140 Characters: A Style Guide for the Short Form

In this little book, one of the more contemplative persons present when Twitter was founded, Dom Sagolla, tries to show us how far 140 characters can take us in a richly connected social network. This is the best attempt I've seen at defining a Twitter aesthetic, at exemplifying all the ways that the medium can be used. Too many people – in my view, unfortunately – either dismiss Twitter as a cumbersome or narcissistic communication method or just exploit it as yet another broadcast channel, usually for marketing purposes. If everyone on Twitter internalized the ideas from this book, it would certainly be a better place. To quote the author (who does get lofty at times): “Let us collectively raise the level of discourse online. What starts as a relentless tide of simple-minded chatter resembles the most perfect wave of literary turbulence under the right conditions.”