{"id":257,"date":"2008-01-12T09:29:28","date_gmt":"2008-01-11T23:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/2008\/01\/sms-shorthand\/"},"modified":"2011-08-15T16:19:26","modified_gmt":"2011-08-15T06:19:26","slug":"sms-shorthand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wordconstructions.com.au\/blog\/2008\/01\/sms-shorthand\/","title":{"rendered":"SMS shorthand"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like pretty much anyone else, if I am sending a SMS message I may use short forms and abbreviated words – it’s quicker and easier on a small screen and keyboard. Although it is becoming less necessary with smart phones.<\/p>\n

However, as a professional writer<\/a>, I cringe every time I see shortened words in other contexts.<\/p>\n

There is no need to use SMS shortcuts on a website, in a newsletter or blog, or in any other business or professional document. Personally, I don’t think there’s much need to use it in personal emails or letters, either, but I’ll leave that alone!<\/p>\n

Reading information about a business, we want to know if we can trust the business<\/a> and that they will provide a professional service*. If the business can’t even be bothered writing out full words, they do not inspire trust that they will provide much for customers.<\/p>\n

Examples…<\/p>\n

1. Only days ago a friend forwarded me an email she had received. The subject of the email was “Here’s to a gr8 ’08!” and she forwarded it to me with the comment that she hadn’t even bothered reading it because the subject “really put me off!”<\/p>\n

With something like an email subject, you only have one chance to entice people to read it, so don’t lose that chance by not using full words.<\/p>\n

2. A while ago I was asked to review someone’s website for a service based business where she really needed people to trust her. The entire homepage was full of U (instead of\u00a0you), lower case letters and other SMS-type words. Had I not been reviewing it, I would not have even read the page\u00a0 – again, you only have a short time to grab a visitor’s interest on a website so make first impressions good.<\/p>\n

So, go back to basics – use good grammar, spelling and expression<\/a> to present a clear message even if you think your audience understands or relates to SMS texting language. Understanding it is not the same as respecting it away from mobile phones.<\/p>\n

* By professional service, I mean service that is appropriate, courteous and business -like so it includes customer service in a retail setting as well as services from a service provider such as an accountant, lawyer or writer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Like pretty much anyone else, if I am sending a SMS message I may use short forms and abbreviated words – it’s quicker and easier on a small screen and keyboard. Although it is becoming less necessary with smart phones. However, as a professional writer, I cringe every time I see shortened words in other […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,70,59,60],"tags":[449,545,544,543],"class_list":["post-257","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bad-writing-examples","category-grammar-details-2","category-web-content","category-writing","tag-context","tag-professionality","tag-shorthand","tag-sms"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t