Social Media, Information Overload and Typos
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In this rush-to-publish-everything world we inhabit, it’s rare that anything goes through the proofing channels it once did. Remember when proofing got multiple line items in schedules?
With some exceptions, those days are gone. For social media channels and Wordpress sites, most of us self-publish our blog content, our Twitter/Facebook/LinkedIn updates, our web updates, and the list goes on. Many of those channels have their own unique lingo – #hashtags, abbreviations, word references, tags or even coined words in order to shorten the messages. (I think there’s some wiggle room here for “typo” classification.)
It’s not that we don’t know the correct spelling or usage, it’s just that our fingers can’t stay apace with our brains. We are typing furiously to keep up with the flow of information. No excuse, of course for not proofing ourselves or for sloppiness when it comes to flat out typos. But hey, ship happens.
I tend to be less forgiving of typos in signage, bestsellers or self-promotion. Things of this nature or importance need a little love from a proofreader.
My favorite typo showed up in a writer’s introductory remarks on her website – citing her excellence and experience in a particular form of writing. The repeatedly botched word was “its.” The word went from being misspelled as “tis,” to being misused as “it’s.” Ouch. (Notice that designers tuck the punctuation within the quotes. It drives writers and proofreaders crazy, and is perceived as a typo.)
Jeff Deck and Benjamin Herson, members of Typo Eradication Advancement League (TEAL), got so fed up, they published the book, The Great Typo Hunt: Two Friends Changing the World, One Correction at a Time.
Listen to their interview with wnyc’s Brian Lehrer and note the tolerance, or intolerance, of typos and grammos.
Where do you stand with typos these days? Any great examples to share?
