Posts Tagged ‘social media’

Write the Way You Talk (Apostrophes: Use Them, Love Them)

A shiny red robot stares out of the screen. He looks like he's wearing a black suit and white dress shirt.

When people write for their business, they do one thing differently. This tiny change seems insignificant, but it makes their writing feel stilted, formal, awkward … you know … all the things you don’t want. They stop using apostrophes. I see it everywhere. The drafts I work on are littered with “I am,” “you are,”…

Don’t be an asshole: an editor’s guide to internet etiquette

A very annoyed seagull screaming the way I want to when people correct someone's spelling on Facebook

When I took my first editing course, our instructor gave us a valuable piece of advice: Don’t correct someone else’s grammar/spelling on social media. Ever. Facebook, Instagram, Reddit, LinkedIn, and internet forums (are they still A Thing? I am old) are the textual equivalent of a casual conversation, often with people you don’t know well…