, a link I just posted on my Facebook feed pointing to a Los Angeles Times story about the Perseid meteor shower. This is personal, but also professional, since one of my favorite clients is The Planetary Society. But I also post information to Facebook and my blog and Twitter about post-production, design, and music production, all of which are professional and only of marginal interest to personal friends. The grammar issue begs the larger question for me: what is appropriate for social media, and what would be considered a “social error” — which I believe is as unprofessional as a “grammatical error”? Should I build two accounts on all social media: one for personal posts and one for professional? (Ack: I don’t think I can segment my life that much.)
Thoughts? Thanks for continuing to bring up interesting topics for me to mull over.
Loren – The personal and professional have blended in ways we would have thought unthinkable not too long ago. I wouldn’t worry too much about compartmentalizing things. Your interests, experiences, etc. help make you the person your clients put their trust in. The personal informs the professional and vice versa. You may have things to say about post-production that holds little interest for me even if we’re connected professionally, and yet your personal sharing might resonate and serve to strengthen our relationship.
In other words, as long as you’re not sharing things you’d never share in public, don’t sweat it. You’re an interesting guy offline, Loren. Be the same online.
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