Wikipedia defines communication as “a process by which we assign and convey meaning in an attempt to create shared understanding.” John Mayer tells us to “say what we need to say,” but Twitter limits tweets to 140 characters. I belong to both the NECC2008 Ning and Classroom 2.0 and I post to forums in both Nings on a regular basis. I also post comments on blogs once in a while. I communicate a lot, but lately I question how effective my written communication skills really are.

I will start by discussing Twitter. It did not take me long to get hooked on Twitter. At first, I saw absolutely no value in it, but after I started following a few people (and gained a few followers) I started to see what all the fuss was about. But about a week ago my Twitter universe almost collapsed. (OK–maybe that is a little dramatic, but there was a problem.) I sent out a tweet that nearly cost me a new friendship. I meant nothing by what I said, but the damage was done. The strict 140 character limit did not allow me to elaborate on what I was trying to say and as a result the comment that I thought was witty was taken at face value by the intended recipient of the tweet. On the surface Twitter might seem like it makes us more efficient, but does it really? I am not sure if I want to run the risk of people assuming things about my personality that are just not true.

Skype is another application that has the potential to allow us to communicate with people from all over the world. Skype is intended to be used as a way to connect people using the power of the human voice, but sometimes we get caught up in using its instant messaging feature. We like the convenience of being able to do other things while we IM. If we were actually talking to the other person we would have to focus on that conversation. I find it sad that we are too busy to take a few minutes and actually speak with another person.

When we resort to using written forms of communication we run the risk of losing our personality, especially when we are forced to keep the posts short. There are times that I get in a hurry to post a tweet or comment on a blog and I am either running short on time of characters so I just say what I have to say instead of taking the time to say what I want to say.

Having excellent written communication skills is more important today than ever before. If someone is not in the room with us we tend to prefer to communicate through email, text, and IM because it is convenient. But what is the cost? Are we willing to work on these skills if they are not up to par so that we do not offend people by our online demeanor?

I have learned over the past few weeks that I need to improve my written communication skills. I need to get much better at putting my thoughts into words without sacrificing my identity. I tend to be sarcastic which does not translate well into online conversations. Especially when those conversations are limited to 140 characters.