to tweet or not to tweet...

Tweeting

...that is the question. Whether ‘tis nobler in the mind to suffer the stings and scorns of outrageous fortune, or to take arms against a sea of troubles, and by opposing, end them.

(with apologies to the Bard). (And, sorry, that’s 205 characters).

Anyone who hasn’t used Twitter is usually quick to call those who do “twits”. It’s a worn-out pun now, folks. With Twitter claiming 175 million registered users, it’s surely time to at least consider it seriously. It has also been around long enough for us to make a few observations on the way it has changed, enhanced or undermined the way we communicate.

With only 140 characters in which to express yourself, it seems to some that a tweet is a quintessential example of the dumbed-down sound bite. There are others to whom it is a thing of beauty. Yoko Ono is a keen tweeter who was recently quoted as saying:

“it’s almost like a haiku, but involving other people in a participation act”.

Speaking of haiku, there are those who set themselves the challenge of writing poetry or a prose poem in 140 characters - and there’s an app for that: TwiHaiku. Check out Unfold Press: “the most poetic 140 characters you’ll read today”. Think I’m kidding? Consider the exquisite little poems on their site.

Then of course there is the cacophony that you can encounter when launching into Twitter.  It may seem less like haiku and more like the noisiest cocktail party you’ve ever attended. But, as with a cocktail party, the key is to engage with the conversation that interests you and add your own comments. If the subject is enticing, those first comments may lead you to a blog or a website or an article that warrants your undivided attention. Or the subject might just be part of the stream of daily culture that passes you by, maybe or maybe not leaving impressions or information in its wake. Just like a regular conversation. And unlike television, or even a book, you get to respond. Yes, you are included in the conversation.


Here's what a recent conference speaker Tom Bedecarré  had to say about using Twitter in business:

"One important question is, how to understand the change from a push model to a collaborative discussion. I find that clients struggle with that change. The good thing is, whatever is new and interesting gets a lot of attention. For a brand, last year it was the iPhone application, this year it is the Facebook page ... 

Twitter is used for a lot of different things – that is one of the interesting things about it. People are creating business opportunities, use it to communicate with friends, publish something or tell the people out there about a brand. This is why I don't understand Twitter haters. There is something really exiting about Twitter. This is going to be a platform that will lead to great ideas."

Twitter may be just the thing for 175 million people, but not for you. That’s fine. But it's certainly interesting to observe just what it can and does do to our communications.  

the end of email?

end of the road?

More articles are emerging about the end of email. This may seem almost as momentous as the end of history. But before you go buy some carrier pigeons, the discussion so far is only about internal company email.

For such email, the future is looking less and less secure. Personally, I don’t mind email for business - for me it is quick, leaves a paper trail, is date stamped automatically...and, importantly, I have the guts to delete now and delete often, where appropriate.

But the people doing the research are telling us that many inside companies, including CEOs, are spending up to 20 hours a week doing nothing but dealing with email. There is a plethora of advice about how to stay on top of email, how to ration the time you spend on it, email etiquette and so on, but still the tool (and that’s all it is) more often produces inefficiency than the reverse.

One of my biggest bugbears with inter-company or inter-firm email is that someone can spend ten valuable minutes sitting on her or his butt carefully composing an email to me, when I’m just a few steps away. How about some old technology folks? Like walking and conversing? It would help your health.

This article in the The Sydney Morning Herald says that French company Atos (74,000 employees) aims at banning internal email completely by 2013.

CEOs are looking at new ways of doing things. Using micro blogging for short announcements to multiple people (that don’t need an answer), electronic scheduling tools for getting people together without the discussion, instant messaging for a quick word with someone on a different floor, and Facebook-style interfaces for more efficient conversations.

This article by Jill Duffy  makes a case for the superior utility of social media style communication tools within companies: “brevity by design”, a team ethos, actually including more people across departments in discussions.

While this is about internal company email, not email generally, you never know how these things can spread. Futurists might indulge in some wild-seeming speculations about this trend -- and who’s to say what the future of email will be? Watch this space.

weasel words

'Most educated people don't realise how little impression abstract words make on the average man.'  George Orwell

Don Watson’s book “Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language” called the bluff of lazy communicators, particularly in the world of corporations and government. Have a look at Watson's site "Weasel Words"  to see how many people are still missing the message.

Are you tired of “going forward” to the “optimum outcome” for the “culture”? Are you ready to “support implementation of program strategies and prioritise project activities across the overall program schedule”, as one actual advertisement puts it? And such mangled language is not the only danger: we’ve all run up against jargon that is only understandable to initiates in a particular industry or profession. The legal profession might arguably be held up as a prime offender.

Whether you’re communicating in a 140-character tweet, crafting a short and snappy blog post, or writing a considered article on a new development in the law, make sure your readers can actually understand you. Amazingly, that’s a reminder that needs to be made.

It’s not always easy to convey legal notions in everyday plain English. Legal terms acquire a freight of meaning that carries precise nuances for lawyers. But that’s the task of the communicator: translate if necessary. And certainly don’t get trapped into weasel words that sound impressive but don’t actually convey any information. Go for precision.

join the conversation

Intellectual property is one of the most dynamic and fast changing areas of legal practice, and it also encompasses the rapidly paced world of branding and marketing. As the brand experts respond to ever-changing consumer tastes, new ways of communicating are constantly tested and often take wing in surprising directions.

Whether you are in-house in a corporation managing a large portfolio of trademarks and other intellectual property, or a legal advisor responding to your client's IP needs, you cannot remain static. The best communication tools today may be outdated tomorrow.

Here on this blog we will explore changes in the IP world and seek the latest trends and tools to manage your brands - and your own business.

Join the conversation.