Words on a page

The way in which people have started using microblogging sites like Twitter and identi.ca is interesting. Microblogging has become not just a way of updating your status to friends and family, but also a channel for tech support, a marketing tool, and a source of links to information and ideas.

Writers, too, have gotten into the act. Writers who microblog don’t just post links to their work. They ask and answer questions, and interact with other writers. Some even post excerpts from stories or poems that they’re working on.

Why not use a microblogging service as a way of taking notes? If you don’t have a paper notebook and pen handy, then doing this is a great substitute. I’ve done it, and it can be very useful.

How to do it

That’s pretty simple. Just fire up your microblogging client, whether it’s on your computer or mobile phone, and start typing. Of course, you’re limited to 140 characters (including spaces) per post. But there’s no reason why you can’t string thoughts together in multiple posts.

The latter is pretty much what I do. When it comes time to do a write up, I copy those posts into a text editor and then use them as the basis for what I’m writing. If I’ve done my job correctly, then those notes contain enough detail to jog my memory and allow me to fill in a lot of blanks.

And that’s a key: putting as much detail as you can in 140 characters. It’s not easy; sometimes you’ll tweet or dent or whatever something that doesn’t make too much sense. The kinds of information that you want your notes to contain includes:

• Figures
• Quotes
• Interesting little facts
• Questions that you have, or that someone else has, asked

What if you don’t want anyone else to see your notes? On Twitter, at least, doing something about that is easy. You can set up a second account and in the options specify that you want to protect your updates. All this means is that no one can view your tweets. Well, no one except you and whoever else you allow to view those tweets.

It doesn’t look like identi.ca supports protecting posts. As for other microblogging services, I can’t say.

When and when not to do it

Obviously, you’re not going to tweet or dent your notes while interviewing someone. I don’t think I need to explain the social niceties (or lack of them) around that!

Whenever I can, I try to attend presentations and talks. I’ve found that I can learn a lot not just from the speaker but from the audience as well. And whenever possible, I live microblog from the event. In the past, I’ve written full blog posts about these events, using the microblog notes to refresh my memory.

I also find taking notes via microblogging to be useful when I’m using my netbook. I don’t have to worry about transferring files between computers.

Thoughts? Suggestions on using a microblogging service in a slightly different way? Why not share them by leaving a comment.

Photo from http://sxc.hu

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 5:30 am and is filed under advice, writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.