What If Shel Silverstein Used Twitter?

Do you love the 140 character limit as much as I do?  Never before have I had to do so many revisions on a single sentence! I am a word whittler, like Shel Silverstein. Rich Brooks, who has an internet marketing firm in Portland, Maine agrees: “Microblogging forces you to be interesting in 140 characters or less.”

Then I got to thinking: “Forces you to be interesting… hmmm… What if Shel Silverstein used Twitter?”

He’d get three things right (and three is more than two):

1. He’d Be Remarkable

Always ask yourself: “How is what I’m writing remarkable?”

If Shel Silverstein used Twitter, we’d be reading “Liftpullflopliftpullflopliftpullflop…” (a remarkable 39 characters)

2. He’d Be Useful

Ask yourself: “How much value can I create for the reader in 140 charactors?”

If Shell Silverstein used Twitter, we’d be reading: “All The Woulda-Coulda-Shouldas Layin’ In The Sun, Talkin’ ‘Bout The Things They Woulda-Coulda-Shoulda Done.” (106 characters, but very, very useful)

Note: using TinyUrl will save you 30-60 charactors.

3. He’d Be Visual

Aside from using Twiddeo or SeesMic, how can you use images to convey a thousand words?

Shel would vividly tweet, “Bent-up nails and icecream sticks, paper bags and broken bricks.” (63 stunning characters)

So… what would Shel say about Twitter, if he was alive today?

“This pen is almost out of ink. But I still have enough I thin…” (64)